Date of Appointment: 1st December 2019
Natalie is currently Head of Governance at Richmond upon Thames College (from April 2019). Her duties include providing strategic and proactive leadership on governance for the Corporation Board and the College; providing advice on statutory, constitutional and procedural matters; ensuring an effective framework and approach to risk management and which is regularly reviewed; acting as a key point of contact in respect of governance with relevant external and regulatory bodies such as Ofsted, the Association of Colleges and the Office for Students; and advising on the operation of the College’s internal governance model. She is also Data Protection Officer, supports HR in relation to the appointment of Senior Post Holders (SPH) and draft and review the SPH Probationary and Disciplinary Policies and Procedures. She also manages and leads on policies including whistleblowing, GDPR, and SPH policies.
Natalie’s previous experience is as follows: Head of Governance, Age UK (July 2016 – December 2018; July 2011 – July 2016 Head of Corporate Secretariat, Age UK Enterprises Ltd; and a number of posts at the British Medical Association from 2001 to 2011. Prior to the BMA she held a number of posts at the Law Society including Leading and Managing a Practice Advice Service for solicitors on legal practice.

Date of Appointment: 1st September 2017
Worcester Diocesan Academies Trust (WDAT) is the Diocese of Worcester’s company responsible for the oversight and management of all Church of England (C of E) academies in the Diocese. It is a corporate member of all Church of England academies and MATs containing a C of E school in the Diocese. WDAT nominates a representative to attend Members’ meetings on its behalf and tries, where practical, to use the same representative in order to improve continuity. For Avonreach Academy Trust, this representative to be Derek Valentine.
Derek is a Director of WDAT and in the past has been a Governor of both primary and high schools near Upton on Severn, where he lives. Two of his three grown up daughters are teachers and his three grandchildren all attend a Diocese of Worcester C of E academy. Derek is a PCC member of Malvern Priory, where he is also Chairman of Finance and Treasurer of Friends of Malvern Priory.

Date of Appointment – 1st January 2019
Patricia has enjoyed a wealth of experience in a long and varied career. She worked for Griffin and George Ltd.; was parliamentary adviser to the Chamber of Shipping of the UK; was Chief Executive of the Institution of Highways and Transportation; Public Affairs Advisor for Babtie Group; and a Consultant Public Affairs Advisor.
Her public appointments have included being: a member of the Occupational Pensions Board; Non-Executive Director of London Transport; Director of Docklands Light Railway; Non-Executive Member of the Richmond, Twickenham and Roehampton Healthcare NHS Trust; Non Legal Member of the Upper Tribunal (Transport); Public Member of Network Rail; and a Disciplinary Panel Member of the Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service. She is a Parish Councillor on Defford and Besford Parish Council. Patricia’s interests include politics, constitutional affairs, transport, travel and music.

Date of Appointment: 1st August 2017
Andrew first became a Parent Governor at Norton Juxta Kempsey C of E First School in October 2005. At the time his first son was a Year 3 pupil and his second son had just started in Reception. Over those first few years of experiencing the modern education system as a parent, it became apparent to Andrew that things had changed since he was in the system as a pupil, some twenty plus years before. The main reason for Andrew wanting to become a Governor was to have a greater understanding of these new ways of teaching and, to be honest, to use that knowledge to help support his children with their education whilst helping the school in whatever way he could.
Andrew certainly hadn’t expected to still be in a Governance role nearly 20 years later, let alone Chair of Trustees of a Multi Academy Trust. It is a very different role to the one that Andrew gets paid for (Technical Manager for a company making seals for cars, aircraft and all sorts of industrial equipment), but what drives Andrew to stay involved, through sometimes very difficult times, is the amazing dedication of the education professionals and the volunteers that support them to provide the best possible education to the children in our schools, essentially maximizing their potential for their lives to come in an increasingly competitive world.
On a weekly basis, Andrew sees examples of that dedication throughout all four schools that make up the Avonreach Academy Trust, where collaborative working at all levels is bringing very tangible benefits and he looks forward to doing whatever he can to help the Trust flourish, develop and grow over the coming years.

Date of Appointment: 1st August 2017
Rob’s background is in business and lecturing. He was employed in Further and Higher education for over thirty years, during which time he helped many small businesses to develop, and taught on post graduate and professional courses. Rob has also written a number of degree level open learning programmes.
In addition to the above, Rob has been involved in running three small businesses and has worked overseas as a manager on British Aid and United Nations development programmes in Fiji and the South Pacific region. Rob retired from full-time employment in 2010, but continues to work as a part-time consultant.
Rob’s four children attended Pershore High School, where he was a governor for over 25 years and where he was Chair of Governors from 2005 until 2017. Rob is pleased to be able to continue his contribution to local education as a Trustee of the Avonreach MAT.

Date of Appointment: 1st August 2017
Ian started his career in the NHS as a Healthcare Scientist before moving into NHS Leadership roles in the early 1990's. He has held a variety of NHS general management posts, including 11 years as Chief Executive of acute hospital Trusts, three years as the Chief Executive of a healthcare commissioning organisation, and 3 years as the Chief Executive of the NHS in the West Midlands from 2009. In 2012, Ian was appointed Chief Executive of Health Education England (HEE) which was the largest education and training organisation in the world.
In 2020 Ian moved into a portfolio career. He currently undertakes three part-time roles as the Chairman of the West Midlands Ambulance Service, Professor of Global Healthcare at Keele University, and as the Ambassador for Healthcare to the UK Overseas Territories.
In 2003 Ian was awarded the OBE for services to the NHS and in 2010 Ian was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Ian has a special interest in sports medicine, an area in which he holds an MSc.
Outside work, Ian is a keen snow skier and hill walker and enjoys sailing and watching rugby union.

