Vine Schools Trust Board Members

Dr Caroline Haynes is now retired having spent 37 years in schools, 20 years as a Headteacher of two large comprehensive schools in Essex and finally as Executive Headteacher of two AET academies.

In 2007 Caroline was Head Teacher of the year in the Eastern Region and in 2008 she won the Education category in the Daily Telegraph “Great Britons” Award. Caroline is a National Leader of Education and was an elected member of the first Eastern Region and North East London Regional Schools Commissioner’s Academy Headteacher Board.

Prior to her retirement, Caroline, in collaboration with Essex LEA and Market Field School, was proud to set up the Autistic Support Centres at Thorpe Campus and Frinton Campus of Tendring Technology College. She is now a Chair of the Vine Schools Trust and Chair of the Standards and Performance committee.

Mike has worked for the past 40 years in the private sector holding senior and executive roles in contracting and manufacturing companies engaging in collaborative working to drive business improvements and continuous sustainable growth. He is experienced in business leadership, project planning and change management.

Mike has been involved in school governance for 30 years and is passionate that every child deserves the best start in life by receiving high quality primary education supported by strong governance oversight.

Emma Wigmore is an experienced teacher with over 20 years’ experience. She was previously been a Headteacher for nine years and an Executive Headteacher for four years.

Emma has a great track record of consistently improving underperforming schools. She is passionate about school-to-school support and has further developed an effective ‘hub’ model, which has led to significant improvements for all schools involved. Emma is also a ‘Local Leader of Education’ and a qualified coach.

In a recent SIAMs inspection, Emma was recognised as being ‘a shining example of Christian leadership’ which added to her track record of academic achievement. This and her knowledge of the Vine Schools Trust makes her a great leader.

Yuri Burton is a seasoned risk management professional with a strong track record of leading risk management initiatives at the highest levels of organizations. Based in Chelmsford, Yuri’s expertise extends to director-level risk management roles, where he collaborates with executive teams, board members, and non-executives. His commitment to enhancing risk oversight and assurance is a hallmark of his career which has included roles at Legal and General, Softbank, Barclays, M&G, Ford and BDO.

Yuri is a qualified leader and volunteer within the Organisation of Ukrainian Scouts in Great Britain (PLAST), running the finances at the annual camp for hundreds of children.

A Fellow of the IoD, Member of the BCS and Associate CIPD with over 30 years in central and local government leadership spanning policy, large scale operations, strategy and whole service transformation, David has a wealth of experience in the public sector specialising in technology, digital and information leadership, communications and commercial development.

In Essex David was a member of the Executive Board from June 2015 and Chief Information Officer (CIO) since 2011, leading on Place Operations and then Digital. Before that he was CIO for the City of Westminster, Waltham Forest Council and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and was a senior Policy Advisor in The Departments for Education and Employment and Local Government and the Regions.

Philip is currently Director of the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) programme at Anglia Ruskin University.

Having previously taught for nearly 20 years in secondary schools in Cambridgeshire and Essex, he is an experienced educator, with interests in a wide variety of aspects of education. His research areas include the Adrian Gibbons

Adrian Gibbons has a degree from the University of East Anglia in Computing & Economics, he is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. For the last 35 years he has worked as a lecturer in audit and accountancy and a consultant to practicing firms of accountants. His area of specialist interest is auditing and he has reviewed many MAT audit files and advised auditors on their approach to dealing with MAT.

In December 2020 he retired from his professional career as a consultant to the audit and accounting industry. He is currently the President and Treasurer of the Colne Yacht Club and spends his time either yacht racing or sailing a Brightlingsea One Design that was built in 1947.

pedagogical uses of mobile technology, classroom teaching and Science education.

Catherine Stalham is an experienced teacher, with particular expertise in Early Years Foundation Stage, having taught this age group, led this phase and lectured and supported student teachers in this area.
Catherine has been a Primary Headteacher for seven years and has experience of effective school improvement in her own school and has supported other leaders in this also.

She has a passion for developing leadership skills, with a particular focus on empowering leaders in their development through coaching. Catherine has successfully completed her National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership and has a keen interest in developing school to school support across Multi Academy Trusts.

A Fellow of the CIPD, Stacey is an experienced Global HR Professional, Executive Coach and qualified Psychotherapeutic Counsellor. Stacey’s HR Leadership experience spans some 25 years, gained from within large multinational and FTSE100 organisations within the sectors of Banking, Learning & Education.

Russell has worked in the public sector, where he has held developmental roles cantered on income, business growth and economic growth, focused on some of the most deprived locations in the county. Throughout these position, Russell has crafted plans to address deprivation within multiagency settings, overseen data management, provided leadership during the pandemic, and implemented cost-saving measure. Before working with Essex County Council, Russell contributed to the success of three charities, focusing on alternative education, youth work and more.