Future Leaders brings together a diverse team with different backgrounds from inside and outside of education. Find out here about the people running the programme.

- Programme Executive
- Operational & Regional Executives
- Recruitment Team
- Training Team
- Participant Development Team
- School Networks Team
- Leadership Development Advisers

Heath Monk, Chief Executive

Heath joined Future Leaders from the DCSF, where he was Deputy Schools Commissioner.  Previously, he had led the development of “Higher Standards, Better Schools for All” and the Parliamentary passage of the 2006 Education and Inspections Act that followed it.  His other projects included the negotiation and implementation of the National Agreement on Workforce Reform, setting up the highly successful National Remodelling Team and creating the Bursar Development Programme at the NCSL.  He also spent six years as a secondary teacher of English and Drama, having read English Literature at Queen’s College, Oxford. 

Amanda Rigby, Chief Financial Officer

Amanda has 18 years experience in Banking and Corporate Finance, and has acted as Finance Director for several growth companies during that time.  She holds an MA in Mathematics from Oxford University, and an MSc in Statistics from Imperial College, London.  She trained at Banking School with First National Bank of Chicago and studied at Durham University Business School. Amanda’s charitable activities include serving on the UK Board of HOPE Worldwide since 1995, and working to represent the community of central London where she lives: as Vice-Chair and a trustee of the Covent Garden Community Association.

Girendra Ghimire (Ajay), Finance Manager

Ajay joined Future Leaders from the Hilton Hotels Corporation, the most recognized name in the global lodging industry, after working in their UK office for nearly six years. He held numerous finance positions there, most recently as an Income Auditor. Ajay also holds a degree in Business Administration and is a part qualified ACCA, which he is in the process of completing.

Shirley Gaynor, Chief Operating Officer

Shirley joined Future Leaders from teaching, having been the Head of the Business Studies Department at an urban challenging school. Before that she was a participant of the inaugural year of the Teach First programme and continues to be an Ambassador of Teach First.  Shirley graduated from City University with a Msc in Business Systems Analysis and Design.

Lucy Nicholls, Director of Recruitment

Lucy joined the team from teaching, having been the Head of Religious Studies at an urban complex school. She trained as a teacher through the Teach First programme and holds a Masters in International Relations and a BA(Hons) in Theology from the University of Nottingham. Lucy oversees the Recruitment Team, who are responsible for attracting and selecting the best quality candidates to join the programme each year.

Sir Iain Hall, Executive Advisor

Sir Iain taught for 39 years, the last 23 as headteacher. He was head of an ‘inner-city’ school in Liverpool for 9 years, before moving to Manchester as head of Parrs Wood High School which gained specialist status and Beacon School designation. He has trained aspiring headteachers under the NPQH scheme, been an NCSL Governor, and is now an associate director of the SSAT. He is Chair of an External Reference Group for the NHS, co-authored a Physics text book and has written widely on education. Sir Iain was knighted for ‘services to education in 2002.

Catrina Plastow, Head of Training

Catrina joined the leadership development team after a secondment from the National College of School Leadership. During her four years at NCSL, Catrina was heavily involved in the creation of many leadership projects concerning the ECM agenda including the development of a student leadership programme and a Multi Agency Team Development Programme. She has BSc honours in Psychology from University of Hull.

Sally Roberts, Recruitment and Development Consultant

Sally has 23 years of HR consultancy experience, having spent 15 years with the Hay Group and 7 years as an independent HR consultant, before joining Future Leaders.   Her areas of expertise include leadership competency frameworks, executive assessment, leadership development and performance management, and she has worked across a range of sectors and has lived and worked in different geographies.  She has a degree in Business Administration and German from Loughborough University.

Catriona Matthews, Head of Participant Development

Catriona’s background is in the not-for-profit sector.  Before Future Leaders, she worked for 2.5 years at InterHealth, where her focus was on client relationship management and business development.  Catriona has completed voluntary projects in China, Ecuador, Mongolia and the UK, and most recently spent 3 months learning about American philanthropy through a development internship at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.  Catriona has a BA (Hons) in Human Sciences from Oxford University and a MA in Humanitarian Assistance from the Ruhr University in Germany.

Sir Keith Ajegbo, Leadership Coach (London)

Keith taught in London schools throughout his career, working in comprehensives in Wandsworth, Hackney and Lewisham. He spent 20 years as Head of Deptford Green in Lewisham. At Deptford Green, the school grew in size from 600 to 1200 pupils and established a national reputation as a high-performing inner city school. He was awarded the OBE for services to education in 1996 and knighted in 2007.

