Trustees and Members

We have Members of the Trust. They are collectively responsibly for ensuring the Trust is meeting its charitable objectives. The Members meet 3 times per year to consider the accounts and any governance arrangements.

Our Trust Board is constituted of 12 Trustees who collectively are responsible for the strategic direction of the Trust. The Board is the employer and accountable body to ensure regulatory and statutory compliance for the whole Trust.  The personal biographies of our Trustees and Members are included in the gallery below. 

The Board delegates some of its duties to committees of Trustees: Education Committee,  Resources Committee and Risk & Audit Committee. Trustees delegate further responsibilities to school governors (Local Governing Committees) under our Scheme of Delegation. Governors are responsible for the strategic oversight of the management and performance of their school. You can find out more about the various committees and the Trust's Scheme of Delegation here. You will find details of school governors on the individual school websites.

Trustees - click on the image to find out more

• Oliver Cofler
  Chair
  Oliver Cofler

  Oliver has had a long career in supply chain and operational leadership in major national and multinational companies. He joined Bath and Wells as a trustee in 2016 and has served as chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, before becoming Vice Chair in 2021, and Chair in September 2023.

  Oliver has significant leadership experience from industry, including leading large, complex, multi-site organisations with teams of over 3,000 people and leading teams across countries and continents, and has served on boards as an executive and non-executive. He has driven significant operational results and transformational change projects through strong leadership, clarity of vision and delivery of strategies. He has worked in unionised and non-unionised environments and has focused on creating open and collaborative cultures.

  Oliver was appointed to the Board by BWMAT Members in 2016 and his current term of office is 09.12.2020 - 08.12.2024

• Pam Cosh
  Vice Chair
  Pam Cosh

  Pam brings a wealth of Special Educational needs and disability experience having work with learners with profound speech and language difficulties for 25 years before retiring and moving back to the South West.

  As a teacher, senior leader and Headteacher in a non-maintained special primary school, she has worked with highly motivated, multi-disciplinary teams on a daily basis and supported parents to obtain the possible outcomes for their children. Pam is a Foundation Trustee, drawing on her Christian faith to drive her decision-making. She is currently Vice Chair of the Board and also a member of the Bath and Wells Diocesan Board of Education

  Pam was appointed by the Diocese of Bath and Wells to the Board as a Foundation Trustee, and her current term of office is 01.07.2021 - 30.06.2025

• Becky Edwards
  Trustee
  Becky Edwards

  Becky is a chartered management accountant with a specialism in education. She has worked in the field of post-16 further education since 1999 and held the role of finance director at Strode College and City of Bristol College. She is currently a member of the national Further Education Commissioner's team, working as an FE adviser with a specialism in finance. She is particularly motivated by providing strong organisational frameworks to support the availability of good education, training and associated life opportunities. She has lived in Somerset for most of her life and has two adult children.

  Becky was appointed by BWMAT Members to the Board and her term of office is 01.12.2021 - 30.11.2025

• Anu Anand
  Trustee
  Anu Anand

  Anu is a journalist and radio presenter with 23 years experience in international news, mostly for the BBC World Service. She has travelled and reported widely, from places as far afield as India, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mongolia, the Middle East, Egypt, Tanzania, the US, Uruguay and Northern Ireland. She is currently producing her own podcast as well as a series of children’s bilingual picture books in Indian languages. She is passionate about nurturing inclusive communities partly by sharing high quality information. She has adopted Bath as her home but has previously lived in the US, India and London and has two teenage children.

  Anu was appointed by the Diocese of Bath and Wells to the Board as a Foundation Trustee, and her current term of office is 12.09.2023- 11.09.2027

• Cheryl Cook
  Trustee
  Cheryl Cook

  Cheryl is a qualified management accountant, programme manager and works as a consultant on large scale change programmes, most recently focussed on finance, digital and technology programme management. Cheryl has advised the boards of numerous organisations over her career, and also sat on a number of boards, including running the regional Risk and Audit Committee for Her Majesty’s Court Service with a budget of circa £90 million and 1000 staff.

  Cheryl was previously Chair of Governors at one of our primary schools, working alongside school leadership and living and breathing our Education Strategy. She has also undertaken a degree in Strategy, Change and leadership, this has embedded her reflective, continuous learning approach to leadership and ensures that she knows the value of asking the right, powerful questions to support and challenge school and Trust leaders.

  Cheryl has been appointed by Members and her term of office is 01.09.2023- 31.08.2027.

• Beverley Hobbs
  Trustee
  Beverley Hobbs

  Retired in 2023 from her role as CEO of a small multi-academy trust, Beverley has served as headteacher in three mainstream secondary schools, most recently an outstanding Church of England 11-18 academy in Berkshire. In her role as CEO, she acted as lead education professional for day-to-day operations within the trust and had responsibility for working alongside the chair of trustees to create, evolve and deliver the trust’s strategic development plan. In addition, she line managed the head of finance and operations and the headteachers of the member schools, enabling her to maintain a detailed understanding of the challenges and opportunities experienced within both the primary and secondary phase.

  Since retiring from the role of headteacher in 2019, Beverley has been appointed as director in another multi-academy trust based in Oxfordshire in which she is chair of the education committee. That same year she also began sitting as a magistrate, enabling her to put to use some of the key skills developed as a result of a lengthy career in school leadership.

  Membership of her local church community continues to play a key part in Beverley’s personal life. She continues to serve as secretary to the PCC, a role which, like the magistracy, calls for an understanding of human nature - very familiar territory for anyone with experience of working in schools and leadership.

