Board of Trustees

Our trustees oversee the strategy and direction of the trust and ensure that the professional staff work in the best interests of the charity.

In addition to their scheduled meetings the trustees regularly meet on special projects and to provide advice and guidance to the Chief Executive Officer, Principals, and other senior staff.

The current Trustees are:

• Mark Mitchell
  Chair of the Board of Trustees
  Mark Mitchell

  Qualifications

  BA (Hons) in Sociology , University of Leeds

  MSc in Politics and Sociology, University of London

  Current employment where relevant

  Retired, although acts as a consultant to the Ministry of Justice and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

  Employment History

  Employed until 2011 as a member of academic staff at the University of Portsmouth, as a head of department for six years and a Dean of Faculty for a further eight years. As Dean, had devolved responsibility for a budget of £12 million and leadership responsibility for 300 staff.

  School Governance Experience

  Twenty-three years' experience of school governance, eighteen of these as a chair of governors, including at a mainstream secondary and two special schools. In 2003 asked by Portsmouth City Council to chair the shadow board of governors of what became Mary Rose Academy. Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Solent Academies Trust since 2013.

  Chaired the Portsmouth Schools Forum from 2011-15. Appointed as a National Leader of Governance by the Department for Education in 2014.

• Sharon Burt
  Chief Executive Officer
  Sharon Burt

  Qualifications:

  • Senior Leader Master's Degree MBA, dual accredited with the Chartered Management Institute Level 7 Strategic Management & Leadership Diploma
  • National Professional Qualification in Executive Leadership Programme undertaken 2018 - 2020
  • PGCE specialism in English  
  • BSc (Hons) Social Policy & Criminal Justice

  Professional experience:

  I wholeheartedly understand the importance of every child feeling safe and happy to come to school. At Solent Academies Trust we proudly place pupils and their families at the heart of all decision making, and our senior leaders facilitate high performing teams to be innovative, courageous, forward thinking, and ambitious for our community, and beyond.

  I am passionate about driving high standards in education to achieve the very best outcomes for young people, and I have greatly enjoyed every minute of my 25 years teaching and leading in a broad range of specialist and mainstream settings.

  Our executive team and I are unwavering in our expectations for high quality leadership and governance,  strong partnerships, effective change management, innovative project developments, and coherent business functions which enable our trust to grow and thrive with capacity and integrity.

  Together we promote entrepreneurial challenge and innovation to impact widely on our self-improving school led system, improve equality of opportunity and increase social mobility for all our community. Current projects include establishing a city wide Inclusive Employability Hub, expansion of specialist provision including holistic therapies and services, and extending opportunities for training and employment for young people with complex needs and disabilities.

  I have been a Specialist Leader in Education since 2012 (Leadership and Management, SEND and Safeguarding), and place a high importance on using enquiry led learning as the flywheel to accelerating improvement in the classroom.

  My experience spans a broad range of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities including Autism, speech, language and communication difficulties, complex learning/ medical needs and social, emotional and mental health needs. Specialist expertise also includes sensory integration approaches, attachment awareness and use of PACE.

• Ray Mead
  Ray Mead

  Qualifications:

  MBA, PMP, Advanced Certificate of Marketing.

  Current employment where relevant:

  Ray is founder and director of p3m global, a specialist Portfolio, Programme and Project management (P3M) consultancy. In this role he has led a diverse team and worked with a wide range of clients, both domestically and internationally, across various sectors from FTSE 100 to central government. His recent clients have included Rolls-Royce, Vodafone, National Grid and the Irish Parliament (Oireachtas).

  Professional experience including organisations you have played a part in:

  Ray brings together the change management specialisations he has developed in his field with his experience serving as a City Councillor for Southampton City Council, as well as the outreach work he does for the PMI Educational Foundation which brings project management expertise to organisations around the World that would otherwise not be able to acquire it.

• David Hunt
  David Hunt

  Qualifications:  

  MA, MBA, ACA (Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales)

  Current employment:

  Managing Director, Glamox Luxonic, a provider of lighting solutions to the professional building services market.   Including design and manufacture and installation support services.   Based in Basingstoke, offices in London, Manchester and Glasgow.   Part of the Glamox Group, a Norwegian based company with operations across Europe.  

  Professional experience including organisations you have played a part in:    

  Europe and Middle East Regional Director for a US based privately owned, global food manufacturing business.  

  Commercial experience in manufacturing, defence and telecomms.  

• Julia Hughes
  Julia Hughes

  Qualifications

  BA (Hons) Sociology with Social Administration, Diploma in Management Studies, City and Guilds D23 Vocational Assessor Award, Diploma in Careers Guidance.

  Current employment  

  I am currently Head of Employability at the University of Portsmouth.    I have responsibility for   Employability and Enterprise across the University, I'm Chair of the university Student Support and Advice Committee and I'm involved in developing the new Student Hub.  

