Our people

We are pleased to have enjoyed the patronage of HM King Charles, since 2008.

Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO CBE is a passionate and practical campaigner who has gained an international reputation for 'connecting the unconnected', inspiring individuals and organisations to work together for the common good.

As Vice President of ‘Business in the Community’ and former Special Adviser to ‘The Prince’s Charities’ — concentrating on responsible business practice and focusing connecting the unconnected in disadvantaged communities — she promotes collaboration among senior leaders from business, government, education and community organisations to build a more robust civil society.

Maurice Helfgott is an active investor and experienced Board Chair and Non-Executive Director across technology and consumer businesses. He spent 17 years at Marks & Spencer, joining through its graduate programme and progressing through a wide range of operational leadership roles before serving as an Executive Director on the main board.

Since then, Maurice has worked as an entrepreneur and investor, helping to turn around and grow a number of businesses. Most recently, he has chaired online optical platform MyOptique, ecommerce software business Brightpearl, and modern luxury fashion brand ME+EM.

Maurice also chairs Gresham House Income & Growth VCT and World Jewish Relief, the British based, international humanitarian and development agency. 

Humphrey Battcock built a 30 year career in venture capital/private equity latterly as European head of Advent International. Advent International is one of the world’s leading private equity firms with operations in 10 countries. During his tenure, the firm increased its assets under management from £200 million to £30 billion.

Humphrey is a chartered accountant, with an MBA from London Business School, a Physics degree from Cambridge University and a degree in demographics from London School of Economics.

Humphrey has lectured at the Business School at Oxford and been a board member of the Woodland Trust and the Campaign Board of Cambridge University. He is currently a trustee at Sadler’s Wells as well as two charities that he set up: the Institute for Research in Schools and the What Works Centre for Homelessness Impact. He is a panel member of the Competition and Markets Authority.

Djamila Boothman is currently an Assistant Headteacher and DSL in a North London Secondary School.  As a Teach First ambassador (2016), she passionately advocates that addressing educational disadvantage must be addressed through both the curriculum and pastoral offer.

As an English teacher, Djamila values the power that literature has as a gateway to new worlds and experiences and is committed to improving cultural representation in the English literature curriculum as a means of increasing student inquiry, attainment, promoting pride and placing equal value and celebration on the lived experiences of all children sitting in Britain’s classrooms. She is the co-author of Collins Who We Are Key Stage 3 Anthology and Through Our Eyes GCSE anthology.

Djamila has been recognised for her community-based work to engage students and families (100 Teachers Campaign, 2021) including the UK’s first Windrush Day School Festival, a sponsored walk for water and a documentary entitled Hush We Came on Windrush⁠—as well as her work to address the issue of disproportionality in schools.

As a safeguarding lead, Djamila works under the premise that embedding a strong safeguarding culture and promoting student welfare across a school can mitigate against a child's challenging socioeconomic circumstances in order to ensure that they can thrive.

Djamila holds a Masters in Educational Leadership from UCL IOE, a PGCE in Secondary English from Canterbury Christ Church University and an undergraduate degree in History from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Djamila is also a member of Teach First’s Education Committee.

Tom Harbour is the Founder and CEO of Learning with Parents, a charity working to narrow the disadvantage gap by supporting all parents to engage in their children’s learning. They do this by providing an online platform for schools, and by leading a group of organisations to improve home learning across the sector.

Tom is a 2011 ambassador, having trained at a comprehensive school in Leicester, where he held a range of middle leadership roles. He also taught in Munich, Germany.

He holds a Natural Sciences degree from the University of Cambridge, a Master’s in Education from the University of Warwick and is a 2020 Acumen Fellow.

Tom is a member of the Teach First Finance Risk and Audit Committee and our Nominations Committee.

Nick Owen is the former Chair of Deloitte in the UK. He focused on how Deloitte makes an impact that matters: building close relationships with Boards, charities and government to support Deloitte’s purpose in the UK. He was Co-Chair of the Professional & Business Services Council, which works with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to drive the UK’s growth agenda.  He was a member of the previous Prime Minister’s Financial & Professional Services Business Council.

