Members

Members are akin to shareholders and are responsible for appointing and removing trustees. They attend an AGM to review the Trust’s performance.

Professor Liz Barnes

Liz became Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive at Staffordshire University in April 2016. Her career has been built around leading learning and teaching and the student experience, with a passion for creative and innovative approaches to enhance the student journey and their achievements. Staffordshire University is implementing a major project around the digital journey and digital U maximising the contribution digital technologies can make to University life. Liz has just been invited to join the JISC Board. Previously Liz was Deputy Vice Chancellor at Sheffield Hallam University and Derby University after a long career at Teesside University.

With a commitment to education and young people she is a member of three Multi-academy Trusts and is Chair of Safe and Sound. She is a graduate of Chester University and Sheffield University.

Old Trust

A corporate body who maintain its representation within the multi academy trust to ensure it has input into any future changes within the Trust.

Jane Shepherd MBE

Jane is the managing director of Shepherd PR, a locally based public relations consultancy.

The company provides a strong CSR programme primarily focused on offering opportunities to young people, including structured work experience placements and mentoring. It also operates a successful in-house apprenticeship scheme, which is now in its fourth year.

A graduate of the University of Keele, Jane was an officer in the Royal Air Force’s Journalism and Public Relations 7644 Squadron. She also worked as a newspaper reporter at The Sentinel in Stoke-on-Trent.

In 2015, Jane was awarded a Visiting Industrial Fellowship from Aston University and she was appointed an Export Champion for the Midlands Engine by the Department of International Trade in 2017.