Trustees
Graham Lawrence
Chair of Trustees
Skills & Experience
Governance Consultancy, Leadership, Public Sector, Charities, Strategy, Legal, Mergers, Governance (Post-16, Charity Trustee)
Biography
Graham has worked as a Chartered Secretary/Governance Professional for over 18 years, initially working as a Company Secretary in the charity sector, social housing and the NHS but for the last 10 years as a consultant advising and training boards and chairs on governance and leadership. Graham has also advised on strategy development, risk, and compliance and has used this experience in his role as a Governor at Collyer’s, including as Chair of the Estates Committee for three years and as Chair of the Governing Body since September 2022. Graham has a good knowledge of the governance structure for a MAT – a company limited by guarantee – and extensive experience of working with chairs and boards in newly-formed, merged and enlarged organisations so understands the executive and non-executive leadership which is required for success in these circumstances. He also has significant experience of regulatory compliance and managing relationships with regulators and other stakeholder organisations. Graham enjoys leading people individually and collectively to achieve a set of agreed objectives and deliver a strategy and is keen to have the opportunity to continue this in the MAT when it is formed, to work for the benefit of students in Horsham.
Dan Lodge
Skills & Experience
Education, Leadership, Partnerships, Governance (Secondary & Post-16)
Biography
After an early career in marketing for international companies, Dan qualified as a teacher in 2004 and has spent over 20 years in education as a teacher and then senior leader working in three large outstanding sixth-form colleges. At Reigate College he launched one of the very first PGCE courses in a sixth form college as well as teaching GCSE in a local partner 11-16 school. Moving to Esher College as Assistant Principal and then Vice Principal (Pastoral), Dan managed a range of key student services including being the designated safeguarding lead. Now working at Collyer’s since 2017, Dan led quality and curriculum as Vice Principal - both years achieving top state provider of A Levels in West Sussex - and took over as Principal in 2020. Acting as Accounting Officer for the College, he has recently guided Collyer’s through a fundamental review of its mission, vision and values as well as development of a suite of strategic plans and delivering £5M of capital building projects. He was until recently Chair of S7 – the consortium of eight sixth form colleges in the southeast of England. Dan lives in Horsham, his wife works at a local primary school and his two children attended Forest Play Group, Heron Way, Forest / Millais and then Collyer’s.
Patricio Colombo
Skills & Experience
GDPR, IT, Business, Compliance, Governance (Secondary)
Biography
Patricio has an extensive career in IT (30 years), having been a Chief Information Officer, with management of teams and budget for 15 years. He is bilingual, Spanish being his native language and English his second. Patricio has recently been part of LIV Golf, where he setup and managed three offices in London, West Palm Beach and New York, and organised technology for professional golf events around the world. Other experiences include being CIO for Jamie Oliver for nine years, helping build the company from startup to an organisation employing 5000 staff. Patricio is an active member of the Forest Governing Body having been a Governor for the past five years including link roles for Modern Foreign Languages and PE.
Ann Donoghue
Skills & Experience
HR, Strategy, Commercial, Change Management, Governance (Post-16, Parish council)
Biography
With extensive HR experience working for Unilever for 25 years plus at a senior corporate level business partnering the CFO (main board member) and the global leadership team and other senior functional leads e.g. General Legal Counsel, CIO, Audit and CHRO. Ann has a deep understanding of HR practices and procedures, teamwork, collaborative decision making as well as the dynamic of Executive and Non-Executive. More recently, for the last eight years, Ann has been a Governor at Collyer’s including chairing various committees and for the last six years as Deputy Chair of the Governing Body. For many years Ann was a Henfield parish councillor and is now the Chair of the Henfield Community Partnership.
Jane Eaton
Skills & Experience
Leadership, Finance, Governance, Strategy and Organisational Development, Local Government, Partnerships
Biography
Jane is a local authority Chief Executive with over 35 years’ experience in a wide range of public services and 10 years as a Chief Finance Officer. Jane has a strong focus on organisational development, in addition to more traditional financial and governance roles. Her combination of strategic leadership, high emotional intelligence and professional background in accountancy means Jane combines exceptional service delivery with a warm understanding of customers, colleagues, partners and politicians. Jane’s collaborative negotiating style delivers agreement without confrontation with internal and external partners and she has considerable experience in making, breaking, and rebuilding partnership and contractual arrangements. In her profession, Jane currently mentors colleagues from other local authorities and is a peer reviewer for the Local Government Association leading corporate and specialist financial reviews of other Councils. As Chief Executive of Horsham District Council and a resident of Horsham Jane knows the town, the district, residents, businesses and voluntary sector organisations well.
Barbara Hobday
Skills & Experience
HR, Finance, Commercial, Mergers, Change Management, Industrial Relations, Governance (Primary, Post-16)
Biography
Barbara joined Santander UK just after the acquisition of Abbey early in 2005 and has recently retired. She led the HR workstreams for numerous substantial downsizing programmes including branch and regional site closures and transfers between corporate entities. Additionally, she has advised on the people related aspects of mergers and acquisitions and the subsequent integration programmes including complex changes to terms and conditions. She had accountability for ensuring stability of the industrial relations climate in a multi-union environment during a period of sustained transformation requiring strategic interventions to secure agreement mitigating risk to the bank’s brand and reputation. Additionally, Barbara was responsible for the HR Policy proposition and individual employment matters ensuring compliance with legislation and regulatory requirements. Barbara is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. She is also an advisory member of legal firm Eversheds HR Consultancy Panel and also sits on the Advisory Council of the Involvement & Participation Association, a not-for-profit organisation focused on supporting employers and trade unions foster positive relationships based on the ethos of partnership. Prior to joining Santander UK, she was Head of Industrial Relations at BAA plc based at Gatwick & Heathrow airports working with five unions. She was a Governor at Castlewood Primary School in Southwater from 2001 to 2013 and is currently a Mercer appointed Governor at Collyer’s and Chairs the Finance & General Purposes Committee.
