Trust Board Profiles

Geoff Payne became a member of the Trust Board in 2017 and has been Chair of the Board since 2023.

Joel has lived in Hertfordshire for over a decade, and has children at one of the Trust's schools.  He is passionate about the Trust's vision: to enable its schools to develop young people of whom we can all be proud, who achieve more than they ever believed possible and who are prepared to contribute to society at every level.

Joel's background is in finance, governance and technology.  He is currently a partner at a digital consultancy, specialising in large scale delivery projects using modern web and mobile technology.

Having studied French and European studies at University Jocelyn went on to do a master’s course in the United States in Political Science.  She went on to have a career in international marketing and product development and in 2001 set up her own business. 

Jocelyn was first involved in the Trust in 2015 when she helped set up and initially chair the Friends of Sir John Lawes School.  After that she was elected as a parent governor and later appointed as a co-opted governor.  During this time, she has served as the governor link for various areas including curriculum, learning and inclusivity and safeguarding.  She was also the governor representative on the Trust Admissions and Educational Standards committees.

Paul recently retired as a Headteacher of an Outstanding School in South Bedfordshire. Before working in a leadership role, he was a Music teacher in secondary and middle schools.

Paul has experience of taking a school into a multi-academy trust and has also served on the Central Bedfordshire School’s Forum and has been a mentor for new Headteachers. Previously he has also enjoyed a role in teacher training.

Andy started his teaching career in 1972 as a Physics teacher at Kingsbury High School in the London Borough of Brent.  Moving to Hertfordshire four years later he moved through a number of promotional posts to become Headteacher of two Hertfordshire schools.

After 14 years of Headship Andy transferred to work for the Hertfordshire Education Department first as Principal Secondary School Adviser and then as acting director of the Building Schools for the Future programme.  During this time Andy supported the changes taking place at the Bushey and Samuel Ryder Academies, both of which involved Sir John Lawes School.

After retiring in 2011 part time consultancy work followed, for 5 years, mainly as a schools’ adviser for Luton and for the past four years Andy has been a Governor at Ashlyns School in Berkhamsted.  Andy also chairs the Trust's Finance & Audit Committee.

Victoria became a member of the Trust Board in March 2022 and my two daughters currently attend one the Trust’s schools. She is pleased to support the Trust and its schools, and is looking forward to supporting the success of Scholars' Education Trust.

Victoria is dynamic, versatile and commercially focused, with significant and broad knowledge of Governance functions. She is a governance consultant and has worked for many years within the financial services sector overseeing the application of governance practices across businesses. She has also been a Trustee of a large Company Pension Scheme and a school governor. 

Sean became a member of the Trust Board in 2021. He has seen both his children go through one of the Trust schools and is delighted to help the Trust deliver on its vision and values. 

Sean's focus is supporting the Trust in the areas of Finance, Strategy & Governance, having held senior finance leadership roles in the Media, Technology, Travel & Leisure and Education Support Services. He is currently the CFO of a Fintech business in London.

Carley joined the Trust in 2024, and is a member of the Education Standards and Audit committee.  She is Deputy CEO of a specialist education trust across London and the North East of England.  Previously in her role as the Assistant Director – Education, for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough her responsibilities included setting the strategic vision and priorities for the work of the education directorate. Carley has extensive experience teaching in early years and primary settings.  She has been a senior leader and headteacher in a range of schools and has worked with a variety of local authorities as a school improvement adviser.  She has extensive experience of curriculum design, leadership development, coaching and mentoring, strategic planning, SEND and early years provision.  Carley has a proven track record in all aspects of school improvement and educational development coupled with a broad commercial experience including national consultancy roles, facilitation, programme development and school improvement services. These experiences have been further strengthened by the Executive Masters in Business Administration.

With a degree in French Bill spent his early career in Local Government and Higher Education management. He then served for 13 years as the MP for Harlow, the last 8 of those as a Government Minister at the Foreign Office and the MOD, but most relevantly as Minister of State for Further and Higher Education.

After 8 years as Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, he moved into the private sector at the end of 2019.

He has worked in and around Education all his working life and has an absolute passion for the capacity of education to transform and change lives for the better. Bill is keen to use his experience to help ensure all our students in the academy schools fulfil their potential and as many as possible benefit from going onto University.

Claire taught at a number of schools in Hertfordshire before becoming head of Sir John Lawes School in 2006. In 2008, Sir John Lawes became a National Support School and Claire was made a National Leader of Education, since when she has led on school to school support work with a number of schools, leading to the setting up of the Scholars’ Education Trust in 2011. In September 2022, she stepped down as head of SJL and became full-time CEO of the Trust.

Claire sat on the Regional Schools’ Commissioner’s Head Teacher Board for the NWLSC region for 8 years and is also a founder director of the Harpenden Secondary Schools’ Trust, which was established to promote wider educational opportunities across the town. She is a Member of the Harpenden Secondary Education Trust, the governing body for Katherine Warington School, a free school which opened in Harpenden in 2019, and also a trustee of the Atlas Academies Trust and The Kemnal Academies Trust. Claire was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2018 for Services to Education, is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, and an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford University.

Gemma joined the trust Board in the summer of 2024.  She is an accomplished Quality Management Executive with over 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, specialising in patient safety, clinical research and regulatory compliance.  She has spent time leading international teams, enhanced corporate inspection readiness and championed continuous improvement initiatives.  She has two children enrolled at one of the Trust schools and is happily engaged in supporting the Education Standards & Admissions Committees.

Clare became a member of the Trust Board in 2024.  Her professional background is in business consulting, with an engineering degree and an MBA.  In her early career she worked as a strategy consultant for clients in a wide range of industries, in the US and across Europe.  More recently she specialised in remuneration consulting, working with boards to design incentive systems for senior management, ensuring alignment with their companies’ success drivers and shareholder interests.

She has extensive volunteer experience in the education sector, having worked as a primary school governor for eight years, including four as Chair of Governors.  Previously, she also contributed to school fundraising and community engagement through chairing the school’s PTA and helping to stage an award-winning family music event.

David's career has taken him across most of the ‘built environment’ having studied architecture and worked in private practice before moving to construction, facilities management and facilities maintenance in a number of roles including; business development, sales and marketing, business change and operational roles. His current role is the Head of Sales and Solutions for Integral, a national facilities service provider and forms part the wider Jones Laing Lasalle business.