Our Team
Euan Imrie
- Chair of Trustees
Prior to his retirement in 2021 Euan was Chief Operating Officer at Charities Trust, and was formerly Bursar at Sandbach School. Before this, he was Group Finance Director at Littlewoods Retail. Euan has a mixture of financial, commercial and business experience which he put into practice as a Governor at Christleton High School for many years before becoming a Trustee. With a degree in Business Studies, Euan is also a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. He is Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
Darran Jones
- Chief Executive Officer
Having joined Christleton High School for his first teaching job, Darran now boasts over 30 years’ experience in the Education Sector. Rising from class teacher to the role of Headteacher of the school, on the request of Trustees, Darran took over from Nigel Follos as CEO of The Learning Trust on Nigel’s retirement at the end of March 2023.
With a background of teaching Economics, Darran not only brings extensive operational expertise but also vital experience to the role whilst being able to provide a unique perspective of all levels and areas within the school environment.
Darran’s role is to provide strategic leadership to allow the Trust to continue to develop, improve and grow in the future.
Lesley Carding
- Chief Financial Officer
After qualifying as a Chartered Certified accountant and working in practice Lesley joined us 18 years ago as Finance Officer. Her responsibilities have grown as greater delegation of funds occurred and she is now our Trust Finance Manager, responsible for the delivery and probity of a circa £20m budget. She works across the Trust leading the finance function and ensuring that we obtain maximum value of taxpayers’ money for our children’s education. Lesley is accountable to the CEO and Trustees who in turn are accountable to the government and audited by Crowe UK accountants.
Lyndsay Watterson
- Improvement Director
Previously the Headteacher of Queen’s Park High School, Lyndsay’s role is to help and facilitate all of our Students to make good progress at all stages of their education by identifying and coordinating opportunities for innovation and the introduction of new initiatives, designed to improve both student outcomes and Trust Financial Performance.
Dave Helsby
- Director of IT
Dave is responsible for the vision and implementation of IT across all of our schools within the Trust. As a qualified school business manager, he has a wide experience of leadership across multiple aspects of school life. Dave will be leading his IT team as they implement an exciting ‘cloud first’ system for the Trust, ensuring that IT enables all staff and students to achieve the best they can.
Phil Hill
- Facilities Manager
Responsible for the maintenance and development of all our facilities, Phil is key to the smooth running of the Trust schools. For more than 14 years he has worked to successfully secure funding and deliver over £10 million in refurbishment and building including swimming pool, all-weather pitch and numerous new school buildings. Phil can turn his hand to anything and can often be found working alongside his team of skilled maintenance and improvement workers. He takes an active part in setting and planning budgets and is responsible to Trustees and local governors for the health and safety of our school buildings.
Suzanne Wong
- Compliance & Governance Officer
Suzanne worked as Support Operations Manager at Christleton High School before joining The Learning Trust’s Central Team as Trust Co-Ordinator in 2021, and progressing to Compliance and Governance Officer in September 2023. She works closely with the CEO, CFO, and Trustees to ensure that the Trust’s vision is implemented by overseeing all aspects of governance, and compliance within the Trust. She provides direction and advice to the Trust’s schools, supports adherence to good practice and meeting all statutory and regulatory requirements.