Dom Valente
Skills & Experience
Risk Management, GDPR, Commercial, Finance, Audit, Compliance Governance (Post-16)
Biography
With 35 years’ experience in financial services, Dom has primarily worked in general and life insurance, but also in tax free investments (ISA, LISA, TESPS) and Lifetime mortgages. His first 18 years’ experience was in technology, building systems and services for insurance businesses, in the UK, South America and in the US. In later years he developed his career as a risk professional, initially in information security and cyber, and then moving on to business continuity, operational resilience and then financial, operational and strategic risk. During the last 12 years Dom has held a senior position in two insurers, developing risk management frameworks and driving their implementation with full legal entity Board engagement, and close supervision from the PRA and FCA regulators. Dom joined Collyer’s Audit & Risk Committee as a Co-optee in Nov 2021, and then took on the position as Chair of the committee on becoming a Governor.
Cliff Purvis
Skills & Experience
Legal, Governance (Secondary)
Biography
Cliff is currently Chair of Governors at the Forest School Horsham, a post he has held for 17 years. In total, he has been a Governor at the school for 26 years. His professional career was as a military policeman on leaving school in 1975 and since 1986 as a Sussex Police Officer primarily as a Detective focussed on organised crime and he retired from the Police in December 2018. Cliff has extensive experience in both education and school governance which he hopes to put to good use as the MAT sets up and develops over the next five years. Cliff is committed to providing Forest students and other children in Horsham with the best learning experiences possible and looks forward to the benefits the academy will bring to future generations of Horsham’s young people.
Jonathan Wharton
Skills & Experience
Finance, Leadership, Public Sector, Charities, Governance (Secondary)
Biography
Jonathan has worked in several NHS organisations having joined the NHS in 2004 as a National Graduate Trainee. He has worked across the NHS including mental health trusts, acute trusts and specialist trusts (turnovers ranging from £100m to £1.1bn). Jonathan is a qualified CIMA accountant. He attended the Kings Fund “Leadership for Senior Managers” course, graduated from the Leadership Academy "Elizabeth Garrett Anderson" course, obtaining an MSc in Healthcare Leadership and completed the NHS Going Beyond leadership programme. In his current role at Queen Victoria Hospital he leads the Finance and Procurement function as the Deputy Chief Finance Officer with responsibility for internal and external financial reporting, Trust wide training, transformation programmes and efficiency programmes. He is a member of two Trust board sub committees; the Finance and Performance committee and the Audit and Risk committee. Outside of work Jonathan is a branch member for the London Healthcare Financial Management Association (HfMA) where he runs member events for finance staff within the NHS, he has also been a group treasurer for the Tadworth Scout group which entailed pulling the group accounts together and submitting them to the Charity Commission. He is currently a Co-opted Governor at the Forest school and Parent Governor at neighbouring Millais School in Horsham.
Vinod Wagjiani
Skills & Experience
Safeguarding, Leadership, Public Sector, Charities, Partnerships, Governance (Primary)
Biography
Detective Inspector Vinny Wagjiani, a serving officer who has gained experience from the Metropolitan Police, Surrey Police, and now Kent Police. As a Career Detective, he has specialised in Child Protection work, advanced interviewing, and investigating serious and complex abuse cases. Vinny is a Chair of Governors for a Horsham primary school, and he has dedicated himself to sharing best practices locally, nationally, and internationally to help schools make the most of opportunities available to children and young people. He is passionate about making sure that every child has the opportunity to succeed. As an ambassador for My Emotions Activity Book, he promotes and advocates self-regulation of emotions in young minds, in order to help them grow into healthy and well-rounded adults. He has also become an ambassador for The Good Food Academy to ensure young people have access to healthy food. He coaches and mentors both children and adults to help them reach their potential. In addition to this, Vinny holds the position of National Police lead for the Health Practice Associates Council. In this role, Vinny supports the Council in safeguarding the public from complaints. Vinny is the Chair of the Race Equality Network for Kent Police ensuring the members are supported and have a voice and is also the Projects Lead for the Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage Support group (BAMREF). Vinny is the lead organiser for Light the Lakes, a National Police Charity Event which brings people to the Lake District to remember police officers who have died.
Steven Allen
Skills & Experience
Education, Leadership, Strategy, Governance (Primary, Post-16)
Biography
Steven is an experienced former teacher and Head for leading UK and international private schools. He has a strong track record of achievement in school start ups, development and improvement, strategic business planning, marketing and recruitment with a focus on academic standards. The state education Steven received enabled him to have a successful career. Having recently returned to the UK after 11 years in Asia, he derives great pleasure from giving back to education in his home town of Horsham and is passionate about the difference a first class education makes for students. Steven is currently the Chair of the Collyer’s Estates Committee and Chair of Governors for St Mary’s Primary School in Horsham.
