Name

Role

Biography / Background

John Dadge

Member of the Resource Committee

Member of the Targeted Capital Project Committee

John Dadge is a chartered town planner specialising in commercial development. He is a Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a former founding partner of East Anglian chartered surveyors practice at Barker Storey Matthews.

John currently acts as a planning and development consultant to the firm. He is chairman of Northborough Parish Council, and his two children are former students of AMVC where he was a Governor for over 15 years. His particular areas of expertise in relation to his role as Trustee relates to all aspects of planning and development and facilities management.

Current Job: Chartered Town Planner

Gary Dawkins

Chair of the Resource Committee

Chair of the Remuneration Committee

Member of the Targeted Capital Project Committee

Four Cs MAT Member

Gary was raised and educated in Leicester and has a background in telecommunications engineering, ending his career as a Lead Consultant with BT, working in the design and maintenance of its advanced intelligent networks as well as the legacy systems.

Gary’s journey in school governance began as a primary school governor in the 1980s. Later, as a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Ambassador, he ran sessions in a secondary school for a few years and improved their students' awareness and ambitions in STEM. As a result he subsequently became a school governor at Arthur Mellows Village College (AMVC) in the early 1990s.

As Chair of AMVC's Finance and Administration committee, he helped AMVC gain Grant Maintained status and then became involved again when it was reverted back to Foundation Status, as the Government policy changed. This provided a good background for his skill set when AMVC went on to become a Single Academy and later a Multi-Academy Trust.

Gary has been Chair of the CEO's Objective setters on more than one occasion and is currently Chair of Remuneration once more. He is passionate about ensuring all students have the opportunity to exceed their potential and, where appropriate, achieve excellent examination results, in whichever school they attend within the Trust.

As well as his engineering and technical qualifications, Gary holds a Diploma in Management Studies and is a Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Gary has also been involved with the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) scheme within AMVC since its inception and still assists as a leader on occasions each year, to encourage young people to use the extra-curricular skills and knowledge they learn, in this scheme, throughout their life.

Current Job: Retired after 38 years with BT

Paulina Ford

Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee

Paulina worked for Peterborough City Council from 2004 to September 2022 facilitating strong and effective democratic and governance functions within the Council to achieve statutory and constitutional compliance which included supporting councillors to scrutinise the services of the council.

Prior to joining the council, Paulina worked in the private sector in Financial Services in various roles including project management, recruitment and training and development.

Paulina has over 20 years’ experience as a governor at secondary school level where she has chaired the Curriculum and Standards committee. Paulina now works as a part time Exam Invigilator at Arthur Mellows Village College.

Current Job: Retired

Gilmour McLaren

Member of the Resource Committee

Member of the Targeted Capital Project Committee

Four Cs MAT Member

Now retired, Gilmour McLaren, was previously Director of financial services and an Insurance Broker. Gilmour was a former Governor of Arthur Mellows Village College and Northborough Primary School, including 20 years as Chair. He was also the founding Chair of the Four Cs MAT as well as contributing to education in Peterborough for a period, leading the Local Authority Governor Development Group.

Current Job: Retired

Sarah Humble

Member of the Standards Committee

Link Trustee for Safeguarding

Sarah has advised as a commercial property solicitor on a broad range of non-contentious real estate matters for a full range of clients from institutional investors to private individuals.

She has worked in both private practice and the public sector. Sarah has over 7 years’ experience as a governor at secondary school level where she has chaired the Students and Safeguarding committee.

Current Job: Solicitor, Professional Support Lawyers at Hewitsons Solicitors LLP

Nigel Jennings

Member of the Resource Committee

Member of the Standards Committee

After 30 years of service with Cambridgeshire Constabulary, where he specialised in the areas of roads policing and major investigations, Nigel now teaches Tai Chi. He became a secondary school governor in 2006 and is currently the Chair of Governors at Arthur Mellows Village College.

Current Job: Teacher

Suzanne Jones

Member of the Resource Committee

Member of the Standards Committee

Suzanne is a qualified Public Sector Finance Professional who has worked with a number of local authorities in her career as a Chief Finance Officer.  Suzanne is now a Public Sector Finance Consultant and Adviser working with local authorities who are in challenging financial circumstances.

Suzanne chairs the Examinations Panel for her professional institute and has a passion for seeing people develop through learning to be the best they can be, both professionally and personally.  She has been a mentor to a number of aspiring Chief Finance Officers helping them to deal with challenges they face.

Having served as a governor for Arthur Mellows Village College and Manor Drive Secondary Academy as Safeguarding Lead, she has supported both of them through OFSTED inspections in 2025 and continues to work with them in this area.

Suzanne brings a wealth of experience of local and central government from her career.

Current Job: Self-employed Public Sector Finance Consultant and Adviser

Pamela Kilbey

Chair of the Standards Committee

Member of the Remuneration Committee and CEO Target Setting Group

Pamela is currently an Education Consultant, having spent her entire career in education as a teacher, including many years working in both Zambia and South Africa. She provides educational support to individual schools and, through her work with the Association of School and College Leaders, assists Trustees and Governors in leadership appointments.

In addition, Pamela is a Personal Tutor on the University of Buckingham BA in Primary Education course and serves as Chair of the Curriculum and Quality Committee for a Further and Higher Education group.

Pamela was a Senior Leader in Stanground College before becoming Headteacher of Jack Hunt School and CEO of the Peterborough Keys Academies Trust, comprising of four Primary schools and one Secondary School.

Current Job: Consultant

Jonathan Theobalds

Vice-Chair of Trustees

Vice-Chair of Resource Committee

Member of the Remuneration Committee and CEO Target Setting Group

Jonathan holds previous experience of Chair of Governors at both primary and secondary level and in the past, has also been a Trustee of another Multi-Academy Trust. Jonathan is currently Chair of Governors at Manor Drive Secondary Academy and Manor Drive Primary Academy.

Current Job: Managing Director of Peterborough based Rivercircle

David Whiles

Chair of Trustees

Link Trustee for SEND

David is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Chartered Water and Environmental Manager. He has extensive international experience in construction, the development of public health infrastructure and organisational change.

David has been Chair of Trustees since October 2022 and was previously Vice-Chair.  David is also Chair of Governors at Hampton Vale Primary Academy.

Current Job: Retired