Meet our Trustees and Members

Wendy was a Sutton Councillor from 2010-18 where roles included Lead Councillor for Children, Families & Education. Wendy, now retired, practised as a solicitor for 12 years handling litigation, family & child protection, and education law, before taking on several voluntary sector roles to fit around family caring prior to election to the council. These included 8 years as a governor at Avenue Primary School 2000-2008; advising parents on a national special needs charity help-line; non- executive board membership of Sutton Housing Partnership, and of the former local Health Authority. Wendy has lived in Sutton since 1996.

Date of appointment: 16/12/2019

Before his recent retirement, Andrew worked in the finance industry for over 50 years in the fields of commercial underwriting, marketing, employee relations, compliance and commercial claims.

He has been a school governor since 1984 and has extensive experience across both the primary and secondary phases of education in several Local Authorities and Multi Academy Trusts.  He is a former Chair of both the London Borough of Sutton’s Education Committee and Governors Forum and currently serves on the former as the representative of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark.  He serves on all types of educational appeals tribunals for schools and colleges across South London and Kent and is currently Chair of Governors of a large Boys Sports College.

Andrew is also involved in the charitable sector and chairs the Board of his local Citizens’ Advice Bureau and is Company Secretary of a national housing charity.  One of his passions is music and he is Director of Music at his local church and leads one of the parish choirs.

Date of Appointment: 01/08/2020

Rebecca Allott is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a local secondary academy trust that manages two large secondary schools within the London Borough of Sutton, having been a Headteacher within the Borough from 2001 - 2017. Both schools in the Trust are graded good or better by Ofsted.

Rebecca plays an active role in local education being part of the Schools’ Funding Forum and has been involved in various Borough wide initiatives to improve SEND outcomes and processes. Past governance experience includes both primary and PRU provision as well as current director responsibilities. She holds the schools' inspection qualification (PQSI) required for Ofsted inspectors.

Her particular areas of expertise include: school improvement; leadership and management, school budget setting and finance systems; sixth form provision; data analysis, tracking and interventions, teaching and learning, inclusion strategies.

Date of Appointment: 18/01/2024

Audrey has been a qualified solicitor for over 25 years, working primarily on property, finance, governance and housing matters in both the private and public sectors. She is also an adjudicator and has worked with a range of organisations resolving disputes, including the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the Housing Ombudsman Service and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.

For over 30 years Audrey has been a board member of various not-for-profit organisations, including most recently Sutton Housing Society. She is also a former Chair of Governors of Stanley Park Infants’ School. Audrey is currently a Fitness to Practice panel member for the General Optical Council and the General Dental Council, and is an associate senior recruitment assessor for the College of Policing. She has extensive experience of strategic planning, governance, legal advice, adjudication, dispute resolution, complaints handling and performance management.

Date of Appointment: 01/09/2020

Peter is the Chair of Trustees.  He has a wide and lengthy experience in Education having started his career as a teacher in Surrey before becoming a Deputy Head in Berkshire for three years. He then returned to Surrey as the Headteacher of a middle/junior school where he spent ten very enjoyable years growing the school until it was one of the largest in Guildford diocese. He joined Surrey’s advisory service as County Consultant for Primary Education before becoming Senior Consultant for Schools which encompassed schools for children of all ages. During this time, he was also an Ofsted inspector and registered inspector for Anglican schools.

In 2004 he was appointed to Sutton Local Authority as Chief Inspector and Head of School Improvement; later becoming the Chief Officer for Education in the borough and had a spell as Interim Strategic Director of Children’s Services. Taking early retirement in 2012 he started his retirement mission and joined Guildford Diocese Education as Director of School Effectiveness for all schools and Chief Executive of The Good Shepherd Trust (the diocesan multi-academy trust). As founding Chief Executive, he had the great privilege of seeing the growth of the trust from one school in 2013 to 10 schools on his retirement in March 2017. Since his retirement he continued to support educational trusts on a voluntary basis and was appointed as a trustee in March 2020 before being appointed Chair shortly afterwards.

Date of appointment: 31/03/2020 appointed by members

Term of Office ends: 30/03/2027

Andrew has recently stepped down to a part-time consultancy after 33 years as a partner with CMS a major City law firm, where at various stages during his career he led the global banking and finance group and the infrastructure and project finance team.

He was also a board member and chair of the audit and risk committee until last year and has subsequently been appointed as the audit and risk committee’s external member. In addition Andrew has held posts with the Amateur Swimming Association’s Water Polo Committee and been a member of one of the committees of the Major Projects Association.

