Advisors

We are grateful for the support we receive from the members of our advisory councils, representing a range of industries, helping us increase the employability of young people throughout the UK. Their time, energy and strategic vision is instrumental to our success.

Working with Business Leaders to ensure the maximum number of young people are reached.

Terms of Reference

Founders4Schools Business Leaders Advisory Council
Founders4Schools is committed to helping young people succeed in the ever-changing world of work. We enable young people to understand the world they will enter upon leaving formal education; raise their aspirations and attainment levels; encourage them to take opportunities, and develop the skills and competencies required to succeed through real-world learning.
The Business Leaders Advisory Council is comprised of leaders knowledgeable about the business community, and how it can best support the work of Founders4Schools.
The Advisory Council will help Founders4Schools to:
Focus on those sectors of the business community able to best support its work
Develop its contacts with business leaders
Identify funding opportunities for the charity
The Advisory Council will meet 4 times a year, with additional meetings to be agreed by members if required.
Members will have access to information and support from Founders4Schools staff to inform their discussions.

Helen Brown: Non Executive Director
Sherry L Coutu CBE: Founder and Chairman, Founders4Schools, also Trustee (assigned to report back to the Board on the Business Leader Council's work)
Tasha Morrison: Solution Architect at Whitbread and Founder of TashaITGirl and Viberse
Vikki Kirby: Corporate Storyteller, The Consultancy Company

Helping Founders4Schools reach diverse audiences so they can reach their maximum potential.

Terms of Reference

Founders4Schools Diversity Advisory Council
The Diversity Advisory Council has been formed to provide guidance and support to the execution of the Founders4Schools diversity plan and its objectives.
There will be 5 meetings per annum, (March, May, July, September, November)
The agenda for each meeting will include:
A review of the diversity plan – progress against the key initiatives
A discussion on how the advisory committee can help support on the key immediate problems and challenges within the diversity plan
A discussion on how the advisory committee can help support on the key focus areas
Key Focus Areas:
Increase F4S capacity to inspire more girls into STEM
To help young people understand the benefits of diversity (of thinking, skills, industry) – shaping/challenging perceptions
Consider if there are other ways to influence female students beyond speakers
Generate ideas for 1-2 Thought Leadership publications
Host 3 Diversity Events per annum
Launch project/campaign focusing on increasing F4S’ inventory of Female Speakers
Review diversity data and determine how best to leverage it for maximum impact & visibility

Lauren von Stackelberg: Director, Global Communications & Diversity, Expedia Group
Jo Tasker: Managing Director, Jo Tasker Consulting Ltd
Nadia Woodhouse: Operations Lead – Global Center for Board Matters, Ernst & Young
Abdus Hamid: Network Security Engineer at Aveva
Linda Summer: Chief Marketing Officer at Bullitt Group Ltd
Praseeda Nair: Editorial Director, Caspian Media
Sarah Luxford: Director, Nexec Leaders & Co Founder, TLA Women in Tech
Sue Higgins: Association of State Girls' Schools

Working with the educator community to ensure the impact on young people is transformational.

Terms of Reference

Founders4Schools Educational Impact Advisory Council
Founders4Schools is committed to helping young people succeed in the ever-changing world of work. We enable young people to understand the world they will enter upon leaving formal education; raise their aspirations and attainment levels; encourage them to take opportunities, and develop the skills and competencies required to succeed through real-world learning.
Our work and strategies are driven by impact and we measure our success by the scale of our achievements as indicated by our KPIs and performance data. We wish to gain and use robust insight into our impact on students in order to help guide the service we provide and offer thought leadership to the education sector, school leaders, and teachers in their efforts to better equip young people for the jobs of tomorrow.
The Educational Impact Advisory Council is a group comprised of senior cross-sector partners knowledgeable about best practice in impact who will provide guidance, support and strategic direction to Founders4Schools on matters relating to the impact of its services on young people.
The Advisory Council will help Founders4Schools to:
Prioritise and determine the strategic focus of Founders4Schools’ impact measurement;
Develop a robust and credible evaluation process. Provide advice and comment on the suitability of the evaluation methodologies and reporting;
Identify strategic themes arising from evaluation findings;
Ensure the products of the evaluation add value to the strategic/policy debates over employability for young people.
The Advisory Council will meet 4 times a year, with additional meetings to be agreed by members if required.
Members will have access to information and support from Founders4Schools staff to inform their discussions.

