Our Members

Martin is the Chair of the Corinium Education Trust. Martin is a retired Headteacher, now working as an educational consultant with a number of organisations focused on school improvement. His last substantive post was as Headteacher of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wimborne Minster. He has extensive experience of school improvement working as an Associate with Partners in Excellence and a Lead Headteacher Ambassador with the Youth Sport Trust. Martin has worked and governed in a range of schools and academy trusts, as well as gaining trustee experience with Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education. Martin has always been involved in charitable work and is currently Chair of the Oxfordshire Branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Martin stays active by walking in the Cotswolds almost every day, swims regularly and is a keen golfer.

Vanella has built a successful career in brands and communications. She has always been passionate about what brands can achieve with great communication. Vanella spent 20 years as a strategic planner in some of the UK’s best advertising agencies, including BBH, AMV/BBDO and JWT. She joined Hall & Partners in 2004 as European CEO, and was later promoted to Global CEO. Vanella successfully grew the company, expanding into new markets internationally and working with some of the world’s most famous brands and companies. Vanella has chaired of the British Market Research Society and founded the MRS Diversity Group, focused on making the industry more inclusive. She is a coach and mentor to young entrepreneurs and has won a UK ‘Woman of the Year’ award for her work helping young people achieve their ambitions.

Dominic is a chartered accountant, with 15 years’ experience working across both practice and industry. Initially training within the Audit & Assurance practice at PwC in London, he later transitioned to a team specialising in operational restructuring, working predominantly with NHS Trusts across the county to implement operational change and efficiencies. Following the birth of his first child in 2018 he moved out of practice and joined Corin Group, a medical device manufacturer based in Cirencester. Here he leads financial planning and analysis for global operations. As a member of the operations leadership team, he works closely with the Chief Operating Officer and heads of function including manufacturing, supply chain and IT, to develop and implement the company’s strategy going forward. Outside of work Dominic enjoys spending time with his wife and two young children, exploring the Cotswolds and surrounding areas.

Martin had a career as a Finance Director for a number of public and private bodies and joined Cirencester Deer Park School as Director of Support in 2003. He then gained extensive experience of the state education sector through leadership of all the support functions within the school for many years. Together with Chiquita Henson, Martin led the process of gaining Foundation status, then Academisation of the school and finally the formation of the Corinium Education Trust. Martin is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a Diploma in School Business Management. Martin chaired the Gloucestershire Association of School Business Managers for a number of years and developed a benchmarking process for secondary schools in the county which was acknowledged by the Department for Education. Martin has provided training to many schools and school business managers on finance, governance and assessment data. Martin retired from the post of Director of Finance at the Corinium Education Trust in 2021 after 18 years with Cirencester Deer Park School and the Trust.

Martin is a Kings Counsel who until retirement worked as a barrister in the field of town and country planning and environmental law. He was involved in a large number of strategic scale projects running teams of consultants and providing advocacy in public inquiry hearings. He was involved in the presentation of cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Since retirement he has been actively involved as a member of the Church of England’s General Synod, a member of the Gloucester Diocese Bishops Council and Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Group. He is a trustee of Sportily, a Gloucester Diocese sport and mission initiative, and a trustee of the Cotswolds Lakes Trust. He is involved with his local community having organised and promoted through to its final stages the Kemble and Ewen Neighbourhood Development Plan and has been a member of the Kemble School LGB. He is an active member of the church in the village. 

Sarah is a senior HR professional with a passion for people management. Her career has spanned the Further Education and Higher Education sectors and she has a background in the NHS. She has achieved success by driving excellence, compliance and managing risk and she has a demonstrable record of developing and implementing people strategies and organisational development. Sarah is the Director of Human Resources at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester and works at a strategic level whilst leading a team to ensure the needs of stakeholders are met to achieve operational efficiency and that staff are recruited and developed to achieve success. She is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and a qualified workplace mediator. For twelve years, she was a listening volunteer with the Samaritans and also undertook a number of management roles at a local and regional level with the Samaritans during this time.

