Matthew Woodruff (Chair of Trustees)

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 05/07/2024

John Allan

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 01/10/2015

ROLE WITHIN THE KITE ACADEMY TRUST:
I’m a non-executive Trustee and joint Vice Chair of the Board.  I am a member of the Finance, Audit & Risk and Pay Committees and the Trustee with responsibility for Community and Equality, Diversity, Belonging and Inclusion (EDBI).  I am a founding Trustee of The Kite Academy Trust, having been a Governor at The Grove Primary School for 22 years, and Chair of the governing board for 10 years.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BACKGROUND:
I am a retired IT Consultant with managerial, technical and system analysis and design experience across many business areas including manufacturing, finance, human resources & payroll and sales.

OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
Reading, music and walking the dog.

Andrew Johnson

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 23/11/2022

ROLE WITHIN THE KITE ACADEMY TRUST:
I’m a non-executive Trustee and joint Vice Chair of the Board. I am the Chair of the Finance, Audit & Risk and Pay Committees, and a member of the Education Committee.  I am the Trustee with responsibility for Whistleblowing.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BACKGROUND:
I trained as accountant and worked for a number of predominantly US companies in a number of overseas locations.  I have lived in Camberley since 1989, where both of my children were born and attended local schools.  I was a Governor at Prior Heath for 3 or 4 terms starting 1996, at Ravenscote for 1 term and was involved with Tomlinscote for about 15 years as a Governor and Chair of the Governing Body.  Following Tomlinscote becoming an academy, I was both Chair of Surrey Heath Educational Trust and Chair of the Members, standing down when Tomlinscote joined The Prospect Trust.

Liam Quinn

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 06/11/2017

ROLE WITHIN THE KITE ACADEMY TRUST:
I’m a non-executive Trustee and a member of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee.  My focus within the Board is to look at how technology can be best used within the Trust to help it to continue to develop and grow. I’ve helped to create the ICT strategy for the Trust which is built around providing a foundation infrastructure that all the academies can use and will ensure that all Trust business requirements are met and supported.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BACKGROUND:
I’m IT Director for Richmond Events who are the pioneers of one-to-one, pre-scheduled business forums which match buyers and sellers to generate new business, learn from each other and network. I’ve held this position for 9 years, although I’ve been at Richmond for 21 years. I studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Bath University and I have an MBA from Aston University.

OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
I’m passionate about the Cloud and how it can improve the way organisations can develop, grow and operate anywhere in the world. My free time is taken up with helping develop young people within Molesey, Surrey. I am Scout Leader for 1st Molesey (Jaguar) Sea Scouts and Treasurer for the Friends of St Albans Primary School.

Lisa Hopkins

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 11/09/2024

ROLE WITHIN THE KITE ACADEMY TRUST:
I am a non-executive Trustee. I am a member of the Education and Pay Committees and the Trustee with responsibility for SEND.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BACKGROUND:
I am CEO of a charity called SeeAbility having spent my career working in social care and education specialising in people with autism and learning disabilities.  My previous roles include various Trusteeships and working in senior management positions in not-for-profit organisations, although my formal education and early career was in behaviour support for people with disabilities whose behaviour was described as challenging.  I am also a Trustee at Learning Disability England and the Worshipful Company of Spectacles Makers Charity.

OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
I have two young children, one of whom attends one of the schools in the Kite Academy.  They take up most of my time outside of work, although I do love scuba diving and yoga/pilates when time allows.

Robert Isaac

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 14/05/2025

ROLE WITHIN THE KITE ACADEMY TRUST:
I am a non-executive Trustee.  I am the Chair of the Education Committee and a member of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BACKGROUND:
I started my career as a secondary science and IT teacher four decades ago, then progressed through the pastoral route as a Head of Year, subsequently being appointed as Deputy Headteacher of a brand new 11-18 grant maintained secondary.  My final year at that school was as Acting Headteacher.  I then joined an eight school multi-academy trust as Operations Director, eventually becoming joint Chief Operating Officer, by which time the MAT had grown to 25 schools.  My responsibilities within the MAT included oversight of the estates, capital and digital strategies, health and safety, compliance and data protection.

OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
I enjoy walking, running, cycling and playing pickle ball.

Andrew Green

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 11/02/2026

Louise Phillips

DATE OF APPOINTMENT: 17/02/2026

ROLE WITHIN THE KITE ACADEMY TRUST:
I am a non-executive Trustee. I am a member of the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee.

BUSINESS AND EDUCATION BACKGROUND:
I am the Financial Controller at Oasis Community Learning (OCL), a multi-academy trust of 55 primary, secondary, and all-through academies.  I am a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, having qualified in 2014.  My career began in 2006 after graduating from Aston University, when I joined a Birmingham accountancy firm as an external auditor.  Over the next decade, I developed my technical expertise and progressed to Audit Manager.  In 2016, I moved to OCL as a Regional Finance Manager for the Midlands, supporting eight primary academies.  I joined the national team as Deputy Financial Controller in 2020 and have since stepped into the role of Financial Controller.  I now oversee financial management and compliance across the Trust and partner with our Executive team on strategic financial planning.  I thrive on tackling complex challenges, especially knowing that every improvement we make ultimately benefits our children and future leaders.

OUTSIDE INTERESTS:
Outside of work I spend time with my husband, two young children and our sausage dog.  We love a camping trip to the seaside in our motorhome, enjoying the great outdoors!