Nick chairs the Business Leaders’ Advisory Council of Teach First, is a senior independent trustee at Macmillan Cancer Support and Chair-Elect at Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation. He also is an advisor and Non-Executive Director to private sector companies. He is passionate about inclusion and social mobility, having sponsored and initiated Deloitte’s boardroom programmes to support greater gender and ethnicity inclusion on UK boards.

Nick is Vice-chair of our Board of Trustees, Chair of our Nominations Committee and a member of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee.

Paul Geddes joined QA as CEO in September 2019. Prior to joining, Paul was CEO of Direct Line Group (DLG), where he led the successful IPO of the business, delivering strong customer and business performance. Under his leadership, DLG was recognised in the top three of the Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For ranking.

Paul is a Non-Executive Director of Channel 4 Television Corporation.

Prior to Direct Line Group, Paul was CEO of RBS Group’s mainland UK retail banking business, following a successful career in multichannel retailing and marketing at leading companies such as Kingfisher, GUS and Procter & Gamble. He read PPE at Oxford.

Paul is a member of the Teach First Finance Risk and Audit Committee and our Nominations Committee.

Professor Samantha Twiselton is the Director of Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University, Vice President (External) of the Chartered College of Teaching and Deputy Chair of Opportunity Area Partnership Board. She uses her research and practice in the progression of teacher expertise, and curriculum design to improve school-embedded approaches to teacher development.

Sam has been involved in influencing Government policy on teacher education and is the Chair of the DfE ITT Framework Group, a member of the DfE Teacher Recruitment and Retention Advisory Group, the specialist NPQs Group, the Carter Review of ITT and Expert Behaviour Management Panel, and the OFSTED Curriculum Review Panel. She is a recent recipient of an OBE for services to Higher Education.

Sam is a Safeguarding Trustee and Chair of the Teach First Education Committee.

Nabila Jiwa is a 2012 Teach First Ambassador and currently works as Regional Education Director across a large, national multi academy trust. She has served as a Headteacher of a thriving secondary school in West London and more broadly the education sector for over a decade in a range of roles.

She is currently Chairperson of the Aga Khan Education Board in a voluntary capacity. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of St Andrews and her Masters Degree in Education from UCL.

Nabila is a member of the Teach First Education Committee as well as our Nominations Committee.

Helen Weir is an experienced Non-Executive Director and Trustee.

She is Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee and a member of the Supervisory Board of Ahold Delhaize and Audit Committee Chair and a Non-Executive Director of Bata Shoes (a privately held business). She previously chaired the Board of Mobico and served on the Boards of Greencore, Just Eat, Superdry, SAB Miller and Royal Mail.

She is also Chair of parkrun and has served as a Trustee of Marie Curie and as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the RFU.

Helen is a former CFO of Marks & Spencer, having previously held positions as Group Finance Director at John Lewis Partnership and Lloyds Banking Group where she was also CEO of the retail bank.

She has enjoyed successful and varied roles in leading businesses such as Kingfisher, B&Q and McKinsey and Co. She is a qualified accountant and was awarded a CBE for services to Finance in 2008.

Helen is Chair of the Finance Risk and Audit Committee and is also a member of our Nominations Committee.

Throughout his career, Luke has been driven by a commitment to challenging educational disadvantage in complex urban settings across the North.

His reputation was forged as founding principal of Dixons Trinity Academy in Bradford – the first secondary free school to be judged outstanding by Ofsted. Under his leadership, the academy achieved student progress outcomes ranking among the best in the country. He later replicated this success as the founding executive principal of the outstanding Dixons Trinity Chapeltown in Leeds.

Luke’s influential expertise in school culture is shared through Dixons OpenSource (a free platform supporting organisational change). His thought leadership extends to his board roles with CST and Teach First, as well as advisory work with the Department for Education.

Now leading one of the highest performing trusts nationally, Luke is shaping the future strategic development of the organisation across Leeds, Bradford, Manchester and Liverpool.

Luke is a Safeguarding Trustee and is also a member of the Teach First Education Committee.

James Toop joined Teach First in June 2025 as the Charity’s Chief Executive Officer.

He began his career as part of Teach First’s inaugural cohort in 2003 and has since held senior leadership roles across the education and charity sectors, including CEO of Bite Back and Ambition Institute.

He was previously Chair of Orion Education, a multi-academy trust with eight schools across the South East.

