As CEO, Lydia is responsible setting and achieving high academic standards of attainment and progress throughout the trust and creating aspirational life opportunities for all our students.  This includes leading the development and review of the trust’s vision with key stakeholders, articulating the vision for the MAT and actively promoting it.

As the most senior leader in the organisation, Lydia is responsible for the quality, administration and organisation of the leaders working for the trust, both within the executive team and also in each academy.

Lydia is also a Trustee and sits on the Trust’s Board, acting as a direct liaison between the Board and management of the Trust.

Stephen is a qualified accountant with over 20 years' experience of financial management, treasury management, management accounting and budgeting. This experience has been gained in sectors as diverse as social housing, travel, manufacturing, the gas and electricity markets and the education sector.

He has been involved in education since his appointment as a Governor at an Ipswich High School in 2010, joining as a local authority governor and seeing the school convert to a single academy trust. In 2019, the school formed a multi academy trust with two other high schools and Stephen is currently a trustee and chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.

His last two roles before joining KCAT were for organisations providing business services to schools. Stephen is also an accredited Schools Resource Management Adviser (SRMA), undertaking deployments to trusts at the request of the Department for Education.

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As Trust Systems and IT Manager, George is responsible for ensuring that all IT Systems and network infrastructure are fit for purpose, runs efficiently, is secure and backed up in all schools across the Trust.  This includes the running, organising and development of the IT Support team and development and maintenance of the computing and telephony facilities across all schools in the Trust.  George works with senior leaders across the Trust to monitor and review the effectiveness of computing equipment and he maintains the Trust’s IT development and asset management plan.

George has worked for Keys Co-operative Academy Trust since 2012, when he worked for Heybridge Alternative Provision School (now Heybridge Co-operative Academy) as the IT Technician before progressing in to his current role.

As HR Officer, Sharon is responsible for accurately maintaining the personnel data for all employees of the Trust.  She also provides efficient end to end support with the recruitment process, including maintaining the Single Central Record which involves completing all the necessary pre-employment checks required by the safer-recruitment policy.

Sharon has worked for Keys Co-operative Academy Trust since November 2011, when she worked in the School Admin office at Heybridge Alternative Provision School (now Heybridge Co-operative Academy).

Sharon has a strong administration background having previously worked for the Local Authority, since 2008 and previously for a couple of recruitment agencies, where she gained valuable HR experience.

As the Trust’s Finance Officer, Jo is responsible for the development, operation and day to day management of the financial functions of the Trust and all its academies.  This includes managing effective systems of internal control in accordance with Academy Financial Regulations.

Jo contributes significantly to the preparation of the annual budget for the Trust and In conjunction with the COFO, Jo is responsible for advising Headteachers, Senior Management Teams, Board of Trustees and Governing Body on all aspects of the Trust/Academies finances, regularly producing a reports on the individual academy and trust-wide financial performance.

Jo has worked for Keys Co-operative Academy Trust since April 2018, joining during the first year as an Academy Trust.

In addition to her role as Data Officer at Heybridge Co-operative Academy, Emma also works in the Trust Central Team providing consolidated data reports for the Executive Leadership Team and Trust Board.  Emma also provides advice and guidance to schools on the Trusts MIS and data capabilities and processes.

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Emma has worked for Keys Co-operative Academy Trust since August 2017 and previously worked at two large mainstream secondary schools since 2001, where she gained a wealth of experience in School Management Information Systems.

Callum provides support to both the finance and HR department assisting with the administration of a range of finance procedures and with personnel records and data.

Liane provides support to the finance department assisting with the administration of a range of finance procedures.