He is currently working as an education consultant, an advisor on Diversity and Citizenship to the DCSF, a SIP for Newham and chair of the steering group for the 14-19 Humanities Diploma. He is a trustee of the Citizenship Foundation.

Andrew Nixon, Leadership Coach (London)

Andrew joins Future Leaders having recently worked as a school leadership assessor and mentor for both the National College of School Leadership and the Association of School and College Leaders. He was a successful headteacher of two schools in Haringey over two decades. He was the head of Fortismere School, a particularly successful and over-subscribed mixed community school which was noted by OFSTED for its high levels of achievement, pastoral care, wider opportunities for staff and pupils. Prior to working as a head, Andrew taught and was a senior leader in three London comprehensives in Camden, Sutton, and Wandsworth. Andrew gained his MA in Education Management and Advanced Diploma in Curriculum Studies from the Institute of Education.

Byron Parker, Leadership Coach (London)

Byron has been a teacher for 32 years, a member of three SLTs for 24 years and was first Deputy at an outstanding school in leafy Bromley. Currently, he is Head of an all boys inner city school, where the cohort and results have doubled in that period. Our vision is to become outstanding, and now that we have stopped growing, we have the time to concentrate on developing routines and practices to achieve this.

Having created the capacity within the school, he is now in a position to assist other existing or aspiring heads. He is a consultant leader for London Challenge and has worked intensively with a new Head and the SLT of an outstanding school.

Dave Talbot, Leadership Coach (London)

Dave spent 33 years working in London schools, the last nine of which were as Headteacher in south west London. He is now working as an independent consultant, principally as a Future Leaders coach, London Challenge Advisor, School Improvement Partner and Trust and Foundation School consultant.

Anne Barton, Leadership Coach (London)

Anne has worked in education for thirty years, most of them spent in inner-city schools but with a three year stint in Dubai as a Head of English and a brief flirtation with Local Authority work in Redbridge. She has been the Director of a sixth form consortium in Lewisham and a Deputy Head at Hampstead School in Camden. From 1999 to 2005 she was the Headteacher of Eltham Green Sport College in Greenwich. Since September 2005, she has been co-director of a leadership and management consultancy called SOL, which involves giving hands on, practical support to schools which either lack capacity at senior management level or find themselves under the pressure of being placed in an OFSTED category.

Sue Raynor, Leadership Coach (London)

Sue spent 28 years teaching in inner and outer London schools, 19 of them in senior leadership roles.  Following her headship of a school in challenging circumstances in south west London, Sue took a 6 month ‘time out’ to refresh herself and travel the world.  On her return she took up an interim headship, also in south west London.  Most recently, Sue has worked as an independent consultant, chiefly in inner London schools.  Most of her work involves supporting senior teams who need added capacity, often as they prepare for Ofsted or following inspection.  She also regularly visits schools to audit their value for money, provides intensive coaching for senior colleagues and undertakes specific commissions for local authorities.

Tony Barnes , Leadership Coach (London)

Tony taught in London schools for 38 years: in Lewisham, Camden and Harrow, where he was a Headteacher for 18 years.  Tony's school was noted for its innovative practice and was rated as outstanding by Ofsted, for which he credits the staff, for their expertise and their understanding of learning.  Tony has an MA in curriculum development and believes passionately in professional development, at the core of which is coaching.  Tony is a practising coach and runs in-depth coaching courses.  He is a support consultant with the London Leadership Strategy and a member of its secondary planning team.

Drew Duncan, Leadership Coach (Greater Manchester)

Drew taught for three years in a semi-rural school, moved to Hull and worked in middle management in an inner city school. Three years later he moved to a large urban school in Manchester, remaining there for 10 years first as a middle and then as a senior leader and Deputy.

In 2002 he got his first headship in Greater Manchester and has been trying ever since to get the best for the students, parents and staff.

Rachel Jones, Leadership Coach (Greater Manchester)

Throughout her twenty-one year teaching career, Rachel has taught English in urban schools in London and Greater Manchester. She has fifteen years experience at senior leadership level, including headship. She has carried out training and consultancy work with the Innovation Unit (personalised learning), Manchester University (inclusion) and ARK (school leadership).

David Johnson, Leadership Coach (Greater Manchester)

David Johnson is Headteacher of Failsworth School, Oldham. His career has spanned over 39 years starting as a Mathematics teacher in Nottingham in one of the first Comprehensive Schools in the country.  He has worked in Senior Management in three different schools for 29 years and has been a Headteacher for 18 years.

Since taking up his headship at Failsworth School the 5 A*-C percentage has risen from 19% to 67% in a challenging urban school.  He has also attracted over 5 million pounds of investment and overseen the building of a £29 million new Failsworth School, which opened in 2008.