The Board

The Board of Tees Valley Education are committed to supporting outstanding educational practice in a range of settings. 

Suzanne Hague (nee Withrington)

Chair

Appointed by Members

Term of office is 4 years

Date of appointment: May 2023

 Suzanne is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and has a wealth of knowledge of the UK higher education sector and is an experienced educational leader at Teesside University International Business School.  A key area of Suzanne’s responsibility is focused on enterprise and knowledge exchange; a role which connects the regions business community with education (in and extra-curricular) to stimulate organizational growth and competitiveness that includes providing students with enterprise opportunity.

Furthermore, Suzanne has a passion to providing opportunity for young people and fully understands the challenges the region faces, the importance of levelling up, and the impact this agenda will have on young people from the most disadvantaged areas in the future.

Richard Hodges (Member and Trustee)

Chair of Audit, Risk and Finance Committee
Safeguarding and Health and Safety Trustee

Appointed by Headteachers Board and Regional Schools Commissioner as part of original application
Date of re-appointment: July 2023
Term of office is 4 years

Richard is a very experienced school governor. He was chair of TVED since its inception in September 2015 through to July 2018. Before that, he was chair of Brambles Primary Academy (2012 onwards) which is now an academy in TVED. During his tenure, a new headteacher was appointed; the school became an academy and, in 2014, was judged by Ofsted to be outstanding, with strong governance. Richard is also the link Trust Member to the board.

Professionally, Richard is a technical safety engineer and manager with extensive experience in environment, health, safety and quality management systems, risk management, leading teams, people management, audit and ensuring compliance. With his professional expertise, he continues to lead within TVED on health and safety and risk management.

Katrina Morley (Trustee)

CEO of the Trust
Appointed by Trustees
SEND Trustee
Date of appointment: July 2015

As CEO of Tees Valley Education (TVED) Multi-Academy Trust, Katrina has over 20 years of experience in the education sector. The last 15 years of that time have involved a range of leadership roles, in a variety of establishments, all of which have been graded by Ofsted as ‘Good with Outstanding features’ or ‘Outstanding’.

Currently, TVED has five academies including a new free special school, which opened in September 2018. Due to the Trust’s expertise in a range of inclusive practices and success in supporting children’s educational and pastoral opportunities, TVED also has an established outreach offer working with a variety of strategic partners across Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland as well as others regionally and nationally. Katrina sits on SSAT’s national primary board and was part of the team who contributed to SSAT’s NPQML (National Professional Qualification in Middle Leadership) course – which is also ran at TVED.

Norma Newell (Member)

Appointed by Headteachers Board and Regional Schools Commissioner as part of original application
Date of appointment: July 2015

Norma is a former very experienced primary headteacher, a post she held for 25 years in a large urban primary school in an area of significant deprivation in Teesside. During her headship, Ofsted judged the school to be outstanding in 1997, 2006 and subsequently. She retired from this post in 2012 and since then, has continued to be engaged in primary education as a school governor and education consultant. She currently works as a consultant with PiXL (Partners in Excellence), a very well regarded national not for profit organisation that helps schools to evaluate their performance and set aspirational goals. She is therefore very well versed in the interpretation of performance data and leadership in the primary phase.

Andy Taylor (Trustee)

Performance Management Lead
Appointed by Headteachers Board and Regional Schools Commissioner as part of original application
Date of re-appointment: July 2023
Term of office is 4 years

Andy has been a TVED trustee since the trust was set up in September 2015. He is a very experienced education professional with particular expertise in advising on headteacher/trust CEO performance management and supporting school leaders/ governing bodies and trust boards both to interpret and effectively use pupil performance data. For many years, Andy worked for Fischer Family Trust and continues to work with FFT Literacy and with a wide range of schools, providing school specific and generic training for school staff and governors on the best use of performance data.

He is also commissioned (at cost) to advise the TVED CEO on the performance management of the trust headteachers and advise the trust board on the CEO’s performance management. He is the trustee representative on TVED’s challenge board bringing particular expertise and challenge to individual academy pupil performance outcomes and also advising TVED headteachers and the CEO on the further development of their approach to self-evaluation.

Sister Anita Smith (Member)

Appointed by Headteachers Board and Regional Schools Commissioner as part of original application
Date of appointment: July 2015

Sister Anita is an active member of the Church of England’s General Synod with a particular interest in education and school governance. She is a former head of science in a large secondary school and head of a middle school. She has also worked at university level in the faculty of education supervising teaching practice and placements. She is a very experienced school governor, having served as a governor for 10 years including as a local governor at Pennyman both before and after it became an academy. She has a particular interest and expertise in children’s well-being and safeguarding and is Church of England’s safeguarding officer for the community she serves.

Paul Swalwell (Trustee) 

Appointed by Members
Date of appointment:
July 2022
Term of office is 4 years

Paul joined the TVED trust board in September 2018. Paul is the Business Manager / Bursar for a leading independent school in North Yorkshire. For his undergraduate degree, he studied Philosophy at the University of York and has since gained a Masters in Journalism and an MBA from Teesside University. Paul also holds Chartered Manager accreditation from the CMI. Born and raised in Teesside, Paul is passionate about his hometown and the environment. He is also a trustee of the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. 

