PDET Board of Directors and Committee Members
Trust Governance Structure
The Board of Directors fulfill both the role of directors under company law and trustees under charity law and exercise the powers and carry out the duties of PDET. The Board of Directors is responsible to the Members of PDET as well as the parents, pupils and staff at its academies. Directors work through their committees and the Central Executive Team with the Academy Governance Committees to ensure the quality of education and financial management provided at each academy.
Four committees operate under the PDET Board of Directors: Audit and Risk Committee, Business and Finance Committee, Education Committee and People and Pay Committee.
The Board of Directors is the overall governance body and is accountable for the Trust. Local governing bodies, who are called Academy Governance Committees (AGCs) in our Trust, are committees to which the Directors have chosen to delegate some specific responsibilities.
Executive and Non Executive Directors
Directors and Committee Members (ID 1162)
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Ruth Walker-GreenDirector and Chief Executive Officer
Ruth Walker-Green
Ruth has worked in education for over 25 years. She joined Peterborough Diocese Education Trust in 2014 in the role of Headteacher before being seconded, full time, in November 2017, to the PDET Central Team as Head of Learning and Achievement. In April 2018, 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 in September 2021.
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Margaret HolmanDirector and Chair
Margaret Holman
Margaret was Headteacher of Bishop Stopford School, a Church of England converter academy for 16 years. During this time, she was a National Leader of Education (and Bishop Stopford was designated a National Support School). She was a member of the first Fellowship Commission of NLEs reporting to the Secretary of State, and she sat on the Secondary Heads Reference Group at the DfE for over 10 years. Margaret is currently a director of the Woodard Corporation and sits on its Education committee. She is also a director of the Woodard Academies Trust, chairing the WAT’s Education committee.
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Dr Gordon TempleDirector
Dr Gordon Temple
Gordon served for sixteen years as chief executive of Torch Trust, a Christian charity working nationally and internationally with people with sight loss.
A chartered engineer, Gordon’s early career was in research and development, later becoming managing director of two technology businesses, both operating internationally. He has served as a foundation governor for his village school for eight years, three as chair of governors. During this period the school converted to an academy as part of PDET. -
Andrew ScarboroughDirector
Andrew Scarborough
Andrew Scarborough is a Justice of the Peace on the Northamptonshire Bench and a long-standing member of the Borough Council of Wellingborough.
After many years working as a senior manager in the Post Office he moved into non-executive roles in 2000 serving for eight years as Chairman of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Trust and for nine years on the Board of Northampton University, the last four as Chairman. He was also a member of the Board of the East Midlands Development Agency from 2000 to 2004 and continues to sit on the North Northamptonshire Joint Planning Committee. Andrew is a school governor at Rowan Gate Primary in Wellingborough where he has just finished a seven year stint as Chairman. Outside of work and his voluntary activities Andrew is a season ticket holder at Northampton Saints, a keen follower of horse racing and an avid birdwatcher. -
Anup SodhiDirector
Anup Sodhi
Anup is an Audit Partner at Ernst & Young with experience of working with a range of businesses from large global to local entrepreneurial. Anup is the Office Managing Partner for the Luton office, responsible for over 200 people. Anup has previously been a school governor of a Prep School.
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Ryan HardingDirector
Ryan Harding
Ryan is a chartered management accountant and has many years experience across a number of large UK businesses within the retail sector.
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Hugh RavenDirector
Hugh Raven
Hugh is a solicitor, who trained and qualified at Linklaters LLP before becoming a Partner at Eversheds LLP in London. He was General Counsel and Company Secretary at Kier Group plc and is the General Counsel and a Board member at Willmott Dixon.
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Greg CracknellDirector
Greg Cracknell
Greg worked as a teacher in the Peterborough area for twenty years before moving to Northampton to become a Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton working with both undergraduate and postgraduate Primary Teacher Education students. He is a member of the Peterborough Diocese Board of Education. He is an experienced governor, including being chair of three different schools.
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Maxine ClewlowDirector
Maxine Clewlow
Maxine Clewlow was a Director of Schools for the LEAD Academy Trust in the West Midlands, a role supporting Headteachers and being responsible for the outcomes in their academies. Her work with Pupil Premium across the Trust has been noted in the Trust’s Ofsted Summary Review. She has been a successful Headteacher of Faith schools in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, both accredited as outstanding by Ofsted. As a Designated Support School and NLE, Maxine supported a number of other schools who found themselves in challenging circumstances. Maxine was seconded to HMI and subsequently was retained as an Additional Inspector.
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Tom HunterDirector
Tom Hunter
Tom started his career working in local government finance before moving into the finance technology sector, primarily focusing on delivering solutions for Multi-Academy Trusts. Over the last decade he has worked with a number of MATs, both internally and from the supplier side, helping them to modernise finance systems and processes. Having worked closely with PDET in the past, Tom is very excited to support the trust again in this role.
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Henry PriceDirector
Henry Price