David is an experienced corporate and commercial lawyer who has spent the past decade leading legal functions for a number of Yorkshire based businesses - including most recently CPL Industries and Boparan Holdings (2 Sisters Food Group). He is also a Director of the Industry Wide Mine-Workers and Coal Staff pension schemes.
David has been involved with School governance for more than ten years – having joined the Governing Body of Morley High School in 2006 before going on to become the Chair of the GORSE Academies Trust in 2010 until he stepped down in Summer of 2017.

Neil became a Member of The GORSE Academies Trust in February 2015, having worked with The Morley Academy and The Farnley Academy on school improvement. Neil was of critical importance when both schools secured Outstanding judgement in 2013.

Following his success as a Headteacher and senior leader Neil took on the role of independent educational consultant with great success. He brings with him an astute understanding of school improvement.

Now fully retired, Neil has just completed a period of 20 years as a primary governor. He openly describes himself as “sport mad” and a proud family man.

A career public servant, Richard joined the then Department of Social Security in the late 1980s and held a number of operational and corporate roles across central government until 2005 when he took on the role of Head of Strategy and Planning for the Disability and Carers Service. In the DCS he successfully led a comprehensive spending review planning round and oversaw a merger with the Pension Service to create the Pension, Disability and Carers Service. In 2007 Richard joined the Senior Civil Service as a major change programme leader and during this time he created a number of new services, including a service to bereaved benefit recipients and pensioners.

In July 2013 Richard took on accountability for the Government’s benefit fraud and error operations and led the creation of a new Fraud and Error Service. Richard became Head of Disability Operations, responsible for the delivery of benefits to around 3m disabled people. Most recently, in March 2016, Richard was appointed the DWP Benefit Services Director and currently has responsibility for 22,000 colleagues, delivering working age and disability benefits to around 8 million citizens each year.

In March 2015, Richard joined the Board of The GORSE Academies Trust, having previously been Chair of Governors at a west Leeds primary school.

Jennifer is the University Secretary & Registrar of the University of Leeds and is responsible, amongst other things, for providing advice and support to the Governing Body (Council), Senate and their committees.

Jennifer has worked in the Higher Education sector since 1996, most recently as University Secretary at Durham University and previously as Director of Policy, Planning and Governance at the University of Aberdeen.

Prior to moving to Higher Education, Jennifer worked within the Financial Services sector and in the Civil Service. She studied law at the University of Aberdeen (LLB Hons; and Diploma in Legal Practice), has a Bachelor of Arts from the Open University and a MBA (Higher Education) from University College London Institute of Education.

Jennifer joined The GORSE Academies Trust as a corporate representative of the University of Leeds, following the formal partnership between the Trust and the University when establishing the Leeds Mathematics School.

Anne joined the TGAT Board in 2016 and is currently Chair of Governors at The Farnley Academy, one of the trust’s earliest success stories. Following the intervention of Sir John Townsley and a team from Morley High School, the school made rapid improvements leading to an ‘outstanding’ judgement by Ofsted in 2013.

Anne worked in education for the whole of her career in a range of secondary schools in the Midlands and West Yorkshire. She was Deputy Head at Morley High School from 1998 – 2010 during which time the school received its first Outstanding Ofsted judgement. Anne also played a leading part in the school’s intervention at Rodillian High School, Leeds.

Now retired, Anne also worked as an Additional Inspector, contributing to numerous school inspections in the Midlands and the North of England.

Richard is a qualified actuary who advises companies and trustees across the UK on ways to manage the costs and risks associated with operating defined benefit pension schemes. With a focus on the Yorkshire, Humber and North East region Richard has led on some of the most high profile and complex pension projects involving stakeholders ranging from pension scheme members through to regulatory bodies.

As might be expected for a qualified actuary, Richard is passionate about maths and, in particular, the benefits that strong numeracy can bring to improve a young person’s confidence and future prospects.

Sir John joined Morley High School as its Headteacher in 2003. Prior to that he was Deputy Headteacher at The King’s School, Pontefract and Prince Henry’s Grammar School, Otley. Whilst at The King’s School he led a team of teachers who spent a year developing and writing Positive Discipline which is now the dominant behaviour framework across schools in England.

Under his leadership Morley High School was judged as Outstanding in 2009, and then again as The Morley Academy in 2013. In 2009 Sir John was asked to intervene at Farnley Park High School which was at that point in crisis. The Farnley Academy was the first of the GORSE academies to be transformed from Inadequate to Outstanding in only three years. The trust has now pushed forward, opening an exciting range of free schools and playing a major role in challenging underperformance and creating exciting learning opportunities for children and young people in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the Leeds city region.

Sir John now leads a trust which is considered to be among the very best in the country.

Steve has been a School Governor for over 20 years and the Chair of Governors at Boston Spa for over 15 years.

In his professional career, before taking early retirement in 2017, Steve held responsibility for the worldwide IT infrastructure of a major British multinational retailing company, leading a team of highly multi-skilled and dedicated IT specialists. Steve held budgetary responsibility for multi-million pound investments and is proud of a track record of having brought all projects in on time and to budget. Steve has a keen grasp of finance and leadership as well as an extraordinary wealth of IT experience.

