Our Board

Andrew Day

Andrew is Executive Principal of the Northumberland Church of England Academy.

Born and educated in South Africa, Andrew attended the Universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Durham,UK and is a teacher of English. He spent several years as the managing partner of a travel company and as a director of an international human rights charity, before returning to school leadership as a member of the first cohort of Future Leaders in June 2006.

He also works extensively on development projects in Southern Africa, building capacity in school leadership and in the development of the support infrastructure within schools.  

Sue John

Sue has been headteacher of Lampton School since 1997. The school has moved from being a low performing school to  'outstanding' under her leadership. Lampton is also a National Teaching School. In 2000, Sue was awarded an honorary fellowship from Brunel University in recognition of her contribution to the university.

Sue is the Secondary Director of the London Leadership Strategy, a senior partner in the Challenge Partnership and has worked as a National Leader of Education for some of London's most challenging and complex schools.

In 2010 Sue was awarded a DBE for services to education and is currently a non-executive Director at the DFE.

Matt Jones

Matt Jones is currently Principal of Globe Academy. Prior to his appointment in May 2012, Matt was Deputy Principal at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield, an all through academy for 4 – 18 year olds, which he and his colleagues made one of the fastest improving schools in London.

Matt has been teaching for 19 years, the last 7 in senior leadership roles in London and a school in Essex. He joined the Future Leaders programme in 2008 and remains commitment to closing the achievement gap in education and raising standards for all, especially those threatened by urban deprivation and poverty.

Baroness (Sally) Morgan of Huyton

Baroness (Sally) Morgan of Huyton currently works as adviser to the Board of the charity, ARK, and is also chair of Future Leaders. She is a non-executive director of both Carphone Warehouse and Southern Cross Healthcare. Sally also sits on the board of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

As a member of the House of Lords since 2001, her particular interests are public services and, as a former Minister for Women, equality issues. Sally worked for Tony Blair from 1995 and then in No10 Downing Street as Director of Government Relations until May 2005. Sally started her career as a secondary school teacher. 

Jo Owen

Jo Owen is one of the founders of Teach First, as well as Teaching Leaders and Future Leaders. He has also founded Start Up, which gets offenders to start their own businesses on release from prison. He is the author of ten management books, including How to Lead and Tribal Business School. He has built a business in Japan, started a bank and was a partner at Accenture. 

Sue Williamson

Sue Williamson is Strategic Director of Leadership and Innovation at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). She joined the Trust in April 2002 and has played a leading role in its development and expansion.

Sue has worked with headteachers to design and develop the Leadership and Innovation Academy. She created the concept of iNet and is also responsible for the work of SSAT Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining the Trust, Sue was Headteacher at Monks’ Dyke Technology College for eight years. Under her leadership the College’s GCSE results went from 15% A-C to 56%. Sue also has an honorary doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton.

Brett Wigdortz

Brett Wigdortz wrote the original business plan for Teach First while working as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. He has been CEO since July 2002.  

Before coming to London, he was a consultant in Indonesia, Singapore, and Manila. Prior to McKinsey, Brett developed  policy and business programmes at the Asia Society in New York City. He has worked as a journalist in Asia and as a researcher at the East-West Centre in Honolulu.

He is a trustee of Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS) and is co-founder, trustee & chief strategy advisor of Teach For All. In 2007 he was was named UK Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year and won in 2010 Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) European Leadership Award. Brett is married with two small children.