  Professional Experience

  I have worked in careers for over 30 years in various roles including Connexions Manager at Portsmouth City Council and Operations Director at South Central Connexions, responsible  for all operational delivery of information, advice and guidance services to young people across Hampshire, IOW, Portsmouth and Southampton.

• Gareth Morgan
  Gareth Morgan

  Qualifications:

  B.Sc (Hons)

  Ph.D

  Current employment where relevant:

   Currently enjoying a very active retirement.

  Professional experience including organisations you have played a part in:

   I spent my career working within the Pharmaceutical Sector.   I originally carried out medical research but moved into various roles within manufacturing, quality, logistics and distribution.  

   I was the UK Director for Supply and Distribution for Pfizer (UK).  

   I am an Advisory Board member for the University of Portsmouth Business and Law School (past Chair).   I give some talks to the business students each year on how to get funding for their start-up businesses.  

   I have also been Chair of Trustees for a local mid-sized charity (The Rainbow Centre).  

   I mentor CEO's within the charity sector and business owners on strategic matters.

• Andrew Hill
  Andrew Hill

  Qualifications:

  BSc Chemistry - Bristol University (1976)

  Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

  PRINCE 2 Practitioner.

  Current employment where relevant:

   Chairman of LogiKal Projects - a project management consultancy based in UK, Australia and Hong Kong.    www.logikalprojects.com

  Professional experience including organisations you have played a part in:

  I have 20 years of experience (1989 - 2009) working for BAA plc during which time I held a number of senior financial roles including:

  • Financial Director for Heathrow Airport Limited.
  • BAA plc Group Financial Controller - turnover ca. £2.8Bn per annum.
  • Finance and Controls Director for Heathrow Terminal 5 Project - project cost £4.3Bn over a six year construction period.

  Between 2009 and 2017 I was UK Managing Director for LogiKal Projects, undertaking both strategic and operational management of the business.

  I have also served in a non-executive director capacity for:

  Spelthorne Housing Association (1995-1997) - this appointment was on the formation of the Housing Association and involved key decisions on acquisition of housing stock from the local authority as well as setting up operating structure and governance from scratch.

  BAA Pension Trust (2006-2009) - the body responsible for managing the pension assets for members of the BAA plc pension scheme.   This involved handling complex risk issues which arose when the sponsoring company was subject to a hostile takeover bid.   The scheme assets were ca. £2.5Bn.  

• Sue Banger
  Sue Banger

  Qualifications

  MBA, PgCE, BA(Hons), ACIB, Cert PFS,  FHEA, MCMI, FInstLM, CMBE.

  Current Employment

  Senior Lecturer Solent and Winchester Universities

  Professional Experience

  I worked within Retail Finance for over 23 years through various roles from Casher to Divisional Director, within Personal and Commercial Management and Leadership roles, managing from 4 to a team of over 4000. I have worked with growing businesses as well as international organisations.

  I have also worked within Further and Higher Education, initially at Chichester College Group as a Lecturer and then as Director of Higher Education building curriculum to support local and national skills gaps for the incumbent students and those who did not wish or have the capacity to attend University in a standard format.

  I currently work as Senior Lecturer at Solent and Winchester Universities specialising on Management and Leadership Strategy which has given me the opportunity to teach utilising my experience within operations, strategy, management and leadership.

• Philip Slaughter
  Philip Slaughter

  Qualifications:

  B.Eng, M.Sc, DIC, LBS Sloan Fellow

  Current employment where relevant:

  N/A

  Professional Experience including organisations you have played a part in:

  Senior Executive in the Global Energy Industry

• Gordon Duff
  Gordon Duff

  Qualifications:

  Educated at Bay House School, Gosport, Hampshire (1980 - 85)  

  Subsequent qualifications gained via apprenticeship with Cyanamid GB Limited (Pharmaceuticals)  

  Current employment where relevant:

  Governor Services Co-ordinator with Hampshire Governor Services (Children's Services, Hampshire County Council), delivering training, support and advice to governors all across Hampshire. Gordon is the Co-ordinator for the New Forest & Test Valley districts within Hampshire and works closely with governors/trustees in LA maintained schools, stand-alone academies and Multi Academy Trusts in these areas.  

  Professional experience including organisations you have played a part in:

  Gordon spent many years working within the retail sector, managing large stores across the Hampshire region. In 2005 he took the decision, alongside his wife, to step back from retail and to focus on raising his young family. In 2007 he volunteered to become a parent governor at a large secondary school in Gosport and subsequently, went on to support many governing bodies in the Gosport, Fareham & Portsmouth areas. Gordon was designated as a National Leader of Governance in 2015 and in this role, chaired Interim Executive Boards and supported many other governing bodies with complex matters.  

  Gordon took on the role of Governor Services Co-ordinator at Hampshire Governor Services in 2020, working more widely with governing bodies across the Hampshire area.  

  15 years after taking on his first role as a governor, Gordon still passionately believes that strong and effective governance within the education sector, significantly impacts positively on the provision and outcomes for children.