Board of Trustees
Jacquie Smith - Chair | Expiry of term November 2026
Jacquie has worked within the education system since graduation. Teaching roles have been within EAL and, for the most part, History to GCSE and A-level. Jacquie has considerable experience of leadership roles within education at middle and senior leadership level in west London. She was appointed Associate Headteacher of Lampton School with specific responsibility for establishing the Teaching School and the SCITT alongside Line Management of a number of departments and personnel matters. The role included supporting schools in category on behalf of London Challenge. The school was a founder member of Challenge Partners and as a Senior Leader, Jacquie participated in 6 Quality Assurance Reviews of other schools. Following her retirement from Lampton Academy in 2017, Jacquie has worked for the Teaching School Council as an advisor establishing their peer review model, assessing trainee teachers for Lampton SCITT, for the EEF on an EAL in the mainstream project and since 2014 for Schole on school improvement in Kenyan and Ugandan schools following the local curriculum. Jacquie continues to train emerging middle leaders for Researchers in Schools and coach senior leaders in London schools. Additionally she is responsible for some of the training for SENCOs undertaking peer review on WHOLE education’s SEND support programme. Jacquie has considerable personal experience of SEND - as the parent of an adult daughter with Dravet's syndrome which led to autism and severe learning disabilities.
Simon Arnold - Vice Chair | Expiry of term December 2028
Simon has always been community-minded and has been helping local residents for years. He is a trustee of a charity involved with supporting families of SEND children. He was also a local councillor between 2018-2022. In his day job, Simon works in television and broadcast having most recently worked on a few of ITV’s largest reality shows. Simon has a vast amount of marketing and IT experience and speaks three languages.
Akin Akintola | Expiry of term December 2029
Akin is an experienced non-executive director and qualified chartered accountant with over 25 years’ experience as an FD and Programme Director. His skills include business modelling, securing funding for growth, acquisition and divestiture in commercial, not-for-profit and public sector environments. Akin has extensive experience of business transformation and customer facing programmes in the UK Education sector; service-based businesses, retail and manufacturing operations.
Johnny Kyriacou | Expiry of term December 2029
Johnny is Education Director for Warwickshire County Council. In this role his responsibilities include SEND, school improvement, admissions, attendance, and a broad range of service to schools. Johnny has also worked as Associate Education Director at Slough Borough Council. He was previously a teacher and Interim Deputy Headteacher at Barnhill, one of MLP’s founding schools. Johnny is an experienced trustee having served in this capacity with several multi-academy trusts.
Russell Middleton | Expiry of term December 2028
Russ works as Principal Engineer for a marine engineering company, focusing on systems engineering and integration. He started his career in university-based industrial research and development and has since worked in a range of technology and IT roles, primarily in the defence and medical sectors. Russ originally joined MLP as a parent governor at Barnhill school in 2013 and has remained involved with the school and trust as a governor, chair of governors, and a trustee ever since.
Hilary Morris | Expiry of term November 2028
Hilary is the Commercial Director for the Orders of St John Care Trust, with responsibility for negotiating key service contracts with NHS and local authority partners on behalf of the charity. Hilary has also held senior roles with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and with Middlesex University. In addition to her work with MLP, Hilary is governor of a special needs school and has experience as a non-executive director with organisations across several sectors.
Mike Ormerod | Expiry of term November 2029
Mike is an experienced chief executive and director who has held senior roles in the public, charitable and not-for-profit sectors. Recently retired, Mike was chief executive at Groundwork Greater Manchester, a social and environmental charity. Mike led the unification of Groundwork in Manchester, bringing together three Groundwork organisations to form Groundwork GM. With extensive experience in community engagement, Mike has also worked as Head of Communities and Partnerships at Lancashire County Council. He has been a governor at his local nursery school for over 20 years.
Meg Sanusi | Expiry of term November 2029
Meg is Deputy Headteacher for inclusion and DSL at a primary school in Ealing. A qualified SENDCo, she oversees SEND provision and the school’s ARP. Born and brought up in Hillingdon, Meg still lives locally. Earlier in her career she also taught at William Byrd, one of MLP’s schools. In addition to here work with MLP, Meg is vice-chair of governors at a primary school in Harrow.
Andrew Singer | Expiry of term March 2027
Andrew is a chartered accountant who has also led a range of service teams, including HR. With many years experience in corporate environments, he has worked in both the UK and overseas for a number of listed companies, private equity-backed businesses, and large, privately owned organisations. Andrew is trustee of a number of charities and has served as director at several multi academy trusts.
Ben Spinks - CEO | Ex officio
Ben joined MLP as Chief Executive in August 2023. He is responsible for setting the strategic direction for MLP, for overseeing education standards across the trust’s schools, and for external relationships beyond the trust. Ben was previously Chief Executive at BDSIP Ltd, a social enterprise owned by 56 schools providing a range of school improvement, inclusion, training, advice and guidance to schools across East London. Ben has also held senior director roles at Capita Transformation, the major change consultancy of the Capita Group; and in local government, where he was most recently Assistant Chief Executive at the London Borough of Brent, with responsibility for communications, strategy, community engagement, business intelligence and public health.
In his spare time, Ben is chair of Trustees at Learning in Harmony MAT, and a governor at Sheringham Primary school in Newham.