Woodard Trustees

Bishop John Inge was the 113^th Bishop of Worcester from 2008 – 2024.  In this capacity he was the chief pastor of the Diocese of Worcester, providing episcopal oversight to all associated with its 280 churches, working with colleagues, both lay and ordained, locally and nationally, to shape the life of the Church and nation through the Good News of Jesus Christ and, in so doing, proclaim God’s Kingdom.

He was introduced to the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual in 2012. He focused his work there on his particular interest in Culture and Heritage, International Development, and Media and Communications. 

Bishop John was Chair of the Archbishop’s Examination in Theology for ten years and chaired the Archbishops’ College of Evangelists. From 2014 -2019 he was lead bishop for cathedrals and church buildings and from 2013 until 2024 Lord High Almoner to Her Majesty the Queen, and then to His Majesty the King

Bishop John attended Kent College in Canterbury and then studied for a BSc in Chemistry at Durham University. He later studied there for an MA and PhD in Theology.  After completing a PGCE at Oxford University, Bishop John taught Chemistry at Lancing College before studying at the College of Resurrection, Mirfield, being ordained deacon in Chichester Cathedral in 1983 and, the following year, priest in Lancing College Chapel

After ordination Bishop John ministered as chaplain at Lancing College and then Harrow School, where he continued to teach.  After this, he spent six years as vicar of St. Luke’s Church, Wallsend, an inner-city parish on Tyneside, before moving to the Diocese of Ely in 1996 to be Residentiary Canon at Ely Cathedral, with responsibility for education and mission. He became Vice Dean of Ely in 1999 and Bishop of Huntingdon in 2003.

For a number of years Bishop John acted as Trust Protector of Common Purpose, an international organisation that helps people in leadership and decision-making positions in the private, public and voluntary sectors to be more effective in their own organisations, in the community and in society as a whole.

His A Christian Theology of Place (Ashgate, 2003) was shortlisted for the Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing. He has also published many articles and reviews.

In September 2024 Bishop John was presented with the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 2024 he was invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by His Majesty the King. 

Bishop John has been the President of The Woodard Corporation since 2017.

Dr Eve Poole OBE was educated in high schools in Scotland and the United States, and has a BA in Theology from Durham, an MBA from Edinburgh, and a PhD in Theology and Capitalism from Cambridge. She is the author of several books, including Robot Souls, Capitalism’s Toxic Assumptions, and Buying God. Her book Leadersmithing was Highly Commended in the 2018 Business Book Awards and described by Joanna Lumley as ‘inspirational, practical and fascinating.’

For 15 years she taught leadership at Ashridge Business School, pioneering a new approach to the accelerated development of leaders, using ground-breaking neurobiological research into how leaders really learn. Since then, she has pursued a portfolio career while writing books. In 2023-2024 she was Interim CEO of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and Interim CEO of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022. She was Third Church Estates Commissioner from 2018-2021, and the first female Chairman of the Board of Governors at Gordonstoun School from 2015-2021. Her early career involved working for the Church Commissioners and for Deloitte Consulting, where she specialised in change management in the Financial Services sector.

She is a Life Fellow of the RSA, Visiting Scholar in Human Flourishing at Sarum College, and Visiting Fellow at the Hult Leadership Lab. She is a Trustee of the Edinburgh Sacred Arts Festival and serves on the Scottish Episcopal Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group. She was awarded an OBE in the 2023 New Years Honours list for services to education and gender equality, and became Canon Prebendary of Newthorpe at York Minster in January 2024. Eve lives in Edinburgh and has twin girls.

Andrew is a Clerk in Holy Orders, a priest, in the Diocese of Ely, and curate at the University Church. Prior to ministry, he worked in both the independent and state education sectors, with over a decade in school leadership, both as a principal and as the executive director of a multi-site Church academy, serving some of the most deprived and challenging communities in both London and the North East.

He has served as a Director of the Future Leaders Trust, having been in the first cohort of the programme. He served on Heads’ Advisory Groups for Teach First and Teaching Leaders, completed the Future Leaders / Church of England MAT CEO course. He chaired the Association of Anglican Academy and Secondary School Heads. In a break from education, he worked in the airline industry as a market auditor and ran a travel company.