Date of Appointment: 1st February 2019
Karen holds the position of Director of Finance at West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust She is a qualified accountant with a focus on efficiency, transparency and improvement arising from continuous review of current process and practices. She therefore fully appreciates the importance of being a custodian of public funding and ensuring the best value for money for stakeholders.
Karen has held a range of finance leadership roles in a variety of NHS settings, including NHS England, Health Education England, Strategic Health Authorities, NHS Trusts providing Acute, Community and Mental Health Services. Other relevant experience includes:
• Audit committee member;
• Chief Information Officer responsibilities;
• Production of unqualified annual accounts within statutory deadlines;
• Implementing and migrating financial systems;
• Leading finance teams and developing quality standards to measure performance;
• Embedding financial governance across organisations

A commercial business leader with 25 years’ experience in FMCG, Retail and Manufacturing. Significant expertise in multichannel execution including a strong focus in digital retailing, global sourcing, profit control and product development. Further strengths include strategic planning, market segmentation and customer leadership. Frequent demonstration of ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage significant business transformation. Strong intuition & people management skills demonstrated through building high performing teams incorporating recruitment, coaching and performance management. A strong communicator who builds enduring & effective relationships through flexible interpersonal skills.

Michael Hodges is married to Karen. They have 5 daughters.  He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is also a member of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors.  As a Chartered Surveyor he spent 23 years with international real estate advisers Jones Lang Wootton/Jones Lang LaSalle in a variety of transactional and senior management roles both in the UK and abroad. These roles  culminated in 2 positions at a global management level (as Global Practice Head of Tenant Representation and finally as International Director in charge of the company’s Performance Management Programme).  His experience is across the range in commercial and residential property, having worked on some of Europe’s largest mixed use developments.   Between 2013 and 2016 he was National Treasurer of the Gideons International in the British Isles.  He is currently Chairman of t and also volunteers as ANT Harbour Master for the Pershore River Festival.

Floriane Fidegnon is a Consultant at BMNT, currently working on the Royal Navy contract, helping them to correctly identify and translate operational problem areas. She has a background in manufacturing engineering and public policy, having worked in a manufacturing production environment, a public policy think tank and the charities sector.
Prior to joining BMNT, Floriane was a department head in a public policy think tank, as the head of the Industry, Technology and Innovation team. She has extensive experience working with civil servants, parliamentarians, private and public sector stakeholders across manufacturing, data analytics and innovation policy translating and publishing challenges into actionable recommendations for government. As a manufacturing engineer for a major pharmaceutical company, she contributed to a number of lean and innovation-led programmes that were adopted to improve production performance.
Floriane is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) design and manufacturing policy panel and an IEEE TechEthics ambassador, advising professional institutes on their engagement with industry and academia in emerging markets.
Floriane is passionate about diversity, inclusion, equity and youth engagement in STEM. She founded and led the Warwick Women’s Engineering Society, is a Royal Academy of Engineering Leaders Scholar, and regular science communicator. She is a charity trustee for Stemette Futures as well as the Chairperson of the Stemette Futures Youth board. She holds a first class BEng in Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Warwick.

Sue has been a governor for over 20 years in both Croydon and Surrey.
In 2013 she was chair of the governing body for a brand-new Church of England primary school providing guidance to governors on values, ethos, strategy, and policy and creating the foundations for a strong governing body.
She became a Local Leader of Governance in Surrey in 2020 and since then has helped governing bodies and management committees to review, assess and develop their practices and procedures. Sue has also supported schools with complaints investigations and panel hearings.
Sue’s background is in law enforcement, as a police officer for over 30 years and more recently as a consultant with a group of safeguarding professionals, Girling Hughes Associates Ltd.
Sue has completed the National Governance Association’s Development Programme for Chairs, recently completed their Governance Professional qualification and now works part-time as a governance professional.
Having relocated to Worcestershire, Sue is pleased to be able to put her experience to good use in a new governance role.

Michelle started her career as an Ambulance Cadet in September 1993 with Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service, aged just 16. Two years later she qualified as an ambulance technician and progressed to become a paramedic working operationally across Worcestershire. From there Michelle became a clinical supervisor before joining West Midlands Ambulance Service as a training officer in 2001. She moved back to her roots in 2005 when she gained a promotion back with Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service where she set up a number of volunteer Community First Responder schemes and was instrumental in helping to develop the network of public access defibrillation across the two counties, in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation as part of the National Defibrillation Programme. Michelle has undertaken several senior management roles within both emergency and non-emergency operational delivery including managing the West Mercia division. Michelle’s current role of Non-Emergency Services Operations Delivery & Improvement Director sees her run the Trust’s Patient Transport Service which handles over a million patient journeys every year. She is also one of the Trust’s strategic commanders and remains a state registered paramedic. Michelle has studied at both the University of Worcester and University of Wolverhampton as well as successfully completing the Nye Bevan Leadership Programme.
Michelle is married and has four daughters. Away from work Michelle enjoys spending time with her family, going to the gym and has a passion for musical theatre and is a member of Pershore Operatic Society. Michelle volunteers as a chaperone for local theatre groups.