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Dawn is Chief Executive Officer of 91¹ú²úÊÓƵ, with 15 schools across five local authorities in Priority and Education Investment Areas across the West Midlands. Dawn became CEO in January 2022 having previously served as Deputy CEO and Education Director. Dawn is a member of the Confederation of School Trusts Improvement Inquiry and sits on two DfE Priority Education Investment Area Local Partnership Boards. 

Dawn’s career has included her being the founder and Chief Executive of the Student Engagement Trust. She also spent 10 years at the Youth Sport Trust where she led two strands of the government’s Physical Education and School Sport Strategy for Young People. Dawn established the Youth Board for the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Dan is the Director of Education. He was previously Senior Her Majesty’s Inspector for Ofsted. At Ofsted, Dan led school inspection policy, was the specialist adviser for the 2019 Framework and was school remit lead for Ofsted’s response to the pandemic. In addition, from 2017 to 2020, Dan led Ofsted’s work on ‘off-rolling’, bringing together Ofsted, the Department for Education and the Children’s Commissioner’s Office to improve the lives of marginalised students across England.

Before working for Ofsted, Dan held a wide range of roles in schools, trusts and universities. He was national leader for accountability for a large national multi academy trust, head of inclusion, director of teaching and learning and director of post-16 provision. Dan has a keen interest in leadership development, having led an international senior leader development programme, taught MA courses and supervised school leaders’ Master's dissertations.

Dan completed a BA (Hons) in English and Education at Cambridge University, followed by a PGCE in English and Drama and an MA and Doctorate in Education at Staffordshire University. Dan’s doctoral thesis examines school collaboration and its impact on students and school leaders.

Outside of work, Dan can be found playing piano (badly) and the drums, walking his dog, reading and cycling.

Chris has over 15 years of experience in the education sector, working in local authority schools and multi academy trusts, where he has led professional service operations as business manager and facilities/estates, capital projects and procurement lead. 

Chris has a degree in Sports Development and Leisure Management from Gloucestershire University, both the Certificate and Diploma for School Business Management (DSBM) and is currently studying for a Master's degree (MBA) in Executive Leadership.

Chris previously held leadership and management positions at Matrix Academy Trust, where he supported the academy conversion process of the lead school and others joining the trust, and latterly as Business Manager at Cheslyn Hay Academy. Chris joined 91¹ú²úÊÓƵ in the role of Head of Estates, Sustainability & Commercial Operations in 2020 after Cheslyn Hay Academy joined our family of schools in 2018.

Across his career, Chris has operated in all professional services functions and has expertise in leading and developing strategies for estates, facilities management and procurement/commercial operations. 

He has been client lead on multiple multi-million-pound capital investment construction and decarbonisation projects, successfully writing bids and securing significant investment from various funding streams, including the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).

Claire has almost 20 years’ experience in communications in some of the Midlands’ leading public relations consultancies. Over two decades, she has developed a strong track record in corporate, B2B and consumer PR, reputation management and stakeholder engagement.

During her career, Claire has gained extensive client and sector experience working with national brands and multi-outlet organisations to develop and deliver effective communication strategies and award-winning brand campaigns.  

A strategic thinker, Claire has held several leadership and management positions, most recently as Board Director of Birmingham-based communications consultancy, Whistle PR. There, Claire led on some of the company’s biggest client accounts while working alongside the Managing Director to develop and lead the business. 

Claire has a degree in Business Administration from Cardiff University, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Diploma from Birmingham City University and is studying for a qualification in Personal Performance Coaching from The Coaching Academy. 

Claire joined 91¹ú²úÊÓƵ as Director of Communications in 2022.

Mark is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and joined the Trust in August 2012. He has over 20 years’ experience within finance across the public sector and has held senior management positions in Local Government, working within education finance and leading finance teams in Social Care and the NHS. 

Mark started his career as a youth trainee in a Local Authority Education Accountancy 

Team supporting schools with financial management, earning numerous promotions and qualifications through these early stages of his career. In a continuation of financial experience within the educational environment Mark moved into a trainee accountant role with the University of Wolverhampton where he assisted with the creation of many successful research bids and awards. 

Mark became a qualified management accountant in 2003 while working for the NHS. Mark returned to a local authority role to utilise his NHS experience by taking a principal finance manager role supporting social care. 

Mark contributed to a number of key policy initiatives including the integration of health and social care, joint funding and personal budgets. This work led Mark into a two-year secondment within a transformation team, taking the financial responsibility for the implementation of "personalisation" in social care. Mark went on to chair the Regional West Midlands Finance Group, presenting to numerous internal and external audiences on the financial implications of this key government policy. 

Prior to Mark’s employment at 91¹ú²úÊÓƵ in 2012, he spent the previous 4 years back in the NHS as head of finance leading teams across the full spectrum of financial services. 

Sarah joined the 91¹ú²úÊÓƵ in January 2024.

Passionate about helping others thrive and belong, she has a wealth of experience as a people professional in developing and recruiting talent, leading change, employee engagement and inclusion.

Sarah brings significant insight and leadership experience from a broad range of sectors including not for profit, financial services and automotive. 

At the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Sarah created a people strategy that supported the organisation through rapid global growth. This included the introduction of a leadership behaviour framework, 360 degree feedback tools and a highly successful mentoring scheme.   

More recently, at the Coventry Building Society, Sarah held a number of senior leadership roles in which she delivered new approaches to identifying talent, succession planning, and candidate attraction.  She also delivered a suite of development programmes that grew a strong internal pipeline of leaders.     

Sarah has a degree in Modern European History from the University of Warwick, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management.  She’s also a qualified coach.