  Beverley was appointed by the Diocese of Bath and Wells to the Board as a Foundation Trustee, and her current term of office is 12.09.2023- 11.09.2027

  ,

• Helen Howell
  Trustee
  Helen Howell

  Helen has worked in investment banking and asset management for over 20 years, specialising in product & project management, with responsibility for areas including finance, operations, HR, and compliance. She sits as a non-executive director for two fund companies, and manages a large number of fund vehicles, including two London Stock Exchange listed investment companies. Helen’s areas of expertise include corporate governance and regulatory compliance, in particular for a FTSE 250 company. Her work with global financial regulators and internal and external stakeholders, along with chairing committees and leading strategies, has enabled her to develop a strong governance and leadership experience.

  Helen has a strong interest in diversity, equity and inclusion and works with organisations including Investment 20/20 and 10,000 Black Interns to develop strategies and projects for improving diversity in the investment management industry. Her focus on DEI has led to her involvement with a number of initiatives within education, in particular mentoring and career coaching at senior schools and a university, acting as an ‘Investment Ambassador’ to GSCE and A level pupils, and working with organisations that focus on social and gender diversity.

  Helen lives in Somerset, and has two young children.

• Paul Whiting
  Trustee
  Paul Whiting

  Paul has over 20 years’ experience within industry and has specialised in the key area of regulatory compliance holding Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) and Head of Compliance roles. He has experience of working with regulators and building strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Prior to the compliance roles he held Senior Operational Management positions where he was responsible for building diverse and successful teams. Paul lives in Somerset with his wife and two young children.

• Tamara Dexter
  Trustee
  Tamara Dexter

  Tamara has worked in education for over 20 years in four different Trusts and five local authorities. She has substantial experience of delivering strategic leadership that has resulted in demonstrable school and Trust success including achieving outstanding OFSTED inspections in multiple schools.

  In addition to her current role as an Executive Headteacher and Trust Inclusion, Safeguarding and EYFS leader, she is a 'Local Leader of Education and Headteacher Advocate for the Boolean Maths Hub, a 'DFE Area Lead' for the EYFS Covid Recovery Programme and a Visiting Fellow for Five Counties.

  Tamara is a strong advocate for continuous school improvement and as a 'School Improvement Lead' has joined multiple executive teams to complete internal school review visits for Early Years, Primary, Secondary and SEND provisions, supporting with the identification of current school strengths alongside making recommendations for improvements. She has completed the National Award for SEND Coordination, NPQSL, NPQH and NPQEL to support professional development.

  Tamara is committed to school governance and sits on an Education Standard Committee for a large Trust in the Southwest. She was appointed as a Trustee to Bath and Wells in March 2024.

Members  

• Oliver Cofler
  Oliver is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
  Oliver Cofler

• Tracey Khodabandehloo
  Tracey is also Chair of the Diocesan Board of Education
  Tracey Khodabandehloo

• Ed Gregory
  Ed is also Director of Education at the Bath and Wells Diocese.
  Ed Gregory

• Bishop Ruth Worsley
  Ruth is the Bishop of Taunton and currently acting Bishop of Coventry
  Bishop Ruth Worsley

• John Swainston
  John Swainston

  John graduated from Durham University in 1970, also completing his teacher training year in Durham. He began teaching Maths and Science in the secondary sector before becoming Head of Year 7 in one of Leicestershire's pioneering Junior High Schools (11-14). From there John moved into the 9-13 Middle Schools in the North-east, as Deputy Head of one, then successively Head of three others.

  John then moved into system leadership, firstly as an LA Adviser, then Director of an inner-city Education Action Zone, DfE Senior Adviser (under Professor David Hopkins) and Assistant Director of Children's Services in a very large LA (342 schools). Lastly, he moved to the South-West in 2012 as Director of Education for the Diocese of Bristol and CEO of their growing Diocesan MAT. He retired in 2019 after a career in Education spanning 47 years. In his retirement, John is committed to BWMAT and has worked closely with a number of our Local Governing Committees and has served as Chair of our Education Committee.

  John was appointed by the Diocese of Bath and Wells to the Board as a Foundation Trustee in 2021 and became a Member in September 2024.

• Steve Colledge
  Steve Colledge

  Steve spent most of his career in secondary schools. He has always been committed to ensuring student-centred schools and that staff are committed to delivering a great experience for their students. He believes that education is about developing an informed, pleasant and engaging character who has achieved their best and acquired a love of lifelong learning and cares for others.

  He held senior leadership positions in secondary schools for 28 years, working in a range of rural and urban locations in Essex, Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire and Swindon. These posts included low and high performing settings and two headships. His two headships required that he brought about substantial change and built sustainable new cultures. As a result of this work Steve became a National Leader of Education.

  In 2011 his school became an early ‘converter academy’ and soon joined with the first local primary multi-academy trust to create a cross-phase organisation including a teaching school. Steve became Secondary Director of the expanded multi-academy trust. This gave him considerable opportunity to work with primary schools as well as secondary schools in developing leadership and driving effective school improvement.

  Steve has served on Governing Bodies and Interim Boards in secondary, primary and special schools and continued as an area Chair of Secondary Headteachers until July 2019. He has been Chair of Schools Forum in two local authorities and has sat on several local authority working groups. Steve was also a DFE Education Adviser and an OFSTED Inspector.

  Following retirement Steve became an education consultant and his work has focused on quality assurance, peer to peer support and school improvement in both secondary and primary schools.

  Steve is a Methodist member of the Cirencester Ashcroft Methodist/URC Church where he has an active role within the Church Community.

  Steve was appointed by the Diocese of Bath and Wells to the Board as a Foundation Trustee in 2022 and became a Member in September 2024.

• Simon Hill
  Standing in for Bishop Ruth currently
  Simon Hill