Mr John McAuley - Foundation Director (Chair)

Term of Office:  01.03.2022 – 31.12.2025

John was an Electrical Engineer with over 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors before retiring in March 2022 from his role as Joint Authority PFI Project Manager working for both Oldham and Rochdale Councils.  John is married and has three daughters and three grandchildren his hobbies include walking, reading and spending time with his family.

John has been a Foundation Governor and Chair at Holy Family RC & CE College in Heywood for over 10 years and he recently joined the Board of Directors as a Foundation Director at St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Academy Trust.  John is an advocate for education and has a strong catholic ethos and a desire to support schools to be the best that they can be in order to deliver the best possible outcomes for students and to make lives better for our communities.

Mr Stephen Carr

Term of Office: 01.03.2022 – 31.12.2025

Stephen has served the Catholic education sector for over a decade as a Governor at St Mary’s RC primary school in Horwich, Bolton and has held roles including Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body.

However the experience he brings to the Trust is from over 25 years employed in the private sector, across the oil, energy and logistics sectors in commercial and supply chain roles. Stephen is currently employed as Group Commercial Director for Peel Ports Group, sitting on the group’s Executive Board with responsibility for establishing and evolving the group’s strategic plan, representing the business on various national bodies and interfacing with Government departments.

Mrs Sue Cronin - Foundation Director

Term of Office: 27.10.2022 – 05.09.2026

Sue Cronin is newly appointed as the Director of Accreditation and Quality Assurance for the School of Education. She has spent more than 25 years in education holding a variety of posts in schools and in the university including Head of Teacher Education and Director of Quality and Teacher Development. Most recently her work involved leading on mentoring and coaching teaching and research, covering the full range of professional career stages from beginning teachers to school leaders.  Sue’s current research interests and publications are focused on aspects of Teacher Education, in particular, coaching and mentoring, school leadership and partnership. This aligns with her main work activities which include supporting schools and leaders in the North West to provide quality education, largely through their involvement with university Teacher Educators and ITE. Her recent publications have focused on the impact of Covid on Initial Teacher Education.

Sue has a background of secondary mathematics teaching in a variety of Liverpool schools before joining the Liverpool advisory team. She originally taught on a variety of undergraduate modules including Teaching Assistants on Foundation degree courses. She then moved on to PGCE programmes, developing master’s mathematics education modules and CPD projects such as MaST (Primary Mathematics specialist teachers) and SKE course for non-specialist mathematics teachers.  More recently Sue’s teaching has been focused on masters and PD provision for school leaders.

Dr Jonathan Walsh - Foundation Director

Term of Office: 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2028

Jonathan has been involved with the support of Catholic education as a governor with over 20 years of experience in this role.

His background is not in the education sector but has been responsible for project developments that require the input of a range of diverse team members with multiple disciplines with a strategic goal.

Jonathan is a microbiologist and received his PhD in Microbial Culture Media development. Jonathan is the lead Scientist for 3M Europe, Middle East and Africa and works within the 3M Healthcare and the Food Safety Division.

He has a number of scientific publications and has been a key speaker for a range of expert organizations including the World Bank, Global Brand Management organization, and the Food Division of the European Union Group.

He has been a foundation governor for 22 years and is currently the Chair of Governors of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School in Bury.

He joined St Teresa of Calcutta in Autumn 2020.

Jonathan is the nominated Director for Child Protection and Safeguarding.

Mr Peter Riley - Foundation Director

Term of Office: 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2028

Peter’s experience comes from his 20 years working at Manchester Metropolitan University where he is Head of Widening Participation, responsible for leading the institutional approach to supporting those from groups who do not traditionally progress to Higher Education. He is responsible for developing the Institution’s Access and Participation Plan – which is a strategic document which analyses performance in terms of access and success, identifies where data suggests risks to equality of opportunity for particular groups, and outlines intervention strategies to address these risks. The Plan also details the costs of these interventions, how they will be evaluated, and targets for improvement over the 4-year planning cycle.

He is also responsible for the Greater Manchester Higher collaborative network – which is a regional partnership of Higher Education providers funded directly by the Office for Students (part of the Department for Education) which delivers impartial IAG to young people across the region from under-represented groups. The partnership receives over £1m per year, and as Manchester Met is the lead institution Peter is responsible for ensuring the impact data and financial expenditure are carefully monitored and reported to the OfS.

Mrs Julie-Ann Hewitt - Co-Opted Director

Term of Office: 13.05.2024 – 12.05.2028

Julie- Ann is passionate that education can change lives. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Epworth Academy Trust, a Methodist Trust that operates across multiple local authorities and regions. She has expertise in Trust growth, rapidly improving school standards and in building relationships with key stakeholders within the sector.

Mrs Angela Bowman

Term of Office: 01.09.2025 – 31.08.2029

Mrs Mary Garvey

Term of Office: 01.09.2025 – 31.08.2029