Andrew holds an MBA from Durham and is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Institute of Leadership and Management. Andrew is the Link Trustee for St Peter’s Church of England Academy. Andrew is the Vice Chair of our Board of Trustees and the Chair of the WAT Education Committee.

Howard Dellar is head of the Ecclesiastical Education & Charities Department at Lee Bolton Monier-Williams. He was educated at St Edward’s School Cheltenham and the University of Bristol where he studied Theology and Religious Studies, graduating with an MA in theology. He qualified as a solicitor in 1999 following a training contract with a firm in North Cornwall, and was an assistant solicitor in firms in Exeter and Oxford. He joined Lee Bolton & Lee in 2001, becoming an associate on 1 January 2003, a partner on 1 January 2004 and Senior Partner on 2 October 2020.

He is Registrar to the Dioceses of Ely, Guildford and Liverpool and is the Registrar of the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and is Deputy Registrar of the Diocese of Lincoln.

He is the solicitor to many charitable companies, Maintained schools, Academies, Independent schools and a number of Church of England Diocesan Boards of Finance and Education.

He advises the Church of England Education Office, the Whitgift Foundation and a number of Multi-Academy trusts.

He is also a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and is an executor and trustee of numerous estates / trusts and has particular interest in cross-border succession issues with France.

He is secretary to the Bletchingdon Community Foundation and chair of The Bletchington Charity and of The St Mary Magdalen Oxford Restoration and Development Trust.

He is a member of the Ecclesiastical Law Society and the Charity Law Association and Chair of the Ecclesiastical Law Association.

Mark Fenton is Chief Executive Officer of the Grammar School Heads Association, representing the headteachers of selective schools in England. He previously served as Head Master of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and as Headmaster of Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Amersham. His book ‘Dr Challoner’s Grammar School – the First 400 Years’ was published in 2024. 

 Mark has been a National Leader of Education, CEO of a Teaching School Alliance and Executive Head of a Free School. He has worked on school leadership projects around the world and holds both an MSc and PhD in Educational Leadership. A governor of several schools in both the independent and state sectors, Mark also works as a team inspector for Ofsted. 

 In addition to his education work, Mark is a Bass Lay Clerk in the choir of Worcester Cathedral. 

Paul has recently retired from a career in public finance which included senior management roles in all sectors of Education (Schools, Further, Higher and Research) as well as in Local Government. He lives in Devon.

He is a Non-Executive Director of the Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of its Audit & Risk Committee.

While at the Natural Environment Research Council, Paul was the Senior Responsible Owner of the £225m Sir David Attenborough Programme (the UK’s new polar research ship). He was awarded an OBE for services to scientific research in 2021.

Paul’s previous non-Exec roles include chairing the Avon Pension Fund Committee, membership of the British Geological Survey Board, Governor of Wiltshire College, and membership of Wiltshire County Council, Islington Council and B&NES Council.

Paul was brought up in Gloucestershire, attending two Woodard Schools: Llandaff Cathedral School and Bloxham School, before reading Modern History & Economics at Balliol College, Oxford.

Following a degree in English and American Literature Liz completed a PGCE. After teaching for 5 years Liz took up a research post for a government quango, followed by senior positions in a number of government agencies including the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Training and Development Agency for Schools, where she was Director of workforce strategy and qualifications.

Liz has also worked as a senior education adviser for Suffolk County Council where she completed an MA in Education. Her two most recent full-time posts were as a senior civil servant at the Department for Education, followed by Director of Governance and Standards for the Alpha Plus Group (a Group of 20 schools and colleges).  At Alpha Plus Liz supported schools in academic and pastoral issues.  She was safeguarding Governor for 4 years and led the Group’s work on the mental health and well-being of children and young people.

Her current  part-time work includes working for RS Academics, appointing senior leaders in schools, and working for CATS Global (a Group of schools) as the independent governor for safeguarding and compliance.

Liz is also a non-executive board member for the Association of Schools and Colleges’ professional development board.  

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Real Estate Management, Georgia undertook graduate training with Cluttons, the property consultants and Strutt and Parker, the surveyors and property consultants where she worked in their Landlord and Tenant team.  Georgia then moved to Nelson Bakewell, a managing agent in UK property, as a Property Manager working on such client accounts as Sainsbury’s and The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society.