Sue Slee joined The GORSE Academies Trust Board in October 2015. Prior to that she had a long career in Human Resources and Change Management predominately with Yorkshire Television based in Leeds and then ITV based in London. Sue retired from ITV in January 2010 from the position of Human Resources Director continuing in a part time consultancy position and as a trustee on the ITV pension scheme.

Under her leadership she re-engineered the ITV group wide HR function into divisional business partnerships and centralised HR administration and service delivery into a centre of excellence based in Manchester.

Sue was the lead employee relations director who successfully consulted and negotiated with employee and national union representatives on several projects.

Ryan has been a governor at several schools and has over 10 years of experience chairing governing bodies, committees and academy advisory boards.

He has worked internationally on public policy programmes, including Westminster Foundation for Democracy projects focused on increasing participation of young people and women in policymaking and political systems in Latin America, The Balkans and East Asia. Within the domestic education arena, he retains an interest in SEND provision as well as strategies proven to level-up the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, particularly those living informer industrial communities.

Ryan is a City Councillor and represents the villages of Outer North East Leeds. He is Shadow Cabinet Member for Education and sits on the local authority’s Children & Families Scrutiny Board having led high-profile scrutiny inquiries into school place planning and funding allocation in Leeds.

Ryan’s connection to schools now within the GORSE family is personal as well as professional; Boston Spa Academy is the preferred choice of parents he represents at Civic Hall and, on a personal level, his father attended Cow Close Secondary School (now The Farnley Academy), where his grandmother also worked as a dinner lady in the 1960s.

Tracey has worked for 18 years in a variety of schools; teaching across EYFS, KS1, KS2 and KS3, as well as holding senior positions as a deputy head and acting headship. Prior to her current role, she was a National Strategies Consultant and a Primary Adviser.

Tracey’s current role involves leading the local authority team of consultants and leading on Improving Outcomes for Disadvantaged Learners in Leeds.

In this role, Tracey works closely with the Head of Service for School Improvement in the LA, supporting him with LA priorities, and delivers training and support on a range of subjects including Leadership and Curriculum Design.

Tracey is currently Vice Chair of Governors and a Chair of the standards subcommittee in a Bradford Secondary school facing significant challenges.

Louise Banahene leads Educational Engagement at the University of Leeds. She provides leadership on the University’s broad range of education engagement to support recruitment and widening participation including school partnerships, contextual admissions, and student success. In 2017 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to Higher Education.

She is the strategic lead for the Go Higher West Yorkshire partnership – a collaboration between thirteen higher education providers across the region working together to develop higher level skills provision, outreach to widen access/target under-represented groups and new programme development. She has served as elected Chair of the Russell Group Widening Participation association.

Jon has been involved in governance since 2009, initially starting out as a parent governor at Morley Newlands Academy. Since then, Jon has held multiple governorship roles including as a chair and vice-chair of several governing bodies.

Jon has predominantly spent his working life involved with transformation and change. This has included leading large transformation programmes at Centrica and British Gas. Jon was also the GORSE programme manager for the opening of Leeds Mathematics School, a programme he describes as the most rewarding in his career. Now working as a management consultant, Jon continues to lead transformation programmes and advise on change management.

Adam was born in Leeds and attended Batley Grammar School before entering the world of surveying with Bernard Thorpe in 1989, a company he still works for 35 years later. Adam heads up the Office Agency team for Yorkshire and the Northeast region, working with landlords, occupiers, and developers, delivering multi-skill advice to complex commercial property problems. Adam has worked extensively (from a property perspective) in the educational field, having worked with Leeds City College, Leeds Beckett University, Sheffield Hallam University amongst others, including involvement with student residential projects.

Adam has experience of schools as a parent, from both private and state schools via his two daughters. He strongly believes that a positive school experience, can be paramount in keeping a child going, through times of struggle, conflict, or challenge. The importance of a school providing a consistent and nurturing environment, cannot be over-emphasised for many students.

Andy is the HR Director for Arla’s UK Supply Chain organisation. He leads the People strategy as Arla invests £300m into its UK Dairy sites. He also sponsors the Early Careers programme for the total UK business and holds a particular passion for increasing the number of women and young people working in the food industry. Prior to this, Andy lived abroad for seven years working in Nigeria and the UAE in HR leadership positions for Arla. In these markets he delivered major change programmes and established talent management practices to keep pace with ambitious growth agendas. He also held project roles for Arla in Denmark and Hong Kong.

He is married and lives in York, having moved back to the UK in early 2023. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Management from the University of Manchester.

Ailsa joined The GORSE Academies Trust as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in January 2023, following twenty years in the education sector, including six years as CFO for an academy trust in Bradford.

In her role, Ailsa has strategic responsibility for all aspects of trust finance, providing insight into commercial decision making, and strong financial leadership and guidance. Ailsa’s position includes delivering operational rigour and high-level direction, playing an integral role in supporting the growth and development of the trust, and ensuring it continues to be financially viable.

Ailsa is a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL), is CIPFA Level 7 qualified and holds an MBA in Educational Management with Distinction.