Trustee Biographies (ID 1007)

• Diane Ault
  Chair of Finance & Resources Committee
  Diane Ault

  Diane is a Trustee of Olympus Academy Trust, Chair of Olympus Finance and Resources Committee and a Member of Winterbourne Academy School Improvement Committee. She is a Senior Finance Manager at Lloyds Banking Group specialising in External Financial Statutory Reporting and Commercial management information (MI) & Analysis and has worked in Financial Services for 20 years, prior to this Diane worked in Accounting and Audit practice. She has been a qualified Chartered Accountant for over 24 years and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

  Diane's specialist areas are:

  • External financial reporting of both statutory and regulatory returns
  • Delivering commercial MI and analysis to senior management supporting key business strategies
  • Financial Management and Reporting with extensive experience in Cost management and contract support

  Diane lives in Winterbourne with her husband and 2 sons.

• Paul Davies
  Chair of Audit & Risk Committee
  Paul Davies

  Paul has been a Trustee to the Board since January 2017, and is also Chair of Audit & Risk Committee.

  Paul has 11 years' experience of governance within Olympus at Primary, Secondary and Trust-wide Levels. His time as a Community Governor at Winterbourne Academy between 2018 and 2022 included three and a half years as Chair of the School Improvement Committee. He was also a Community Governor at Charborough Road Primary School between 2014 and 2019, which included time as both Vice Chair and Chair of the Local Governing Committee.

  Paul is a Chartered Internal Auditor, and currently manages the risk & governance framework and control environment for the internal audit and whistleblowing function of a large UK financial services organisation. He also has previous experience of project and change management, and recruitment, and is a past member of a local Youth Centre management committee.

  Paul lives in Stoke Gifford with his wife, daughter (who studies with Olympus) and dog!

• Michael Fry
  Audit & Risk Committee & Lead Trustee for SEND & Disadvantaged Students
  Michael Fry

  Michael has been a Trustee since 2016 and is Vice Chair Audit and Risk Committee, the nominated Trustee for SEND, and was a Governor/Chair of Governors at Filton Hill Primary School between 1995 and 2022

  Retired since 2018, Michael was formerly a healthcare operational estates professional with a building services background with over 30 years' experience of working in the NHS for a large local Acute Trust. He moved into consultancy with Capita Healthcare in 2008 taking on several roles as Interim Director of Estates and Facilities for several Acute Trusts in the South West and Wales, leading multi-disciplinary teams maintaining and enhancing the Trusts' estate portfolio.

  As a governor at Filton Hill Primary School, Michael developed a close working relationship with all of the staff from teachers, TA's to support staff. This allowed him to gain an in depth understanding of methods of teaching and how progress is monitored and supporting data produced.

• Mark Glinwood
  Chair of Remunerations & Nominations Committee
  Mark Glinwood

  Mark joined the Board as a Trustee in January 2024. An experienced HR executive holding a Master's degree in Human Resource Management, Mark is a founding partner of Distinctive People HR & OD Consultancy.

  Mark brings specialist expertise in the areas of reward and change management combining a powerful mix of commercial, technical and people skills that have enabled him to deliver outcomes adding true value to the organisations with whom he has worked. Mark has held senior positions within the Metropolitan Police, NHS and a leading national based housing association. He brings 15 years Trustee/NED experience serving on a diverse range of Boards focused on delivering social housing & care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

• Isabel Marsden
  Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of Trust Improvement Committee and Whistle Blowing Trustee
  Isabel Marsden

  Isabel is currently in her third term of office as an Olympus Trustee, having joined the Board in December 2014. Isabel is Vice Chair of Trustees and is Chair of the Trust Improvement Committee. She is also the Lead Trustee for the Olympus Secondary phase.

  Isabel has more than 15 years' experience of local governance of schools both inside and outside Olympus and at both Primary and Secondary Levels. Isabel was a Community Governor at Barrs Court Primary in the late nineties, a Parent Governor at St Michael's Primary in Stoke Gifford from February 2008 – December 2013 and was a Parent Governor at Abbeywood Community School from November 2012 to November 2020. Isabel chaired the Local Governing Body at St Michael's from October 2009 – October 2013 and the Local Governing Committee at Abbeywood from October 2014 – October 2019.

  Isabel's professional background is within maths education, and she now has over 30 years' experience in this sector. She has taught at schools in South Gloucestershire, Bristol and North Somerset and was Head of Maths at Nailsea Secondary School from September 1999 – July 2003. Isabel then worked as a Numeracy Consultant for North Somerset from September 2003 until August 2008, before setting up her own company in January 2009 working as an education consultant. Isabel closed her company in July 2015 but has continued to work on a self- employed basis, teaching mathematics in a variety of contexts.

• Ross Newman
  Safeguarding Trustee
  Ross Newman

  Ross has been in primary education for the past 20 years. Upon qualifying he was recruited to the Fast Track programme which aimed to train new leaders ready for a senior position within their first five years of teaching.

  As a result of the programme and the experiences he was lucky enough to have  first became have been a headteacher in 2009 and since 2016 has served as an Executive Headteacher.  Ross has been Headteacher of three schools and Executive Head of a further two. He holds the NPQH, NPQEL, a Level 7 coaching qualification and is in the final stages of his Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. He is currently the Executive Headteacher of the Forest Hill Partnership of Kings' forest Primary School, Little Forest Nursery and Staple Hill Primary School.

  As a designated Local Leader of Education he has worked to support many other primary schools in the South West and is currently working as Consultant Headteacher for one day per week for the Hanham Primary Federation as part of this work.

  Since 2014 he has worked as an additional inspector for OFSTED conducting around six inspections each year. He worked for South Gloucestershire as a School Improvement Advisor and as a mentor for new Headteachers and Executive Headteachers. He also chairs the South Gloucestershire Primary Executive Heads Network and training programme.

  For a few years he acted as Safeguarding link governor for BSCS building a strong relationship with Susie Beresford-Wylie and extending his knowledge of safeguarding beyond the primary and early years settings he was used to.

  Ross has always worked in settings with higher than the national average of disadvantaged pupils and high levels of safeguarding needs. He has a strong knowledge of both the strategic and operational aspects of the leadership of safeguarding and is passionate about supporting children to be safe so that they can access the best education.

• Sarah Phillips
  Finance & Resources Committee
  Sarah Phillips

  Sarah has been a Trustee on the Board of Olympus Academy Trust since September 2019 and is Vice Chair of Finance and Resources Committee. She currently works as a Procurement and contracts Senior Officer for the Office for Students and has over 20 years experience of public sector procurement.

  Sarah was a Parent Governor of Bradley Stoke Community School for 10 years, holding many positions such as Chair of Wellbeing Committee and Vice Chair of the local governing body.

• Sarah Williams
  Chair of Trust Board
  Sarah Williams

  Sarah Williams is the Chair of Trustees, Primary Lead Trustee and has been a Trustee since 1st January 2015.

  Sarah has worked within governance since 2012, firstly at a local pre-school, then a local primary school and now within a Multi Academy Trust. Previously, her career was predominately within the Financial Services sector, working for global companies such as AXA, Zurich and The Royal Bank of Scotland. During this time, she obtained several industry recognised qualifications and a vast range of experience in leadership, management and HR practices.

  Since beginning a family, Sarah left full time employment to raise her children, but has used her skills gained in the workplace to help her local community. She is passionate about ensuring that all children receive the highest standard of education and are given the opportunities to thrive and reach their full potential.