David Ross qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co. He co-founded The Carphone Warehouse Group plc in 1991 and has also been involved in leading many other public and private companies. David brings a wealth of executive and non-executive experience to the education sector. David currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery and is a Director of the British Paralympic Association. David stepped down as Chair of The Royal Opera House’s Board of Trustees in May 2021, and was formerly a Director of the British Olympic Association.
David is passionate about developing educational opportunities for young people and established the David Ross Education Trust – where he is chair of the Board of Trustees – which currently sponsors 34 academies in Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and the Humber Region.
Julie Kirkbride was Conservative MP for Bromsgrove from 1997-2010, a political correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and a news and current affairs journalist for BBC and ITN. She sits on the Board of Ofsted, is a Trustee of Volunteering Matters and volunteers with IntoUniversity and Beanstalk, the children's reading charity.
David is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years’ experience working as an external auditor. David retired from Deloitte LLP in February 2017 after serving for 15 years as an audit partner based in the Midlands. After graduating from the University of Birmingham in 1985 David trained with Arthur Andersen rising to the position of audit partner, and joined Deloitte in 2002.
Since his retirement he has focussed on non-executive roles in Education. He is a trustee of the David Ross Education Trust, a multi-academy trust with 34 primary and secondary schools and provides finance support to the trustees of The JCB Academy, a UTC. He is also the honorary Treasurer and Lay Member of Council at Keele University.
Sir Nick Weller is CEO of Dixons Academies Trust which runs 15 academies serving the communities of West Yorkshire and the North West. It includes both sponsored turnaround academies addressing educational failure and new free schools meeting growing demand. The Trust is built around the high performing Dixons City Academy, which opened in 1990 as one of the first state-funded independent schools in the country. It also includes Dixons Trinity, the first secondary free school to be graded outstanding by Ofsted.
Sir Nick was designated a National Leader of Education in 2009. His report to HM Treasury and DfE on schools in the Northern Powerhouse region was published in November 2016. He was awarded a knighthood for services to education in 2015 and an honorary Doctorate from Bradford University in 2019.
David Ross qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co. He co-founded The Carphone Warehouse Group plc in 1991 and has also been involved in leading many other public and private companies. David brings a wealth of executive and non-executive experience to the education sector. David currently chairs the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery and is a Director of the British Paralympic Association. David stepped down as Chair of The Royal Opera House’s Board of Trustees in May 2021, and was formerly a Director of the British Olympic Association.
David is passionate about developing educational opportunities for young people and established the David Ross Education Trust – where he is chair of the Board of Trustees – which currently sponsors 34 academies in Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and the Humber Region.
Julie Kirkbride was Conservative MP for Bromsgrove from 1997-2010, a political correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and a news and current affairs journalist for BBC and ITN. She sits on the Board of Ofsted, is a Trustee of Volunteering Matters and volunteers with IntoUniversity and Beanstalk, the children's reading charity.
David is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years’ experience working as an external auditor. David retired from Deloitte LLP in February 2017 after serving for 15 years as an audit partner based in the Midlands. After graduating from the University of Birmingham in 1985 David trained with Arthur Andersen rising to the position of audit partner, and joined Deloitte in 2002.
Since his retirement he has focussed on non-executive roles in Education. He is a trustee of the David Ross Education Trust, a multi-academy trust with 34 primary and secondary schools and provides finance support to the trustees of The JCB Academy, a UTC. He is also the honorary Treasurer and Lay Member of Council at Keele University.
Sir Nick Weller is CEO of Dixons Academies Trust which runs 15 academies serving the communities of West Yorkshire and the North West. It includes both sponsored turnaround academies addressing educational failure and new free schools meeting growing demand. The Trust is built around the high performing Dixons City Academy, which opened in 1990 as one of the first state-funded independent schools in the country. It also includes Dixons Trinity, the first secondary free school to be graded outstanding by Ofsted.
Sir Nick was designated a National Leader of Education in 2009. His report to HM Treasury and DfE on schools in the Northern Powerhouse region was published in November 2016. He was awarded a knighthood for services to education in 2015 and an honorary Doctorate from Bradford University in 2019.
Simon is the Risk Director for the Commercial Bank at Lloyds Banking Group Plc. In addition, he was appointed as the Group Business Recovery Programme Director which has provided support to customers during the pandemic.
Simon has previously undertaken a variety of leadership roles including being the Risk Transformation Director responsible for managing change portfolio across Risk Division and Chief Risk Officer of the Australian business. In this role he was responsible for leading the risk team leading the local regulatory engagement, provision of strategic business input and oversight and assurance of the LBG businesses across Asia. Simon was part of the management team which divested the business in late 2013.
Simon joined LBG in 1999, having completed his Chartered Accountancy training with PwC.
Externally, Simon was previously a member of the University of Nottingham Council and is currently a non-executive director of Motability Operations Group Plc.
