Centre Team & Trustees

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Centre team

Executive Leadership Team

Mark Talbot

Chief Executive Officer

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Beruk Berhane

Deputy CEO
School Improvement

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Stephen Barrett-Kinsley

Chief Operating Officer

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Claire Martin O’Donoghue

Director of Education

Karen Stant

Director of People

Senior Education Leaders

Claire Martin O’Donoghue

Director of Education

Lisa Hardy

Senior Education Leader

Vicky Stevens

Senior Education Leader

Other Trust Leaders

Natalie Alty

Trust Associate Lead

Phil Matthews

DCAT Headteacher (roaming)

Heads of Area

Karen Stant

Director of People

Jo Saunders

Head of Operations and Governance

Hayley Edmondson

Head of Finance

Marc Mulhern

Head of IT and Digital Innovation

Dominique Ivil

HR/People Operations Manager & Safeguarding Lead

Finance Team

Hayley Edmondson

Head of Finance

Rachel Bryan

Academies Finance Manager

Laura Stevens

Academies Business Officer

Amanda Smart

Senior Finance Assistant

Judy Brook

Finance Assistant

Jo Kinsella

Finance Assistant

HR Team

Karen Stant

Director of People

Dominique Ivil

HR/People Operations Manager & Safeguarding Lead

Kelly Peplow

HR Advisor

Leanne Connolly

PA to the CEO & HR Coordinator

Facilities, Governance and Administrative Team

Jo Saunders

Head of Operations and Governance

Keith Eddy

Regional Estates
Co-ordinator (West)

Dylan Williams

Regional Estates
Co-ordinator (East)

Danni Gregory

Governance Professional & Senior Administrator

Joanne Whitmore

Compliance Officer & Senior Administrator

Georgia Hunt

Business Administrator

Trustees

Angela Hamill

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Philip Hepburn

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Lesley Hurst

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Tim Manly

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William Payne

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Sharon Phillips

Vice Chair

Chair of People Committee

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Mat Phipps

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Amanda Roberts

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James Stanbridge

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Nick Taunt

Interim Chair

Chair of Education Strategy and Standards Committee

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Nick Wilkinson

Safeguarding Link Trustee

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Nicolas Wykeman

Chair of Audit and Risk Committee

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Associate Members

Keith Pailthorpe

Associate member of the Education Strategy and Standards Committee

Jenny Barnard-Langston

Chair of LGB Chairs’ Hub as an associate member of the Trust Board

Accounting Officer

Mark Talbot

Accounting Officer/CEO

Register of interests: Trustees

Members

Philip Bowden

Diocese of Chichester Education Trust Authorised Representative

Nick Taunt

Interim Chair of Trustees

John Preston

Appointed by Diocese of Chichester Education Trust

Rt Rev Will Hazlewood

Representative of Bishop of Chichester

Fr Mathew Phipps

Register of interests: Members

Terms of Office: Members

Our Performance

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Schools
Mark Talbot
Chief Executive Officer

Mark Talbot is DCAT’s Chief Executive Officer. He has been in senior roles in Eastbourne, Hastings and Berkshire for over 15 years.

He took up the full-time CEO role in June 2018 having been in interim charge from September 2017. He has a passion for Church School education with a belief that every child should achieve their God-given potential.

Key roles:

  • Vision, values and ethos
  • Trust Strategy
  • Trust development and governance
Beruk Berhane
Deputy CEO – School Improvement

Beruk Berhane is DCAT’s Deputy CEO – School Improvement. He is responsible for the educational performance of DCAT academies. He has worked in schools for 25 years. Beruk has a proven track record of working in collaboration with leaders to secure significant school improvement.

Key roles:

  • Quality of education
  • Collaborative school improvement
  • Leadership
  • Trust wide professional development of staff
Stephen Barrett
Chief Operating Officer

Stephen is the Trust’s Chief Operating Officer. He has extensive school experience, having previously worked as Director of Finance & Operations, COO and School Business Manager at various different settings. He has overall responsibility for overseeing the strategic development of the Trust’s operations; including Finance, HR, Operations & Governance and IT.

He is passionate about ensuring DCAT is providing a first-class service to its schools and ensuring that this has a positive impact on the outcomes for children.

Angela Hamill

Angela is the Headteacher of an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ two-form entry primary school in Bexhill.

Philip Hepburn

Phil is a retired Senior Manager with 30+ years experience in Operations and Facilities management of business and properties services for an international blue chip fmcg company and then latterly in a private health care. He has led and developed teams of in-house and contract staff to deliver a wide range of support services. He has been responsible for project managing building refurbishments and delivering new plant and infrastructure services.

