Denise Broom Trustee

Denise is currently the Director of Operations for the LIFE Education Trust which comprises of six schools in Havering and Essex. She started her career at Marks and Spencer, joining the graduate trainee programme before being appointed as Procurement Manager within the Food Division. Following this, Denise was recruited by the London Borough of Havering to set up the finance system and infrastructure at Havering Sixth Form College. She has also been a secondary school Bursar and studied for the certificate in School Business Management (CSBM). Denise was also seconded to another secondary school for one year to review financial systems, processes and procedures, reporting directly to the London Borough of Havering.

Dee Wood Trustee

Dee has twenty two years' senior leadership experience in the professional services sector including fourteen years at Deloitte where she was the Partner responsible for firm-wide marketing and business development. As a Business and Marketing Consultant, Dee now works with a wide range of firms to develop their business strategies and associated market plans. 
She is passionate about the education sector, lives locally and her interests outside of work include walking and tennis.

Lesley Duffin Trustee

Lesley is recently retired following a forty one year career in Primary Education, over half of that time being spent at Senior Leadership level. She is passionate about the delivery of excellent education at primary level through the delivery of a creative, stimulating and rigorous curriculum which engages young minds and equips them for their future role in society.  Over the last 30 years Lesley has served on several governing bodies in different capacities – teacher governor, parent governor, community governor and is currently Chair of a local governing body. Experiences at this level have given her a thorough understanding of strong school management and how it is supported by ensuring financial stability, accountability and clear strategic planning. She is familiar with the work of local schools and fully supports their collaborative ethos as a route to outstanding provision for all children.

Brenda Jarvis Trustee

Brenda trained as a Social Worker and for over 15 years held Senior Management positions in Social Care with both a County Council and London Borough. In these roles, she provided strategic leadership, direction and vision to teams of staff, managed performance, staff development and dealt with a range of HR issues. Brenda also has experience of managing budgets, grants, commissioning services and extensive experience of investigating safeguarding concerns. 

On retiring, Brenda became a Governor at Hereward Primary School. She feels passionate about the rights of all children to have access to high-quality education and has herself recently completed a BA Honours degree with the Open University.  

Sue Sunderland Diocese Trustee & Vice Chair

Sue is retired from her role as an HR Consultant in a large global company where she undertook a number of operational roles before specialising in HR. Sue brings to the Trustee role her background in Employment Law, Training and Performance Management alongside her knowledge of organisational structure. Sue also has a good understanding of the educational system having begun her career teaching Biology and Science and serving as a Foundation Governor at St John’s C of E Primary School for the past 15 years. She is currently Chair of the Local Governing Body at St John's and is therefore involved in governance at both Academy and Trust level. Sue feels privileged to represent the Diocese of Chelmsford as a Trustee and is committed to our aim of ‘Unlocking the Potential of Collaboration’  to improve pupil outcomes whilst still allowing each Academy to preserve its individual identity.

Charles d'Arcy-Irvine Trustee

Charles has sixteen years’ experience in finance, the civil service, politics and business. He began his career in Goldman Sachs’s investment banking division in London before serving at HM Treasury and working in politics. He subsequently worked at Deutsche Bank in a management role and in the financial institutions group before working in a family business. He was educated at the universities of Oxford and Harvard and is passionate about making sure that all children have access to a great education.

Revd. Lee Batson Chair

Lee has been an ordained priest in the Church of England since 2004, and has served in parishes in Saffron Walden and Chelmsford before moving to lead a group of churches in Epping in 2017. He has previously served as Chair of Governors for a Community Primary School, and currently sits on the governing bodies of two Church of England schools (secondary and primary - both outside the MAT) so he has extensive experience of school governance. He has also set up, and then chaired, a community trust that brought together statutory, community and faith based groups. Lee has been involved in bringing together groups of churches in such a way that celebrates their individual charism and autonomy, whilst allowing the benefits of partnership to be appreciated.  He is a member of the Diocese of Chelmsford's  Board of Education.

James Wood Trustee

James is a solicitor at an international law firm based in London, specialising in public law (acting both for and against public authorities). He lives and grew up locally and has a long standing connection to schools in the MAT. James is involved in other voluntary work locally and was previously a governor of Lambourne Primary School, standing down from that role when the MAT was established.