Professor Rose Luckin: Professor of Learner Centred Design, UCL Knowledge Lab
Belinda Raynes: Founder, Forgather
Caroline Wiertz: Professor of Marketing and Associate Dean for Entrepreneurship at Cass Business School, City University London
Dr Mutlu Cukurova: Lecturer in Digital Technologies in Education, UCL Knowledge Lab
Jo Cruse: Education consultant and Co-Founder of MacroAdventure
Kirstie Mackey: Director of LifeSkills & Consumer Affairs, Barclays
Sherry L Coutu CBE: Founder and Chairman, Founders4Schools
Tim Oates CBE: Group Director of Assessment Research and Development, Cambridge Assessment
Virginia Isaac: Director Alter Via Ltd. Chair Career Management Quality Alliance and Director of University Relations CUG. Formerly CEO of Inspiring Futures.

Helping Founders4Schools get its services to market via a range of marketing channels.

Terms of Reference

Founders4Schools Marketing Advisory Council
The Marketing Advisory Council has been formed to provide guidance and support to the execution of the Founders4Schools marketing plan and its objectives (KPIs)
There will be 6 formal meetings per annum.
The agenda for each meeting will include:
A review of the marketing plan – progress against the key initiatives and KPIs
A round table discussion on how the advisory committee can help support on the key immediate problems and challenges within the marketing plan
A round table discussion on how the advisory committee can help support on the key focus areas for the year

Dylan Williams: Chief Strategy Officer, Droga5
Jack Parsons: CEO, Big Youth Group
Jenk Oz: Co-Founder Thred Media
Jessica Butcher MBE: Co-Founder & Director, Blippar
Carolyn Dawson: Managing Director, Informa Tech
Oliver Beach: Campus Director, Flatiron School
Shira Feuer: VP Marketing, SAM Labs
Sigrid Daniel: Owner & Principal, Sigrid Daniel Associates
Ting Wang: Director, Hummingbird Learning Ltd

The Maths4Girls Steering Committee members bring their expertise to support and guide Maths4Girls so that the aspirations of this project are met.

Terms of Reference

The Role of this group:
To allow your expertise and networks to be leveraged so that the aspirations of this project are met.
Responsibilities:
Review the progress on KPIs on a monthly basis.
Provide advice and guidance where appropriate to the Project Lead on matters related to the strategic delivery of the project.
Provide advice on issues that might affect either Educators, Students, Volunteers, and industry partners and/or F4S staff.
Support the project through the development and collaboration of ideas
Provide a forum for discussion of the project's progress.
Approve any material change to the product or scope of the project
Approve MOU Template (recommend to Trustees)
Membership:
Members of the steering committee will be drawn from the pool of partners we co deliver M4Gs with.
Members represent a core subset of skills that allow us to achieve the objectives of the project. Skills are representing maths, education, industry, measurement, finance, education, tech, and partnerships.
Meetings:
One (1) Steering committee meeting will be held every [4-6 weeks]. Each meeting will be approximately 90 minutes in duration. Prior to each meeting, members will receive a Meeting Agenda and Pre-read deck which will be distributed no later than 7 days prior to the commencement of the meeting.
The Project Lead will be responsible for preparing and distributing the Pre-reads.
The Project manager will capture minutes & actions and share them afterward.
The Chairperson will coordinate with the Project Lead and members of the steering committee to develop the agenda.
[Members unable to attend meetings should inform the Project Manager in writing at least 14 days prior to the meeting date of their inability to attend.]
Meetings will be held over Zoom or MS Teams for the foreseeable future.

