Rowena Hackwood
Chief Executive Officer
Rowena is now in her seventh year as the CEO of a large MAT, first at the David Ross Education Trust and now at Astrea Academy Trust. With a professional background as a management consultant, she previously held leadership roles in the private sector, higher education, local government, and charities, including running a £60m philanthropic regeneration project in the north-east (the Auckland Project).
Successes at Astrea include the improvement in primary schools’ Ofsted ratings from 63% to 95% of the Trust’s schools being deemed Good, and Phonics hitting national average in 2023 for the first time. Rowena will be speaking about her recent MAT Summary Evaluation experience, in which Astrea was described as at a Trust that had moved from a ‘model of autonomy to one of collaboration and a rigorous drive towards excellence’.
Rowena is a passionate advocate of building coherence, collaboration and capacity within a sector that can sometimes tend towards competition; she is a mentor to a number of CEOs, provides support and advice to a range of sector groups, and is Vice Chair of the Queen St Group, with a particular interest in supporting the development of the next tranche of female MAT CEOs.
James Wright
Chief Finance Officer
James joined the Astrea team in July 2019.
Prior to joining us James ran his own consultancy Academy Trust Finance, through which he worked with clients including Future Academies and University Schools Trust.
James is a CIMA qualified Finance Director with experience across Education, Charity, Professional Services (Booz & co), and Consumer Retail (Nuffield Health and Gyms). His prior Education sector roles have included International Baccalaureate, UCAS, Education Development Trust, BMet.
James is committed to ensuring that the very best can be achieved by schools, for the benefit of pupils, parents, teachers and the wider communities which are impacted by the decisions made by MATs.
Tomas Thurogood-Hyde
Director of Corporate Services
Tomas is Astrea’s lead on governance and strategy assurance and is responsible for ensuring high quality Trust-wide and local governance as well as effective communication between the Board and its local committees. He is also responsible for overseeing the Trust’s policy framework, legal support, admissions, PR and fundraising.
An alumnus of the Open University, at which he read Law, Tomas has worked at the Prince’s Trust and Ark Schools before joining Astrea in March 2018.
Jo Leishman
Director of Primary Education
Jo has been part of Astrea since its inception in 2016, when she was Principal at Highgate Primary Academy. She is an experienced educationalist, who has led across many schools, developing effective leadership teams. The drive for brilliant and inclusive education for all children is at the heart of all she does. Jo joined the Central Team as a Regional Director in September 2019 and is currently our Director of Primary Education.
Richard Tutt
Director of Secondary Education
Richard is a very experienced system leader, joining from United Learning, where he is currently a Regional Director with responsibility for ten secondary academies and the national strategic lead for Teaching and Learning and SEND. Richard was designated as a National Leader of Education (NLE) in 2017. Previously, he was an Executive Principal in United Learning, overseeing five secondary academies. As a Principal, Richard led Magna Academy since it opened in 2013 to achieve two consecutive OFSTED Outstanding judgments (2015 and 2018), accreditation as a National Teaching School and National Support School and a Progress 8 score of 1.15 (24th nationally) in 2018 and 1.16 (18th nationally) in 2019.
Taryn Edge
Director of People and Organisational Development
Taryn Edge joined Astrea in December 2023 and leads the Trust People & Organisational Development Directorate. A Chartered Fellow of the CIPD she plays an influential role on the Multi-Academy Trust National HR Network and currently serves as Chair for the Yorkshire & Humber region. Taryn also represents Astrea on local government HR steering groups and at the Queen Street Group, HR trust leaders network. Taryn leads on trust industrial relations at National level working collaboratively with our recognised trade unions and leads the Astrea Talent Programme, empowering staff across the Trust to thrive and realise their full potential.
In addition to her HR leadership, Taryn is Chair of Governors at Woodfields Academy in Doncaster and serves as a CIPD Mentor for the South Yorkshire region, demonstrating her ongoing commitment to the growth and development of others.