Members and Directors - Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust

The Members of the Multi Academy Trust (Bishop R Bryne, Mrs D Fox, Mr J Ledger, Rev S Lerche and Rev Canon Peter Leighton) appoint the Board of Directors to ensure the MAT is run in accordance with its aims and objectives.

The Directors are responsible for:

Ensuring the quality of educational provision
Challenging and monitoring performance
Managing finances and property
Managing the Headteachers of each academy within the Trust

The Directors are:

Mr Daniel O’Mahoney Director (Chair)

Miss Jane Carlin Director

Mr David Chandler Director

Mr John Deighan MBE Director

Rev Adrian Dixon Director

Ms Helen Hardy Director

Mrs Andrea Shanks Director

Mr Daniel O’Mahoney Director (Chair)

Daniel has been at the forefront of public relations and reputation management in the North of England for over 20 years. He is a founding partner of Bradley O'Mahoney Public Relations which was established in 1991 and has advised a vast range of clients in the public and private sectors. Private sector clients the firm has represented include large law firms and construction companies. Public sector clients include the local Universities and Councils.

Miss Jane Carlin Director

Jane Carlin, (Sister Aelred) has a significant wealth of experience in Catholic education having spent 38 years as a teacher in secondary schools and 12 of these years as a Headteacher. From 1993-2020 she was a foundation governor at St. Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy and during that time was a member of the Audit Committee, and Appointment of staff and Discipline Committees.

Sister Aelred is also part of the Mercy International Association for Great Britain (MIAGB) with a role as Superior and Trustee of the community with pastoral and financial responsibility. She was also President of Sisters of Mercy federation from 2006-2019.

Mr David Chandler Director

David is a qualified accountant (CIMA) with over 20 years post qualification experience. He has worked at a senior level in finance across a number of organisations in the NHS across the North East. For 5 years now David has been the Deputy Chief Officer and Chief Finance Officer for Sunderland CCG which is a £500m NHS organisation that effectively purchases / commissions health care services for the people of Sunderland.

Mr John Deighan MBE Director

John worked as a national operations director for a chain of hotels across the country. Prior to this he was Operations Director in the North and HR Director. Throughout his career, John was an inspirational leader who championed staff development and directed change. He was awarded an MBE in 1999 for his contribution to the strategic development and launch of the New Deal in Sheffield.

Rev Adrian Dixon Director

A Priest of the Diocese, Fr. Dixon has extensive pastoral experience serving as a foundation governor on the boards of Secondary and Primary Schools over a period of 30 years.

Ms Helen Hardy Director

Helen is the founder/owner of an HR consultancy. She is an experienced HR professional who specialises in sustainable business transformation, cultural change and business improvement. She has managed the transfer and integration of 12 acquisitions to an organisation and worked at HR Director level. Helen is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and has a post graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management.
Helen attended St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy as a student.

Mrs Andrea Shanks Director

Andrea is a qualified solicitor and has worked at Northumbria University for 26 years in the following positions: Principal Lecturer, Associate Dean, Head of School of Law. During this time, she helped establish the internationally recognised Student Law Office; led all inspections of quality of education in the department for 15 years; and represented the Law School with the regulators of the Law Society, the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority which provided experience in the structure and discipline of educational programmes.

Andrea has chaired a number of Boards and Committees and has been a Foundation Governor at St. Anthony's Girls School (latterly Academy) for 20 years, elected as Chair of Governors in 2008. Andrea became Chair of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Education Trust in 2018 and held this position until the merger with Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust in 2020.