Lesley Hurst

Lesley Hurst took on the role of the Diocesan Director of Education for the Diocese of Chichester, following eight years as one of the Assistant Directors of Education overseeing details in the diocese engagement with academisation as well as other projects.

She has spent much of her working life involved with education, including working with apprentices in the childcare sector and with a charity promoting STEM careers across London schools.

In her free time, she sings in a number of choirs; and Lesley’s other great passion is running. As well as taking part in various marathons during the year, she is often found negotiating the many routes across the Sussex Downs whenever she gets the chance.

Tim Manly

Tim is the CEO of Hurstpierpoint College, an ISI ‘Excellent’ independent all-through school in West Sussex.

William Payne

William is a retired civil servant who worked in prisons and on criminal justice policy. He is a trustee of two other charities.

Sharon Phillips
Vice Chair

Sharon is an HR specialist with 35 years experience at Board level, in facilitating organisations to support innovation, development, growth and change. This is within the context of a variety of sectors, having held leadership roles in Commercial, Higher Education, Further Education and Charity environments. Sharon has previously been a Trustee of the Sussex Community Foundation for 9 years, was a Director of the Sussex Chamber of Commerce for 6 years and is a Trustee on the Enterprise Board at Salisbury Cathedral, a Trustee of Family Support Work (established in 1890) and a lay member of the Chichester Diocesan Synod.

Mat Phipps

Mat is part-time parish priest of Hastings Old Town (St Clement’s and All Saints). He has previously worked as a solicitor, HGV driver, and bishop’s chaplain, and spent 7 years in Spain as a missionary and ecumenist. In his spare time, he is a researcher in Spanish and Latin American philosophical theology, and enjoys motorcycling and target archery.

Amanda Roberts

Having grown up in Chichester, singing in the choir of a local church, Mandy went to university to read music. From there she trained to teach children with Special Education Needs, spending the last 10 years of her working life as an headteacher of a exceptional special school in Cheltenham where she endeavoured to give every child the opportunity to achieve their full potential, whatever their strengthens and vulnerabilities.

James Stanbridge
Fortune 100 Technical Leader, Consultant & Coach

With 20+ years of experience in hiring some of the most successful diverse and inclusive teams in multiple countries, developing and hiring back returnees to the workplace. The ‘Go To IT Guy’ having led engineering, technical and operational teams across Asia & Europe, for 14 yrs as General Manager with Microsoft’s cloud business and a further 2 years as Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure with Oracle, James runs his consulting and coaching business from his office in Tangmere James has served on the Tangmere Parish Council since 2016, is the Election Agent for the Chichester and Bognor Green Party and coordinates the Tangmere Community Speedwatch team.

Nick Taunt

Nick’s career spanned 38 years of secondary comprehensive school education, the last role in 2000-2018 as Headteacher of Bishop Luffa Church of England School in Chichester. Involved  in supporting Christian educational work at Canterbury Christ Church University 2015-2024.  Having joined DCAT in 2018, he relishes supporting as well as challenging the Trust in tackling the tough test of living up to the Vision that ‘Every child achieve their God-given potential’.

Elsewhere, Nick is a Samaritans volunteer, and keen on walking, playing chamber music (violin), carving things and enjoying his eight grandchildren.

Nick Wilkinson

Nick Wilkinson is the Kent County Council (KCC) Assistant Director Contest and Serious Organised Crime. He has extensive experience in criminal justice, counter terrorism and partnership working. He was the chair of the Kent Criminal Justice Board (KCJB) from 2013 to 2016 and has chaired Kent and Medway Channel Panel since 2015. He also chairs Kent and Medway Safeguarding Childrens  and Adults Joint Exploitation group. He is the chair of the Kent Resilience Forum Delivery Board. He is a member of the National Counter Terrorism Advisory Group, Special Interest Group on Countering Extremism and National Far Right Working Group. He also chairs the national Local Government Association Forum on anti-asylum hatred. He retired as an Assistant Chief Constable with Sussex Police in 2012.

He was a nationally accredited gold commander for firearms, major incidents and CBRNE incidents.  In July 2000 he was in charge of the search for Sarah Payne and has delivered national training on responding to missing children. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and chair of governors at a large outstanding East Sussex primary school.

Nicolas Wykeman
Chair of Audit and Risk Committee

Nicolas has spent the last 15 years in senior management positions on listed pharmaceutical business including as CFO and Board Member. He is a chartered accountant. He is trustee of a charity giving voice to those in the criminal justice system and is involved in a homeless charity. Nicolas is passionate about ensuring all children have a good education.