Lesley Hill - Chair: Lesley studied mechanical engineering at Bristol University followed by working in the offshore oil industry in Scotland before moving to America to study an MBA at Harvard University. She then worked as an operations manager in manufacturing in Silicon Valley, California followed by roles in sales and strategy consulting. More recently she has been involved in education as a school governor for 15 years in both the private and state sectors and as a local theatre supporter with the Bush Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith. Lesley is committed to increasing diversity and inclusion by encouraging women to pursue careers in STEM subjects.
Charlotte Avery - Headmistress, St Mary’s School Cambridge: St Mary’s is an all-girls school where any girl can thrive and achieve academic excellence. Building on their 115 year tradition the school belongs to an active international network of over 200 Mary Ward schools worldwide. It focuses on fostering a love of life and learning, while growing the academic talents and spiritual wellbeing of each individual girl, from within. It is not a one-size-fits-all education, as the school offers renowned pastoral care, understanding and individual support that encourages girls to look beyond themselves so that they enter adulthood aspiring to be more and to give more, not just to have more.
Toby Baker - Nesta Programme Manager, Education: Toby works to help schools and colleges benefit from new ways of working, through grant-funding, research and some more experimental programmes. Toby's recent publications include ‘Educ-AI-tion Rebooted? Exploring the future of AI in schools and colleges’, ‘The EdTech Effect: Lessons from nine examples around the world’, and ‘What next for digital social innovation?’. He is also a founder member of Sleuth, a co-operative data consultancy. Before Nesta he worked for a consultancy looking at transport policy.
Rachel Beddoes - Girls' Participation Coordinator and Careers Lead for Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI): Rachel has been working for them on the Advanced Maths Support Programme (AMSP) since September 2018. Previously she taught maths for 20 years and was also a STEM Coordinator, working with businesses to convince students of the utility of maths through its various applications and the different careers that studying STEM subjects could possibly lead to. In October 2015 Rachel won The Joan Sjøvoll Award for STEM Leadership and in March 2017 her school won the Young Engineers ‘Inspiring Futures through Engineering Engagement’. Rachel is passionate about making students (and teachers and parents) aware of the importance of studying maths after GCSEs and the vast and varied careers that doing so can lead to.
Dr Katie Chicot - CEO Mathsworld UK and Senior Lecturer Open University: Dr Katie Chicot is CEO of MathsWorldUK and Senior Lecturer Staff tutor in Mathematics and Statistics at the Open University. “I am passionate about the MathsWorldUK project to create the UK’s first Mathematics Discovery Centre. Tackling mathematical problems and encouraging others to engage with mathematical investigations are the cornerstones of my work. I have used all sorts of means of communicating mathematics, including co-creating the series Patterns of life for the Open University’s YouTube channel, captaining the OU’s team on BBC2’s Beat the Brain, participating in Facebook events and, more seriously, as academic consultant to BBC Radio 4’s More or Less. A recent venture is the creation of a maths/brain teaser app called Perplex, which is available on the App Store and Google Play. This was a collaboration with the UK Mathematics Trust, with whom I have worked for many years.”
Sherry Coutu - Founders4Schools: Chairs Founders4Schools, and serves as a non-executive Director or Trustee of Workfinder, Pearson, DCMS, London Stock Exchange plc, and Raspberry Pi Foundation. She is also an author and a philanthropist, was awarded a CBE for Services to the Economy in 2013 and has been awarded three honorary doctorates for her work in education and the economy.
Michaela Eschbach - Founders4Schools Managing Director: After a career across different industries, Michaela has successfully set up and runs an SME. She has strong leadership skills, the ability to formulate and drive strategy in a challenging environment. She has the ability to translate strategy into operations, making it accessible to the team. Her agile mindset allowed her to move quickly and identify opportunities as they arose, enabling her to secure grants, sponsorships and new contracts. This has enabled her to more than triple turnover over the 4 years of operations.
Her strong interpersonal skills and social mindset, has enabled her to successfully liaise and build continuous relationships with stakeholders on all levels. She successfully positioned herself and the organisation to be an influencer and subject specialist. Her financial and operational skill set enabled her to manage the organisation's finances as well as ensure delivery against targets in a fast growing business.