Helen Dudiak (Trustee)

Appointed by Members
Date of re-appointment: July 2023
Term of office is 4 years

Helen joined the Trust on 26 September 2019.  Helen is an Associate Dean (Enterprise & Knowledge Exchange) at Teesside University.

Chris Zarraga (Trustee)

Appointed by Members
Date of appointment: January 2020
Term of office is 4 years

Chris joined the Trust on 01 January 2020.  Chris is the Director of Operations for Schools North East.

Catherine Devereux (Member)

Appointed by Members
Date of appointment: March 2021

Catherine qualified as a solicitor in 2003 and worked in private practice in a  local business law firm for 16 years specialising in employment law and HR practice, until she started her own consultancy in 2017.

She is a Trustee and founder of the Russ Devereux Headlight Project, a registered charity that was set up in memory of her husband who died in May 2018. The Headlight Project works in schools teaching children about mental health and provides one to one counselling and play therapy for children and adults. It also have a particular focus on helping families affected by suicide.

Catherine was chair of governors at Hutton Rudby Primary School from 2016-2020 and continues to be a governor at the school. She is a keen runner and lives in North Yorkshire with her three children. She divides her time between bringing up her young family, her consultancy work and running the charity.  She is delighted to be part of the Tees Valley Education school family.

Anne Cowley (Trustee)

Finance Trustee

Appointed by Members
Date of appointment: January 2022
Term of office 4 years

Anne is a qualified chartered accountant and is a Director of Bains Jewitt, where she has worked since 1989. Anne brings to her Trustee role a wealth of experience in strategic development, financial planning and people skills.

Adrian Dougherty (Trustee)

Chair of Standards and Vice Chair to the Trust Board, Pupil Premium Trustee

Appointed by members Date of appointment: February 2023 Term of office 4 years

 Adrian is a positive, engaging leader with strengths in strategic thinking, change management, team development, public speaking and building partnerships. Currently leading on North of Tyne Combined Authority’s Education Improvement programme, supporting 280 schools across Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland. He is also leading on Child Poverty Prevention programme, supporting 90 schools.  Adrian is committed to social justice and has a strong background in working with young people and leading in challenging contexts.

Jason Brine (Trustee) RESIGNED, MARCH 2023

Jason Brine (Trustee)

Chair of the Trust Board

Chair of Pay Review Committee

Appointed by Members

Date of re-appointment: September 2021

Term of office is 4 years

Jason joined the TVED board as a trustee in September 2017. He has a legal background and is a qualified solicitor. Jason has a history of working at board level in executive and non-executive positions, and is currently Group Solicitor at Vertu Motors plc, an AIM listed retailer operating over 150 franchised motor dealerships with an annual turnover in excess of £3.5bn.

He is an appointed member of the Department for Education North-East Advisory Board, the body responsible for advising and challenging regional schools’ directors on academy-related decisions.

Until recently, Jason was chair of the Joint Internal Audit Committee of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable for North Yorkshire Police and the owner and executive officer of a business in the tourism industry (café bar, retail, wedding and events venue). Previous positions include being a non-executive director and the audit committee chair of Scarborough and NE Yorkshire NHS Trust, and a non-executive director of the Yorkshire Moors and Coast Tourism Partnership Board, a not for profit organisation.

In addition to his current legal work, in general practice, Jason was General Counsel and Company secretary to Reg Vardy plc, a former FTSE 250 company. Jason’s public and private sector experience includes legal and financial management, governance and risk management, audit and strategy. Jason was recruited as a trustee via Academy Ambassadors.

Pauline Holbrook (Trustee) RESIGNED, FEBRUARY 2023

SEND Trustee

Appointed by Members
Date of appointment: May 2022
Term of office 4 years

Pauline joined the Trust on 23rd May 2022 and has nearly 40 years’ experience of working in the special educational needs sector. Pauline is also a trustee of Hartlepool Aspire Trust and she is passionate about special educational needs. Pauline believes all students can achieve given the right learning environment and support. Pauline also believes that to fully meet the needs of students we need to work in partnership with the family as they are the first educators, other professionals, and the wider community as together we are stronger.  Furthermore, Pauline has wrote a booklet for SSAT on SEND and Employability which was published in 2020.

Dean Jackson (Trustee) RESIGNED, DECEMBER 2022

Pupil Premium Trustee Appointed by Members
Date of appointment: September 2020
Term of office is 4 years

Dean joined the Trust on 30 September 2020.

Dean has previously worked for Northumberland County Council as Director of Education. Dean has a distinguished career, with 35 years’ experience in education and a proven track record in school improvement. Between 1992 and 1999 he was head of two schools in Northumberland. He has also held the post of Director of Education in Hartlepool,  and Lead Assistant Director of Education at Newcastle City Council.

Pecuniary interests 2023/24

PROFESSIONAL PARTNERS

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