In 2010 Georgia joined British Land, employed firstly as an Assistant Assert Manager working on the asset management of a £1bn, 13 acre, mixed-use campus in Euston including office space, retain space and community assets.  She also worked on the management of around £1bn of stand-alone commercial buildings.  Her role was varied and included oversight of development sites before and after construction and working through the closure of buildings and sites.

During this period, Georgia represented British Land on local Business Improvement Districts in the Baker Street Quarter, where she was the founding member and Vice Chair and the Marble Arch area where she was founding member.

Since 2019, Georgia has been an Asset Manager with responsibility for the financial performance of six buildings, with a combined value circa £2.5bn.  All the buildings are held as part of a Joint Venture and some are ‘securitised’, forming the base for interest-bearing securities.

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.

Fiona studied for both a degree and performer’s diploma from Trinity College of Music before gaining her PGCE from Reading University. Fiona worked for many years in Shropshire schools, initially teaching primary years with music then becoming a specialist teacher and adviser on special educational needs and inclusion for the school and the county.

She joined Prestfelde in 2009 as director of teaching and learning and was later appointed Deputy Head serving under Mark Groome. After a wide search, and having made contact with 130 heads and deputies throughout the country, Fiona was appointed Head of Prestfelde when Mark decided to step down in 2016.

During her time as Head, Fiona supported local independent school members of the Independent Association of Prep Schools acting as the training officer and organising Continued Professional Development for the group. She used this as a platform to establish networking groups between the schools for different subject leads, including for Deputies and Marketing Registrars. This helped to break down barriers and develop a forum of greater trust and support between the schools in the district. Fiona was latterly also one of the joint Chairs of the Woodard Heads’ Association.

Since retiring, Fiona has been working part-time as an educational consultant.

Having left Oxford with a BA (and MA Oxon) in Literae Humaniores, William started his career with JP Morgan, working in corporate finance and capital markets. He then switched to media and spent 23 years at Haymarket, moving to the USA as Chairman and Chief Executive of Haymarket Media in New York for ten years.  Haymarket Media mainly focussed on business media in compliance, healthcare, information security and various aspects of pr and marketing. 

William then became a Partner at Isis Venture Partners in New York, and director of Manhattan Media, which included New York newspapers, political, luxury and family magazines, events, and digital media.

Returning to London, in 2016 William became non-executive Chairman of Real Response Media, a specialist publishing and information business in the aviation, travel and cruising sector. He also became a trustee of Woodard Academies Trust (WAT) and was Chair of the Finance & General Purposes Committee.  Following the departure of senior executives, William was asked to step down as a trustee to become the Senior Director managing the group in 2019.  During this period WAT developed and implemented a new structure and new financial management, while new senior staff were recruited to take the trust further forward. William is also halfway through his MA in Modern History.

Sally’s background is as a solicitor. Having read Law at Oxford University she worked in private practice for over 16 years (Travers Smith Braithwaite, Stephens Innocent and Eversheds LLP) as well as in-house for the auctioneers Christie’s. She has a broad range of experience in commercial matters, governance, art, charity, and education law.

She then indulged her passion for art by completing an MA in history of Art at York University whilst working for the Public Catalogue Foundation cataloguing all the oil paintings in public ownership in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and County Durham. In more recent years she has used her legal skills to support a number of charities in the education and arts sectors.

She was Chair of Governors at Polam Hall School from 2010-2017, a period which saw the school change from being an independent school for girls to a coeducational free school which joined the Woodard Academies Trust in April 2017. Sally was Chair of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books for many years and her 9-year tenure as an independent Governor and Deputy Chair at Northumbria University has recently come to an end. She is a Trustee at Kiplin Hall, a Jacobean Manor House in North Yorkshire. Sally is the Chair of our Board of Trustees.

Alastair is a qualified Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of experience in various Finance roles, from 8 years in audit with Price Waterhouse through to senior International Finance roles in the Wine and Food industries.

In addition Alastair is one of the founders of Scottish Charity, Pickups for Peace which delivers aid and vehicles to humanitarian causes in Ukraine and is Chair of Finance and Estates at Gordonstoun School.

Alastair is married with 3 University age children and on his spare time Alastair plays golf, curling, skiing and hillwalking.