Phil Jones is the President and Chief Executive of Northern Powergrid - a Berkshire Hathaway Energy company. He is a chartered electrical engineer and has been in the energy sector since 1993. He joined the Board of the combined companies in 2002 and became President in 2006.
Phil remains actively involved in policy development at a national level in the UK, having served on and led advisory groups to both UK Government and the energy regulator, Ofgem, on the development of networks for low carbon economy, sustainable development and consumer protection.
He is currently Chair of the Energy Networks Association, and has in the past served as President of the Institute of Asset Management, and Chairman of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Council of the Confederation of British Industry.
Phil joined the Board of Pontefract Academies Trust in 2015, a multi-academy trust of eight schools in Yorkshire, taking the Chairman role in 2017. He has since overseen a series of changes to the Trust leadership team, including changes to the Chief Executive, other executive leadership positions and non-executive trustees.
During 2019, six schools were inspected by Ofsted of which five were graded Good; with one of the schools having previously been in Special Measures less than two years earlier. Attainment in the trust primary schools in 2018 was 12% below national average, whereas the improvements driven by the changes resulted in outcomes in 2019 being 12% above national average, which ranked the Trust in the top 10% of MATs nationally.
Joanne Hoareau has joined New Schools Network as a Consultant to work on the new NSN Innovation Fund as the charity transitions to a grant making enterprise. She currently runs the Ross Foundation and has experience of working in both the charitable and education sectors. She is a Trustee and Member of the David Ross Education Trust, Member of the Frank Field Education Trust and a Governor at the Bobby Moore Academy in East London.
Joanne will be responsible for reviewing all new grant applications to the NSN Innovation Fund and reporting to the Trustees on the most suitable and sustainable projects to support the ongoing vision of NSN for educational equality of opportunity. “Education is the premise of progress in every society” and I look forward to working with those who share this vision.
Simon is the Risk Director for the Commercial Bank at Lloyds Banking Group Plc. In addition, he was appointed as the Group Business Recovery Programme Director which has provided support to customers during the pandemic.
Simon has previously undertaken a variety of leadership roles including being the Risk Transformation Director responsible for managing change portfolio across Risk Division and Chief Risk Officer of the Australian business. In this role he was responsible for leading the risk team leading the local regulatory engagement, provision of strategic business input and oversight and assurance of the LBG businesses across Asia. Simon was part of the management team which divested the business in late 2013.
Simon joined LBG in 1999, having completed his Chartered Accountancy training with PwC.
Externally, Simon was previously a member of the University of Nottingham Council and is currently a non-executive director of Motability Operations Group Plc.
Phil Jones is the President and Chief Executive of Northern Powergrid - a Berkshire Hathaway Energy company. He is a chartered electrical engineer and has been in the energy sector since 1993. He joined the Board of the combined companies in 2002 and became President in 2006.
Phil remains actively involved in policy development at a national level in the UK, having served on and led advisory groups to both UK Government and the energy regulator, Ofgem, on the development of networks for low carbon economy, sustainable development and consumer protection.
He is currently Chair of the Energy Networks Association, and has in the past served as President of the Institute of Asset Management, and Chairman of the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Council of the Confederation of British Industry.
Phil joined the Board of Pontefract Academies Trust in 2015, a multi-academy trust of eight schools in Yorkshire, taking the Chairman role in 2017. He has since overseen a series of changes to the Trust leadership team, including changes to the Chief Executive, other executive leadership positions and non-executive trustees.
During 2019, six schools were inspected by Ofsted of which five were graded Good; with one of the schools having previously been in Special Measures less than two years earlier. Attainment in the trust primary schools in 2018 was 12% below national average, whereas the improvements driven by the changes resulted in outcomes in 2019 being 12% above national average, which ranked the Trust in the top 10% of MATs nationally.
Joanne Hoareau has joined New Schools Network as a Consultant to work on the new NSN Innovation Fund as the charity transitions to a grant making enterprise. She currently runs the Ross Foundation and has experience of working in both the charitable and education sectors. She is a Trustee and Member of the David Ross Education Trust, Member of the Frank Field Education Trust and a Governor at the Bobby Moore Academy in East London.
Joanne will be responsible for reviewing all new grant applications to the NSN Innovation Fund and reporting to the Trustees on the most suitable and sustainable projects to support the ongoing vision of NSN for educational equality of opportunity. “Education is the premise of progress in every society” and I look forward to working with those who share this vision.
‘Celebrating diversity’ is one of NSN’s five core values. As a small charity, we have always championed diversity amongst our staff and trustees. NSN has always had an open culture that celebrates diverse religious beliefs, sexual orientations, backgrounds and experiences, and neurodiversity.
We recognise that currently women, black and minority ethnic people and younger people are under-represented on NSN’s board. We hope to change this with new trustee appointments.