Jane Fisher – Founder & Director of JFA Management Consultancy: Following a career as a Biology teacher and FE lecturer, Jane progressed into management before moving into LA work leading ESF & DfE projects to increase the learning and progression opportunities for young people. She led national policies that resulted in Barnsley receiving national recognition for its success, from the DfE and Ofsted. She harnessed the potential of partnership working between different sector providers to diversify the 14-19 curriculum, developing supporting frameworks disseminated nationally as good practice.
Promoted to 14-19 Lead Officer in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, she led the development of the 14-19 learning and skills strategy, leading schools, colleges, training providers and employers at strategic level. She also worked with the Humber LEP to develop strategies to improve the sub-region’s CEIAG to help raise the aspirations and employability skills of young people.
Jane now runs her Management Consultancy, working with leaders and their teams as an Advisor and Consultant, helping them develop and implement strategies that deliver sustainable organisational changes. She also volunteers as a Young Enterprise Business Adviser & Enterprise Adviser in schools.
Mina Gerowin – 100 Women in Finance: Mina is a Non-Executive Director of 100 Women in Finance, CQS, The Population Council and also on the advisory board of RUSI. Mina was one of the first women to break into the hedge fund industry and was the first female Vice President at Lazard Freres and Co. Mina moved to London in 2008 where she headed Paulson’s European event, distressed and credit investment teams. In 2009 Mina was awarded the European Hedge Fund Leadership Award of 100 Women in Hedge Funds (now 100 Women in Finance) and has been named several times as one of the Top 100 Women in Hedge Funds by the Hedge Fund Journal and as one of the Top 50 Women in Finance by efinancial news/Dow Jones.
Mina is a former non-executive director of EXOR, CNH Industrial NV and of Lafarge SA and member of the Global Advisory Committee of Samsung Asset Management.
Ryan Gibson - National System Leader Careers at Academies Enterprise Trust AET: Ryan is responsible for the quality of careers education for 35,000 young people across 58 primary, secondary and sixth form schools. Ryan is an experienced senior leader in secondary education and was awarded the Sinnott Fellowship for his work in connecting education and business. He is passionate about helping students apply what they learn in the classroom to the wider the world. Before joining AET, Ryan worked as a member of the Executive Team at the North East LEP, where he established ‘North East Ambition’ and served on the Regional Employment and Skills Board. In 2015 Ryan successfully led the national pilot of the Gatsby Foundation’s 'Good Career Guidance' benchmarks, resulting in a new DfE National Careers Strategy in England. Ryan worked with the Careers and Enterprise Company on the regional and national roll out of the Gatsby Benchmarks, including the development of the national careers hub model. In 2017 Ryan was recognised as ‘UK Career Educator of the Year’ by the Career Development Institute and during the Covid19 pandemic he helped to create the careers content for Oak National Academy, which was accessed by over 100,000 young people.
He is proud to be Vice Chair of Governors at a primary school in Gateshead and a Governor of a secondary school in Sheffield.
Dr Camilla Gilmore - Co-Director of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition: Camilla Gilmore is Reader in Mathematical Cognition and co-director of the Centre. Her research is focused on understanding how mathematics skills develop with particular attention to early years development. This work aims to identify cognitive and environmental factors that influence mathematics learning and to understand why some children have difficulties learning mathematics. She holds a Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship from the Royal Society and was awarded the 2020 Experimental Psychology Society Prize Lecture.
Paul Glaister - A Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Reading: With a background as an academic, 38 years’ teaching and leadership experience and 450 publications. For the last six years he has also spent much time and energy on mathematics education reforms (mostly in England), particularly Post 16 Mathematics - A levels and Core Maths. Paul works with many colleagues (50+) in DfE on mathematics education policy, practice, curriculum, qualifications, professional development, and teacher recruitment, retention, non-specialist maths teacher initiatives - future teaching scholars, maths scholarships, TSST. He works with many teachers, learned societies and subject associations in the course of these activities, and is a member or chair of 50+ national and regional advisory boards/committees, including the Royal Society ACME A level Contact Group, Ofqual Expert Panels, DfE Expert Panels, IMA, LMS, CCEA, AMSP, Maths Hubs, and is the immediate past Chair of the Joint Mathematical Council of the UK. Paul is driven to do everything he can to provide appropriate opportunities and strong encouragement for all students to take mathematics post 16, and to ensure the highest quality mathematics education for all.
