ASPIRE ACADEMY TRUST - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
- Foundation Trustee
Anna has a background in education and not-for-profit organisations. Having taught for a number of years, Anna became involved in grant-awarding for organisations including Grassroots Funding, Comic Relief, Sport Relief and a variety Cornwall-based social funds. Alongside this, Anna is currently a Partner in Tor Mark Publishing, with responsibility for editorial and product development. As a governor of three Cornish schools, two with Aspire and one in the independent sector, she has particular experience in financial turnarounds involving restructuring and rationalisation. Anna is a member of the Diocesan Board of Education, Cornwall Council's SACRE and the Cornwall Community Foundation. She is particularly interested in pupil progress, the use of data to facilitate school improvement and safeguarding children and young adults. On a personal note, Anna is an enthusiastic supporter of dance involving young people and is Chair of the Board of Trustees for Duchy Ballet.
Job Titles:
- Area Site Manager ( Mid )
Job Titles:
- HR & Wellbeing Administrator
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Member of the Aspire Board
Following a 24-year career with Unilever, Brian did what he, arguably, should have done aged 18 and went to university. Fascinated by what makes the universe tick, he received a BSc in Physics (with Nuclear Astrophysics) from the University of Surrey, and, attempting to express this in art, he was awarded an MA in Ceramics by the University for the Creative Arts. Pursuing his passion for education, Brian was one-to-one tutoring GCSE and A-level students in physics and maths until 2020.
Brian is a qualified accountant (FCMA) and was previously managing director of a Unilever-NestleÌ jointly owned subsidiary, which he turned from loss into profit; he is currently chair of a profitable hotel company in Pembrokeshire. In the not-for-profit sector, Brian has wide experience as a governor: for a hospital trust, a sixth form college and chair of a community transport organisation. He lives in west Cornwall and his youngest granddaughter is at school there.
Believing that the best legacy he could leave his grandchildren is a well-educated, evidence-based world where everyone is encouraged to think for themselves in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation, he is delighted to act as a trustee of the Aspire Academy Trust.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
- Governance Officer
Claire provides support to the trust board and the hub councils, providing procedural advice to trustees and hub councillors. Claire is the key advisor to the Aspire Board of Trustees on matters of governance and their duties as a trustee. This includes dealing with conflicts of interest and managing the interests of the trustees. Claire is responsible for ensuring the trust complies with their Articles of Association and that company documents are filed accordingly at Companies House.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
Dan was born and raised in Cornwall and is currently a Vice Principal in the largest secondary school in Cornwall. He has been teaching for over 13 years and has a significant amount of experience in school leadership and is passionate about ensuring the very best educational opportunities are available for Cornish children.
Dan studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and specialised in Geophysics; his dissertation was on outer-rise earthquakes which occur as a result of stresses within tectonic plates due to subduction. He also spent 6 weeks carrying out detailed geological mapping of an area of Los Tres Picos National Park in northern Spain.
While his love of all things physics is obvious to all (for example, he has facilitated numerous school trips to CERN, the home of the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva), he is also a qualified Moorland Leader and takes an active role in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.
Job Titles:
- Area Site Manager ( West )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
David is a self-employed education consultant having retired in 2016 after fourteen years as a secondary school headteacher in Cornwall. After completing a music degree, he trained as a music and PE teacher and spent 35 years teaching in secondary schools across England, twenty-five of them as a senior leader. The majority of his consultancy work is with secondary schools, and he is currently the Executive Officer for Cornwall Association of Secondary Headteachers (CASH). David supports school leaders in their day to day work, organising conferences and representing them in many different forums both locally and nationally. In addition to his work with schools, David works closely with health providers across the county; he has a particular interest in Inter-Professional Collaboration and is committed to all agencies and schools working together with local communities to improve children's lives.
