The Board

John has served on the Board of the Trust since July 2020, has been Vice Chair since March 2022 and took up the role of Chair in October 2026.

John qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (now the Chartered Governance Institute) and has over 30 years’ experience in financial and governance roles in industry and the charity sector. As the Finance and Regulation Director for a UK-based group in the water industry, John’s responsibilities included IT, procurement and transport, as well as leading on the company’s relationships with insurers, credit rating agencies, banks and the industry economic regulator (Ofwat).

John has always provided professional support to local and national charities, including being a Trustee of Keep Britain Tidy and over 25 years as treasurer and trustee of his local church. Since retirement from full-time employment, John has acted as Chair of the Audit Committee of a major UK denomination and provided financial consultancy services to charities across the country.

John has lived near Wantage for over 30 years and is immensely proud of the extraordinary opportunities the Trust is able to offer the young people it serves.

Clare joined The Propeller Academy Trust as a trustee in November 2023. She has learnt a great deal through her time on the Board and remains committed to the Trust. She welcomes the opportunity to serve as Vice-Chair.

Clare brings over 25 years of experience across a range of NHS organisations, including ten years working at board level. Her current NHS portfolio covers corporate risk management and assurance, corporate governance, accreditation and regulation, and health and safety. She is also her organisation’s principal point of contact for over 90 regulatory bodies.

Clare began her career with KPMG and gained commercial experience across accountancy and consultancy firms before joining the NHS. Before taking up her current role, she was Deputy Director of Audit at Audit Southwest, an NHS internal audit provider serving organisations across the South West of England.

Clare is a qualified accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Oxford Brookes Business School. She is also a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Governance and Audit Committee.

Formerly as a Director of Education at I CAN, Tom was successful in leading the organisation’s strategic and operational plans for the full spectrum of educational and therapeutic programmes offered by their schools, under the I CAN’s umbrella (SEND schools ranging from 5-19). Recent work has focused on curriculum development, ensuring schools have a sharp focus on establishing vision-led curriculum offers that meet the needs of the young people and families they serve. Tom has also been a successful Headteacher of a large SEN school in Hampshire.

Tom prides himself on establishing outstanding working relationships with all stakeholders. He can demonstrate Headteachers meeting performance objectives whilst developing high-performing senior teams that can lead strategic and operational developments within budget. Headteachers are coached to become reflective leaders, highly proficient in self-evaluation to guide ongoing school improvement.

Tom believes in leaders being role models and uses coaching and professional CPD tools to develop robust teams. This approach is reflective in his collaborative nature. Tom can demonstrate to teams, that understanding the impact of activities is key to measurement and assessment of value and impact.

Tom has worked with a variety of trustees and local governing bodies and understands how fundamental these teams are to supporting a focused monitoring and challenge approach to school improvement.

Tom was a mentor in Hampshire’s highly successful ‘change makers’ scheme, mentoring potential new Head teachers. He was also the Chair of the Executive Board for the SCITT program in Hampshire. His passion for supporting new teachers into the industry is paramount, as is retaining them in the sector to enhance the quality of education. Tom has frontline experience of successful Headships and has led an alternative provision from special measures to good. 

As a physicist by training, Debbie spent some 30 years in the public and private sectors, advising UK and European governments on energy technology and environmental policy development, analysis and implementation, and gained substantial experience in working with senior influencers across academia, business, charities and the public sector. She has developed and led the delivery of multi-million-pound national programmes on behalf of government and has held business board-level positions with responsibility for technical, financial and operational delivery. Latterly, Debbie has spent 10 years with the UK national innovation agency, providing strategic leadership for knowledge exchange, research commercialisation and skills. Debbie is now an independent consultant working in the area of innovation and emerging skills. For ten years, Debbie was on the Board and Deputy Chair of Governors of Fitzwaryn School, Wantage. From 2006-2010 she was a visiting Industrial Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Elaine started her career in education, which spans over 40 years, as an English teacher in Oxford, progressing to secondary school leadership, and then to school inspection and LA advisory work. Elaine has held a range of senior educational positions, including Principal Adviser for School Improvement and Governance for West Berkshire, Senior Regional Adviser for the National Strategies, and County English & Secondary School Adviser for Buckinghamshire.

Elaine is also the joint author of the National Association for Able Children Challenge Award, which has been awarded to 450 schools across England, Wales and internationally. Elaine now works on a part-time basis as Director of the Berkshire Leadership Development Partnership and as an independent School Improvement Consultant. Elaine is also a school governor in an Oxfordshire primary school and remains driven by a passion to ensure that every young person, irrespective of their background, achieves the best education possible.

Jane has recently retired following some forty years in education, in both mainstream secondary schools and most recently in a special school. She was fortunate to be able to maintain some classroom experience whilst also moving into middle and then Senior Management. She has thoroughly enjoyed working in all the schools that she has worked in. Her last years in a special school have been the most rewarding and enjoyable. Jane was also an Ofsted inspector and an advanced skills teacher. Jane is very active in challenging to enable focused school improvement.

Jane is now able to spend more time cooking, reading, walking and going to the gym, and has plans to travel further afield, including visiting her son in China. Meanwhile, she has her daughter's wedding to help plan!

As the father of two young children living with his family in Reading, Gaurav is passionate about supporting schools to provide the very best outcomes for children and young people, helping them develop the confidence, skills and aspirations they need to thrive.

Gaurav brings a rich international perspective and a deep appreciation for the transformative power of education. Holding a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Institute of Technology and Management, India, alongside executive education in AI-Driven Business Transformation from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, he is currently an Executive at AND Digital, the UK’s largest privately owned digital technology consultancy, with over 20 years’ experience leading complex digital transformation, technology, and strategic business change programmes across multiple sectors.

Gaurav's expertise spans strategic governance, technology innovation, change management and stakeholder engagement. He is particularly focussed on how innovation and modern digital solutions can empower organisations and educators, and improve outcomes for the communities they serve. Alongside his professional career, he is an active champion for wellbeing, inclusion and personal development.

Gaurav has previously served as a Non-Executive Board Advisor, has supported mentoring charitable initiatives for disadvantaged young people and brings direct educational governance experience from his time on the LGB for both Hawthorn Academy and Bishopswood School.