The Trustees (Ethos Academy Trust)

Victoria brings to the board a variety of experience from industry, including Finance, recruitment and business management. After taking a break from employment to raise her own two children Victoria felt she needed to put her skills to good use and made enquiries about joining the original Management Committee of the Pupil Referral Service (PRS). After a year as Parent Governor, supporting the PRS to move from maintained schools to academy status, she was elected Chair of the new Trust board.

Victoria’s passion and commitment to Ethos Academy Trust is driven by a desire to connect with people who want to share their expertise and passion with causes throughout Kirklees that need help to support the most vulnerable in our community. She actively seeks out opportunities to network and introduces charities, schools and the corporate world so that they work together for the benefit of all. Being part of shaping the future of education for those with Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties is an honour and a privilege that Victoria doesn’t take lightly. She will strive to ensure that Ethos Academy Trust only enhances the opportunities open to those young people in Kirklees.

Graham enjoyed a long career as a partner in a private equity company having originally qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has served on a large number of boards including a number of not for profit organisations.

In 2015, with his family, he helped to create a charity focussed on helping young people in North Kirklees. The charity, Let June Make A Difference, is named after his late wife who died in April 2014.

Graham enjoys music and watching sport from the comfort of an armchair.

Gary brings 28 years of business leadership from his EMEA role working for Johnson and Johnson. He is a Chartered Management Accountant and successfully led Marketing, Finance, Strategy & Insights and IT functions during his tenure. He brings a wide range of experience, from creating commercial strategies in EMEA, to introducing initiatives to help improve employee performance through mentorship programs. He is passionate about people being given the opportunity to develop themselves and maximise their skills. He spent six years as a voluntary school governor at his old primary school. He is an official mentor at Leeds University Business School. He recently left Johnson and Johnson to pursue a career in mentoring & coaching to help businesses and individuals. He is also keen to help people improve their mental wellbeing and overall outlook on life. He is in the final stages of completing a book and program to help people improve their chances in life.

Karen has over 25 years of experience in a wide variety of HR roles gained within both a multinational chemical company and a professional services environment. Karen is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personal and Development and she brings this HR background alongside her Operational leadership roles, significant project management exposure and experience in managing diverse organisational and cultural change programmes to the board.

After chairing two apprenticeship trailblazers and supporting the development of the new T level qualifications, Karen changed career two years ago and is now a Senior Policy Advisor within the Apprenticeship Directorate for the Department of Education.

Karen brings with her a passion to support young people to achieve their full potential in all areas of life and is a school governor at the Manchester Academy. Karen brings both her private sector career and HR background combined with her more recent experience of developing policy options within the civil service to the trust.

Karen enjoys continually learning and trying new hobbies.  She is a qualified yoga teacher, Reiki Master, British Sign Language (Level 2), enjoys meditation and has recently taken up knitting – although still has not managed crochet!

Jem is an executive business leader in the global food and beverage industry. Having progressed her career in different roles covering Sales, Marketing, New Product, and Packaging Development, Business Development and most recently General Management, she has created a strong platform on which her leadership credentials are built.

Bringing a wide experience in strategic business planning for sustainable growth, successful change management, commercial leadership and customer understanding she considers these experiences valuable to support the central Ethos Academy Trust team in their mission to nurture inclusive learning communities. Believing that people are the key to any successful organisation; she brings experience of mentoring to help and support people to excel and realise their potential.

She believes education should be available to all regardless of background and circumstance, and that the work of the Ethos Academy Trust plays a great part in ensuring the life chances of its students are maximised.

Jem hopes that as a trustee, her business experience will help the Trust realise its growth aspirations and that it is able to support more and more children achieve their dreams.

Andy Percival is the Principal at Southway, an Independent School in Leeds that provides alternative provision and education for students at KS3 and KS4. Southway meets the needs of students who not only struggle with conventional education or, due to particular challenging and often traumatic events in their lives, often need a period of time in an alternate setting. Prior to taking up the post at Southway, Andy worked as Deputy Head for Rodillian Academy leading both behaviour and teaching and learning during the 9 years he worked there. Andy also provided behaviour consultancy to schools, both within Leeds and across the country, taking a leading role in all the school improvement conferences.