Date of Appointment: 06/10/2020 appointed by Trustees

Term of Office ends: 05/10/2024

Kapil Lodha is Vice President and Head of Function at a global enterprise with nearly two decades of experience aligned to Banking Financial Services (BFS) industry. His expertise include strategic business growth, digital transformation, GRC (governance, risk/regulatory and control), finance operations, sustainable performance, technology road-map and change management. As a senior leader, Kapil has strong focus on ethos, governance, accountability, stakeholder relationships, financial management and problem solving. Settled in the UK with family, he is an industry speaker, thought leader, guest lecturer at university & college, poetry writer, badminton player and NHS UK fundraiser during Covid-19.

Date of Appointment: 06/10/2020 appointed by Trustees

Term of Office ends: 05/10/2024

Daniel has spent 20 years supporting organisations in attracting the right talent and upskilling them to ensure they are supporting those companies’ visions having covered all areas from delivery of training to commercial success.

Daniel has spent over a decade working within membership organisations and education providers to take their unique benefits and embed those attributes into interventions which add value to individuals, organisations and the broader ecosystem. The largest impact has come from new collaborations within the UK, Hong Kong, Egypt, New Zealand and South Africa. These include setting up partnerships with the National Government for example the Hong Kong Development Bureau, the South African Government and the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority to improve employability and retention of staff. Daniel is passionate about diversifying the engineering community which is why he was part of the partnership between the Institution of Civil Engineers and Women in Science and Engineering developing a Toolkit to help organisations attract more women into the construction industry.

Daniel Is currently working for The Institution of Engineering & Technology as Head of Corporate Sales leading the Advertising, Recruitment, Training, Events and Standards team to advise organisations on new solutions for Knowledge transfer.

Date of Appointment: 05/05/2021 appointed by Trustees

Term of Office ends: 04/05/2025

Dylan has been an external auditor with Deloitte since 2019 after graduating with a Master's in Chemistry at Durham University. He has experience working on audits of large multi-nationals as well as small private companies and charities. He has experience in internal controls, technology and data. He will qualify as a Chartered Accountant at the end of summer 2022.

Date of Appointment: 21st June 2022 appointed by the Trustees

Term of Office Ends: 31st August 2026

Claire Rodin is an Assistant Headteacher and Head of Sixth Form at a comprehensive school in South East London. She has held various curriculum and pastoral roles in comprehensive schools for over 10 years. In addition to this, she is School Improvement Lead at Causeway Education where she works with schools and colleges to provide high quality provision to support young people accessing Higher Education and apprenticeships.

Date of Appointment: 6th January 2023 appointed by the Trustees

Term of Office Ends: 5th January 2027

Ray is a lawyer at the Lloyd's Market Association, which represents the interests of the Lloyd's insurance and reinsurance market to governments, regulators, and the market's central supporting body, the Corporation of Lloyd's. Ray also sits part time as a Deputy District Judge in the County Courts hearing cases across a variety of subject matters.

Prior to qualifying as a lawyer, Ray taught English and music in Japan to students at elementary and junior high schools.

Date of Appointment: 21st March 2023 appointed by the Trustees

Term of Office Ends: 31st January 2027

Sam is a senior civil servant, and currently a Deputy Director at the Department for Transport. Sam has extensive policy and strategy experience from her roles across several Government departments, including an overseas diplomatic posting for the Foreign, Common and Development Office. As a senior leader, Sam’s passion lies in building multi-skilled teams who can deliver excellent results. She has extensive experience of governance and risk management in public policy delivery, as well as experience of problem-solving in complex settings and turning strategies into outcomes. Sam is also a mum and her daughter will attend Stanley Park infants from September 2023.

Date of Appointment: 05/07/2023 appointed by Trustees

Term of Office Ends: 04/07/2027

India is a dental surgeon who graduated from the Kings College Dental Institute, University of London in 2007.

Since that time, India has worked in a range of dental environments and has a broad range of skills in various aspects of general dental practice. Since acquiring her degree, India has obtained a number of additional postgraduate qualifications in dentistry and also a master’s degree in medical law and ethics. In addition to clinical activities, India also works as a dento-legal adviser for an Indemnity Organisation and is a Clinical Advisor and Clinical Expert Witness for the regulator of dentistry in the UK -the General Dental Council.

During her spare time, India enjoys being outside with her young family, and travelling to new countries. India currently lives and works in London.

India is delighted to be a trustee of the Cirrus Primary Academy Trust, to be able to work with the principles of equality and opportunity for all children, which she promotes, and to be part of the team striving for ever higher standards of innovation, honesty, and creativity which the Trust identifies as its key mission.

Date of Appointment: 27/11/2023 appointed by Trustees

Term of Office Ends: 27/11/2027