Central Team (ID 1201)

• Ruth Walker-Green
  Chief Executive Officer
  Ruth Walker-Green

  Ruth has worked in education for over 30 years and has developed in-depth knowledge of the sector. She joined PDET in the role of Headteacher before being seconded to the PDET Executive as Head of Learning and Achievement. Shortly afterwards, she was permanently appointed to the Director of Learning and Achievement role and later became Deputy CEO. Following a rigorous national recruitment process, Ruth was appointed to the role of CEO and presently leads thirty-three schools across Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Rutland.

  Ruth has gained extensive strategic leadership experience; the effectiveness of which has been well documented by a range of personnel. She is able to lead at scale and is skilled in shaping the strategic direction of complex organisations with focused pursuit of strategic priorities. She is passionate about ‘making a difference’ - to advance education for the public benefit and ensure all children and young people flourish.

• Gill Broughton
  Director of Education
  Gill Broughton

  Gill has a wealth of experience in education which has impacted on children’s life chances in schools across the country. Application of her knowledge of school leadership began when leading a church primary school to an Ofsted outstanding judgement during her first headship, whilst achieving a MA Degree in Educational Management.

  Gill has experience of working in two local authorities including as an Area School Improvement Manager. She has also provided bespoke school improvement packages to schools as an independent consultant, has worked as an Ofsted Inspector and has worked for national educational providers in London and the Midlands area. Her work as an Education Advisor for the DfE Academies Division enabled Gill to travel the country working on projects with a wide range of schools.

  Gill has been a member of the Trust’s family since 2014 as an Academy Improvement Officer and, more recently, Director of Education and is ‘Proud to be PDET’. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and expertise in academy improvement enabling all staff and children to flourish across the Trust and aspire for excellence.

• Helen Buckley
  Director of Governance and Compliance
  Helen Buckley

  Helen is a qualified lawyer whose experience covers many years working in-house and in private practice in the City. She also has many years of experience as a chair of governors. Helen was involved in the creation of PDET in 2013 and the establishing of governance and compliance within the Trust. Her current responsibilities cover safeguarding, compliance (except for financial aspects) and inclusion.

  Helen feels privileged to have been with the Trust on its journey from the beginning to where we are now and to be a small part in helping to ensure that we continue to remain true to our vision of 'For every child, within our Trust, to experience an excellent education and to realise their God-given potential to flourish'.

• Lee Hughes
  Chief Operating Officer
  Lee Hughes

  Lee is a Chartered Accountant with significant experience in leading large teams and developing award-winning and high performing teams. With a career spanning a number of different sectors, Lee joined PDET as CFO in 2019 before being appointed to the role of COO in 2022.

  Lee is a Department for Education CFO Mentor, a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leaders and a member of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Working Group 1, providing system leadership to the sector through publication of the Academy Trust Handbook.

  Lee is passionate about education and improving life chances for all children and is presently serving as a Trustee of another local MAT.

• Annabel Moore
  Head of Finance
  Annabel Moore

  Annabel is an experienced finance professional who joined the Trust in October 2020 as the Head of Finance and is a qualified accountant with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). She has over 20 years’ experience in finance across a number of different sectors.

  As the Head of Finance she oversees and leads the central accounts team, with responsibility for the day-to-day financial management of the Trust, as well as budgeting/forecasting, reporting on financial performance and coordinating the external audit.

• Melanie Morris
  Head of Human Resources (HR)
  Melanie Morris

  Melanie is an experienced HR professional with a career spanning 25 years. She joined PDET in 2015 when it had just 13 academies and has successfully supported the TUPE process to increase the Trust to thirty-three schools.

  Melanie has a CIPD Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Development and is an ACAS certified Internal Workplace Mediator.

  Prior to joining the education sector Melanie worked for a global logistics organisation specialising in global people development initiatives and HR projects. Her international career included working for the IT division of TNT and the Road and Air operations division based in Belgium.

  Melanie is Head of HR and leads the HR team, she is responsible for delivering our people strategy. As PDET continues to grow as a Trust, Melanie must ensure that we develop people and grow our talent whilst managing the wellbeing of our people.

• Elizabeth McLaverty
  Head of Operations
  Elizabeth McLaverty

  Elizabeth joined PDET in August 2018, initially as an Admissions, Governance and Data Protection Officer. She was appointed Head of Operations in January 2023. Previously, she worked for 13 years in the local authority, as a Senior Admissions Officer, leading the annual school allocation process across Northamptonshire.

  As the Head of Operations, Elizabeth leads the Operations Team with responsibility for a number of areas including admissions, data protection, local governance, website compliance, training, enrichment events and data management.

• Daniel Parker
  Estates Manager
  Daniel Parker

  Daniel has worked in education for over 10 years, originally working in engineering. His journey in education started as a Behavioural Support Assistant, then progressing through different roles as a Site Supervisor, Site Manager, Operations Manager to now being PDET’s Estates Manager.

  Daniel has extensive knowledge in managing school estates, site personnel, health and safety, service contracts and school project management.

  Daniel is passionate about his role in PDET and is extremely driven to improve the learning environments for the pupils, staff, and visitors.

• Martin Adamson
  Lead Academy Improvement Officer
  Martin Adamson

  Martin has been in primary education for over 30 years most of which have seen him working in a variety of leadership role, including two successful headships.

  Martin has experience of being part of a local authority advisory team, being a Diocesan Support Consultant and is a qualified Ofsted Inspector. He joined the PDET family as a full-time Academy Improvement Officer in 2021 and very much enjoys working collaboratively with schools as we aspire for excellence. He has a particular interest in developing curriculum and quality first teaching.

  Martin is an active member of a local church and is often to be found at Franklin’s Gardens supporting Northampton Saints – COYS!

• Stephanie Awbery
  Head of Safeguarding and Inclusion
  Stephanie Awbery

  Stephanie began her career in education in 1989 as a qualified Nursery Nurse and then progressed through a variety of roles, from teaching at a further education college, to teaching at a senior school and then as a Vice principal and SENCo in a primary school.

  Stephanie has extensive experience as a Specialist Foster Carer of over 19 years, caring for children with particularly challenging behaviours, and has experience of working for the Police and Local Authority’s children’s services.

  Stephanie has experience of developing countywide pilot projects within Safeguarding and Inclusion, across different counties, to inform how we can support others more effectively.

  Stephanie is passionate about inclusion and enjoys being able to develop new ways of working to support all pupils and their families.