In addition to being a member of the Trust Board with Aspire, David is a Hub Councillor at St Breock Primary School and is Vice-Chair of Trustees at his local secondary academy in Wadebridge. He is also a Director and Trustee of Kernow Education Arts Partnership (KEAP).
Job Titles:
- Priest in Charge, the United Benefice of Carbis Bay and
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
Job Titles:
- Academy Improvement Co - Ordinator / Business Support
Job Titles:
- Area Administration Manager ( Mid )
Job Titles:
- Safety & General Operations Manager
Job Titles:
- Trust Lead Administrator / Safeguarding
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant, St Uny C of E Academy
Job Titles:
- Payroll & Wellbeing Officer
Job Titles:
- Area Site Manager ( West )
Job Titles:
- HR, Payroll & Wellbeing Manager
Job Titles:
- Area Site Manager ( North )
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
- Chairman of Finance, Audit & Remuneration Committee
- Member - Appointed Trustee / Vice - Chair of Trust Board Chair of Finance, Audit & Remuneration Committee
- Senior Managing Director at Harbert Management Corp
Michael Larsen is a Senior Managing Director at Harbert Management Corp, a privately-owned investment firm. During his 30+ year career in finance he has held a variety of senior management roles in Europe and the Middle East including 20 years with Citigroup/Citibank, joining Harbert's London office in 2004. A native of Los Angeles, California, Michael received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Boston University and is registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Michael is a Freeman of the City of London and Master of the World Traders. Until July 2022 Michael was also an Appointed Member of the South-West England Advisory Board (HTB), a position he held for 5 1/2 years. In addition he is a member of the Board of Directors of a U.S.-based charity. Michael and his wife Corinne reside in Cornwall.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Member of the Aspire Board
- Chairman of Trust Board
Penny is a retired primary school headteacher. For 18 years she worked in three very different primary schools in Cornwall - Constantine, Porthleven, and most recently at Archbishop Benson Church of England School in Truro, which became the first church school academy in the county in 2011.
On retirement, she took on the role of Vice-Chair of the Diocesan Board of Education.
During her 39-year teaching career, she developed a passion for special education and early years education. She was involved in multi-agency working and developing Children Centres both within the county and nationally, as well as partnership working with colleagues.
As a School Improvement Partner and a Local Leader of Education, she supported a number of schools throughout the county.
On a personal note, she believes that all children and young people in Cornwall are a part of the Diocese of Truro and should be given the opportunity to eagerly learn, develop their own skills, make progress and have memorable experiences within a high-quality dynamic curriculum.
She is an active grandparent to four young grandchildren educated and growing up in Cornwall.
Job Titles:
- Head of School, St Uny C of E Academy
Job Titles:
- Member of the Aspire Board
Job Titles:
- Health & Safety Administrator
Job Titles:
- Area Administration Manager ( West )
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Aspire Board
- Formerly Deputy CEO
- Trustee - Ex - Officio Trustee and CEO
Vanessa Bragg is CEO of the Aspire Academy Trust, formerly Deputy CEO since 2015. With over 30 years of experience in primary education, as a class teacher in both Yorkshire, Cornwall and Kenya, a Headteacher of seven Cornish schools including 15 years of Executive Headship responsibilities; Vanessa has also previously juggled roles as a School Improvement Partner, Chair of the Newquay Learning Partnership and performed various Headteacher Performance Management advisory roles. She is presently part of the RSC Multi Academy Trust Development Group which has been instrumental in designing the MAT assurance framework, published recently by the DfE.
Vanessa has played a key role in the establishment of two Free schools in the south-west, writing the curriculum plans for both the Marine Academy Primary Plymouth which was graded outstanding in its first full Ofsted inspection and Cornwall's first new-build free school, Nansledan School, Newquay. On a personal note, Vanessa is a founder of an African children's aid charity which focuses on providing education and healthcare for children affected by HIV, as well as providing grassroots projects for women and girls.
Job Titles:
- Business & Compliance Manager / Company Secretary