With deep experience in both education and social justice, he brings a strong personal commitment to equity, a systems-change mindset, and a clear vision for supporting schools and pupils facing the greatest challenges.

Emily looks after Teach First’s governance structures, which enable us to operate effectively and safely, and works with the Board to provide assurance and oversight of the charity’s activities. She is responsible for building an inclusive, high-performance culture, with the right people, passion and capability to deliver our strategy. She is passionate about enabling organisations to thrive and about supporting young people facing disadvantage.

Emily joined Teach First in June 2023, having previously overseen the governance function at the University of Bath. Before that, she worked as a Clerk in the House of Commons, advising select committees and working on legislation, and spent six years living in France with her young family. She has held a variety of non-executive roles and is currently a Trustee of Bath Abbey Music Society. In her spare time, she plays the cello and goes for long-distance runs.

Mark leads the Finance & Performance Directorate at Teach First. He is responsible for integrated finance and organisational performance planning, reporting, change management, procurement and contracting.

Mark joined Teach First in 2025. Before joining us, Mark held global leadership roles across the finance function with Dyson and AstraZeneca. Through this time, he has supported several charities as a non-executive Director and is currently a Governor and Chair of the Finance & Resources Committee at Bath College. He enjoys contributing to organisations that are prepared to try something different to create positive change and innovation. Mark lives in Bath with his partner and enjoys walking in the beautiful surrounding area.

Anna is Executive Director of Transformational Programmes having been at Teach First for over 10 years. Anna started her career in education as a 2008 ambassador teaching design and technology in London before joining Teach First in School Partnership roles and later moving to Regional Leadership. Anna is passionate about the design and delivery of programmes which inspire and ignite the same passion for social change that continues to motivate her in her career.

Anna holds an MA in Leadership from UCL IOE and a BA (Hons) from Loughborough University.

Bridget oversees our partnerships with schools and the design, implementation and impact of the programmes that we deliver together with our education partners.

Bridget completed the Teach First Training Programme herself and is a former maths teacher, who has since worked with schools on their professional development. She co-authored Unleashing Great Teaching, a handbook for great learning for teachers and pupils, and was formerly Director of School Programmes at the Teacher Development Trust. She is a trustee of The MTPT Project and lives in Brighton with her young family.

Paddy is responsible for making sure we recruit the next generation of exceptional talent for the Teach First Training Programme. Paddy has been with Teach First since 2012 and before that completed the Teach First Training Programme, teaching science in schools in London. Paddy co-founded the ambassador led careers education charity Future Frontiers and serves on the board of the charity Change Mental Health.

Paddy lives in Edinburgh with his husband and has an MBA from Aston University, a PGCE from Canterbury Christ Church University and a degree in biochemistry from St Andrews University. 

James is responsible for our digital strategy and for the design, development and operation of our digital, data and technology services. This includes the platforms that support our programmes, delivery partners and trainees, including our contact centre operations.

James joined Teach First in July 2023.  He has worked in digital, technology, governance and architecture roles across the higher education, local and central government sectors for more than 20 years; most recently as a leader of Digital Design and Architecture at Ofsted and as a technology assessor in the NHS and UK Civil Service.

He has an interest in how new digital and data services can be used to make things easier for schools and students. He holds a degree in computing and information systems.  He has three children and is based in Bristol.    

Brett led Teach First as its Founder & CEO from its launch in July 2002 to September 2017, and now serves as Founder and Honorary President. He wrote the original business plan for the charity while working as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and then took what was originally planned as a six-month leave of absence to develop and build support for the idea.

Previously he has worked as a consultant, a journalist and researcher. He is originally from New Jersey and has an Honours Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Richmond and a Masters degree in Economics from the University of Hawaii. Brett was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Warwick in January 2016.

Brett is Co-Founder and Trustee of Teach For All, he also serves on the board of Future Leaders and on the advisory boards of the Educational Endowment Fund and STIR.  In autumn 2015, Brett joined the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation Education Advisory Group as vice-chair and joined the Gems Varkey Teacher Alliance of worldwide educational experts in March 2016.

Brett was awarded an OBE in the 2013 Queens New Year’s Honours list for Services to Education. His book Success Against the Odds, a candid account of the first ten years of Teach First, was named WHSmith’s Business Book of the Month.