Mark has recently retired as a primary school teacher/headteacher after 44 years in the profession. He led teams across a variety of primary schools in Gloucestershire and Cornwall and was twice appointed as a MAT CEO. Mark is passionate about developing an exciting curriculum for primary age children within a stimulating and creative learning environment. The quality of Mark’s leadership was recognised in 2008 when he was awarded the NCSL ‘Headteacher of the Year’ in a South West primary school. He has also worked for Cornwall County Council as a Primary Advisor leading on EYFS, primary leadership, governance and remodelling the workforce. Mark has wide experience of supporting school improvement as a School Improvement Partner and adviser and is a registered school inspector. Mark has extensive experience as a Governor and Trustee, having chaired an academy trust board and served as a Trustee and member of trusts in Cornwall. Mark is proud to become a Trustee at the Corinium Education Trust and looks forward to supporting and challenging the Trust and its schools.Bio to come!

Shirley has lived in Cirencester for since 1978 and been active in local education for a great deal of that time, firstly at Kingshill Secondary School and then at Cirencester Infant School, which subsequently became Cirencester Primary School, she retired as a governor last year. She has also been a local Councillor, served on Cotswold District Council for 8 years and on the Town Council for 16 years, during which time she has been mayor of Cirencester twice, 2001-2003 and 2007-2009. She continues to be involved with a number of trusts and grant giving bodies in the town and is currently chair of the Cirencester Community Development Trust. Shirley is a Soroptimist, and has served as club president and president of the South West and Channel Island region over the last 20 year.

Jane joined the Diocese of Gloucester in September 2023 as the Diocesan Director of Education. Prior taking up this post she was Programme Co-Leader at the University of Winchester, leading an Initial Teacher Education programme of over 700 students. Her career began in Hackney, in East London, as a teacher and senior leader. Her career has spanned a wide variety of school improvement activities developing leadership and teaching and learning across a diverse range of primary, secondary and special schools. She is firmly rooted in faith, having led REInspired Caversham, an ecumenical project enabling Christians from local churches to be involved in RE lesson delivery in local schools. She has also served on the PCC and as a Deanery Synod member at her church and run Messy Church and Scripture Union Holiday Club projects. She has served as a governor in a variety of capacities, most recently serving two terms of office on the Premises and Finance and Pupil and Staff Welfare committees at the Heights Primary School in Reading, a new primary school which she helped to found.

Richard is the fifth generation of his family to work as a solicitor in the town. His connections with Cirencester are extensive and deep, both as a result of having lived in the town all his life, but also as a result of his fifty-year career, working mainly on local trust and charity matters. He has had involvement with (and responsibility for) many of the local charities and trusts, not least the Powell’s Education Foundation, which is the most significant education charity in the town. He is also active in promoting collaboration between charities in the town.

Martin is the Chair of the Corinium Education Trust. Martin is a retired Headteacher, now working as an educational consultant with a number of organisations focused on school improvement. His last substantive post was as Headteacher of Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wimborne Minster. He has extensive experience of school improvement working as an Associate with Partners in Excellence and a Lead Headteacher Ambassador with the Youth Sport Trust. Martin has worked and governed in a range of schools and academy trusts, as well as gaining trustee experience with Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education. Martin has always been involved in charitable work and is currently Chair of the Oxfordshire Branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Martin stays active by walking in the Cotswolds almost every day, swims regularly and is a keen golfer.

Dame Fiona Reynolds DBE was Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge from 2012 until 2021. She came to the college from the National Trust, where she was Director-General from 2001-2012. During her time there, she made the Trust warmer and more welcoming, bringing the houses to life and raising the profile of the Trust’s work in the countryside. Before the Trust, she was Director of the Women’s Unit in the Cabinet Office (1998-2000), Director of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (now Campaign to Protect Rural England) from 1987-98 and Secretary to the Council for National Parks (now Campaign to Protect National Parks) from 1980-87. She has an MA and MPhil from Cambridge University in Geography and Land Economy. Fiona now holds a number of non-Executive roles. She is Chair of the National Audit Office, the Council of the Royal Agricultural University, the International National Trusts Organisation, the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden and its Bennett Institute for Public Policy. She is a trustee of the Grosvenor Estate, the Green Alliance and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Her book The Fight for Beauty was published in 2016. Fiona was appointed CBE for services to the environment and conservation in 1998 and DBE in 2008.