Timo Hannay - School Dash Managing Director: Timo is the founding Managing Director of School Dash Limited, an education technology company based in London. Prior to SchoolDash, Timo was the founding managing director of Digital Science in London, United Kingdom where he ran the company from its foundation in 2010 until 2015. Digital Science was founded to provide software and services aimed at scientific researchers and research administrators. Prior to this Timo was director of nature.com, a consultant at McKinsey & Company, a writer for The Economist and a research neurophysiologist at the University of Oxford and Waseda University in Tokyo. He is also a non-executive director of SAGE Publishing.
Dr Helen Harth - Royal Society Senior Policy Advisor: Royal Society Senior Policy Advisor
Carole Haynes – Royal Statistical Society: Carole joined the Royal Statistical Society as Education Manager in 2018 focussing on education policy. RSS is an internationally recognised organisation that can influence education policy for the greater good. Carole enjoys engaging with RSS members, and other interested individuals, to inspire our generation by highlighting the importance of understanding statistics and using data to explore the world within an ethical framework. This will help policy-makers make informed evidence-based choices to positively improve our everyday lives and communities.
Professor Matthew Inglis - Co-Director of the Centre for Mathematical Cognition: Matthew Inglis is a Professor of Mathematical Cognition at Loughborough University, where he co-directs the Centre for Mathematical Cognition. His research aims to understand the cognitive processes involved in numerical thinking, logical reasoning, and mathematical learning. His work has been widely published across psychology, education and philosophy journals. In 2014 he was awarded the Selden Prize by the Mathematical Association of America, and in 2017 he was named the Times Higher Education Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year.
Christy Lombard - Client Director Fry Family Office: Currently the client director in a multi-family office, advising families and implementing bespoke financial plans and investment strategies.
Christy started her career in South Africa, after graduating with a Business Management Degree from Stellenbosch University, where she majored in Corporate Finance, Investment Management and Financial Planning. She further went on to qualify as a Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth Manager in the UK.
Passionate about coaching and empowering women to be financially independent. Member of 100 Women in Finance and Volunteer for Maths4Girls. Avid trail runner.
Louise Maule - Maths4Girls Project Lead: Originally a secondary biology teacher, most recently as a Lead Practitioner for a Learning Trust of primary and secondary schools. Louise led a DfE funded STEM Learning regional programme of CPD for science educators including initiatives to develop thinking and reasoning skills, improve transition from primary to secondary science, and joint projects with stakeholders such as the Maths Hub and the EEF. This encompassed creation of resources, bid writing, designing, delivering and commissioning CPD based on local and national needs. In particular has focussed on a number of strategies to improve STEM careers awareness, highlight unconscious gender bias in STEM, and improve Science Capital in students. This included leadership of ‘Aspire to STEM’ partnerships which tackled low aspiration in deprived areas through improving teaching, leadership, and careers information. Louise is particularly interested in using coaching to support professional development, and has also served as a primary school governor.
Dawn Miller - Country President at Chubb Insurance (Switzerland) Limited: Dawn has more than 25 years of experience in senior international positions in the insurance industry. Prior to joining Chubb in 2018, she was President/CEO of Axa Insurance Company in the United States. She has also held other leadership roles in Europe, the Middle East and the United States for AIG and Willis Towers Watson.
Anne Murray-Hudson – Former Headteacher at Langley Park School for Girls: Anne was Headteacher of Langley Park School for Girls from 2011-2018 and in that time founded Langley Park Academies Trust. She has extensive senior leadership experience, including 13 years' headship. Anne taught in a range of schools including in Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham and Lambeth. Anne holds the National Professional Qualification in Headship as well as a PhD in Education. Her expertise includes teacher training, school improvement and school inspection. Anne enjoys educational research and has developed insight into evidence informed practice in FE and schools.
Tim Oates - Cambridge Assessment Group Director: Tim is Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge Assessment, focussing on national and international research on assessment and measurement. He has published widely on assessment and curriculum, also undertaking wide-ranging international comparison of the performance of education systems, and advising OECD on its curriculum review work. He was a member of Ofqual’s Standards Advisory Group from 2010-16, recently moving from this group to the Ofqual Vocational Standards Advisory Group. Tim routinely provides briefings and advice to the UK and other governments. He is a Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge, and in 2015 he was awarded a CBE for Services to Education.
Mary Stevenson - Assistant Director for Secondary at National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM): Involves network collaborative projects including the Secondary Mastery Specialist programme, and working with Initial Teacher Education providers. Mary taught mathematics in secondary schools and a sixth form college, including two Head of Mathematics positions. Subsequently, I moved into higher education, where I led PGCE Mathematics, devised and taught PD programmes for serving teachers, led a mathematics undergraduate degree pathway, and taught on a mathematics Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course and MA modules. Mary believes that mathematics educators can share their diverse expertise and learn from each other, and thereby improve outcomes for learners, enabling children and young people to enjoy lasting benefits from success in mathematics.
Leilah Tott – Assistant Director, STEM Education division, Department for Education: Leilah previously taught as a primary school teacher, with a particular interest in maths and science, before joining the Civil Service in 2014. After roles within the Cabinet Office, The Behavioural Insights Team and managing JobCentres, she joined the Department for Education to work on STEM policy. Leilah was instrumental in designing and setting up the new National Centre for Computing Education and overseeing the development of the £76 million Teaching for Mastery maths programme.
Pete Ure - Founders4Schools Strategic Data Analysis: Experienced data analyst with a background in identifying trends and uncovering insights in the financial, education and government sectors.
John Yarham - Interim CEO The Careers & Enterprise Company: John is CEO for the Careers & Enterprise Company, the Government's national body for delivering the careers strategy for young people in England. The role involves senior stakeholder engagement including senior government (ministerial and civil service), major employers and a variety of national partner bodies.
John has more than 20 years’ experience in the employment and skills sector and was previously the Chief Executive of the Futures Group, a social enterprise supporting tens of thousands of young people and adults with their next steps in careers, as well as supporting businesses with their recruitment and training needs.
Laurena Robinson - Founders4Schools Director of Fundraising and Partnerships: Dynamic, revenue-focused fundraising leader with broad experience across the board. A confident contributor at senior leadership level since 2008, Laurena is skilled in strategic, long-term and sustainable income planning, communication and marketing, branding, PR and media, stakeholder engagement and effective networking, VIP management, presenting to large audiences, inspiring leadership and efficient people management, identifying wider organisational opportunity and delivering to target.
Sam Shoyinka - Founders4Schools Head of Project Management & Business Analysis: Joined F4S in January 2021 to support the Engineering and Project team. Prior to F4S, Sam has worked as a resourceful and hands-on Business Analyst/Project manager with various financial institutions (Barclays, RBS, Nationwide, Link Asset Management) and local authority. Sam has experience of full project life cycle working within Agile (Scrum) and Waterfall environments. He is adept at business process evaluation, analysis and modelling. Sam has excellent project/stakeholder management skills and good requirements elicitation/analysis/documentation/management skills.
Dr Ems Lord - Director NRICH, Cambridge: Dr Ems Lord joined the NRICH team as its Director in 2015. She is a member of The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Teaching Profession, the immediate past-President of the Mathematics Association (2019-2020), a member of the Joint Mathematical Council and a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teachers. Ems has taught mathematics across the key stages, from Early Years to A Level Further Mathematics, and has worked in a variety of settings including a hospital school. Her previous roles include supporting schools as a Leading Mathematics Teacher, local authority consultant and as a Chartered Mathematics Teacher. Ems successfully led one of the largest Mathematics Specialist Teacher programmes and has taught mathematics education on both BEd and PGCE teacher programmes. She is a research fellow at Clare Hall College, Cambridge and supervises students following the Masters programme for the Faculty of Education.