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The Senior Leadership Team |
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Brett Wigdortz
Founder and CEO
London Office
020 7517 2721
bwigdortz@teachfirst.org.uk
Brett Wigdortz has led Teach First since its launch in June 2002. Brett 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 in February 2002 to develop and build support for the idea.
Before coming to London, his previous time at McKinsey was spent as a consultant in Indonesia, Singapore, and Manila - focusing on retail banking, organisational effectiveness, Islamic banking and Asian microfinance. Prior to McKinsey, Brett developed southeast Asia policy and business programmes at the Asia Society in New York City. He has also worked as a journalist in Asia and as a researcher at the East- West Center in Honolulu, focusing on energy and economic development issues.
He is originally from New Jersey and has also lived in Virginia and Israel. He currently serves as a trustee of PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) and Governor of Wembley High Technology College in Brent, London. He is also the co-founder and a trustee of Teach For All, an organisation created in partnership with Teach For America to help other countries start similar programmes and create a global network of leaders dedicated to addressing educational disadvantage. He was recently named the 2007 UK Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year. Brett is married with two small children.
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David Stephens
Director of Finance and Operations
London Office
020 7517 4834
dstephens@teachfirst.org.uk
David joined Teach First in February 2009 as Director of Finance and Operations to oversee the key areas of Corporate Governance, Facilities, Finance, Human Resources, IT and Systems. He has a great assortment of experiences that he brings to the role, including as an Arthur Andersen consultant, Group Finance Director of a leisure company, Chief Financial Officer of an internet start-up, Controller at WPP group, and Investment Director at IBIS Capital. Even more importantly, he brings with him a great enthusiasm for our work and mission. David graduated from Cambridge and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
>> The Finance and Operations Team
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Sonia Blandford
Director of Leadership Development
London Office
020 7517 6417
sblandford@teachfirst.org.uk
Sonia has an extensive portfolio in education encompassing teaching, leadership, research and publications. As former Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of Education at Canterbury Christ Church University, Sonia has been involved with Teach First since the beginning of the programme. She has published over 20 books focusing on middle leadership, special educational needs, financial management and classroom management and behaviour. Sonia has taught in primary and secondary schools in Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Bath, London and Bristol. She is also the founder of two community arts charities and Trustee of two Academies. Sonia has a Doctorate in Education from the University of Bristol, an MPhil from the University of Bath, an MA in Music from the University of Reading, and a Cert Ed and a BEd from Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds.
>> The Leadership Development Team
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James Darley
Director of Graduate Recruitment
London Office
020 7517 2737
jdarley@teachfirst.org.uk
James has proudly headed up the graduate recruitment department since 2004 and has seen Teach First grow from a ‘modest’ recruiter to an established ‘volume’ recruiter, consistently appearing in the top twenty of the prestigious Times Top 100 Graduate Employers. James has been in graduate recruitment for over 10 years and came to Teach First from Credit Suisse where he was European Head of Graduate Recruitment.
Before this he took a year off to travel around the world and fulfilled life-long ambitions including walking on the Great Wall of China, climbing the highest mountain in SE Asia, swimming with wild dolphins and hiking along the ancient Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
Prior to travelling, James spent 2 years at Deutsche Bank as Global Head of Fixed Income graduate recruitment and at the same time served as a Director of the AGR (Association of Graduate Recruiters). Before this James headed up graduate recruitment for United Biscuits and worked for a number of years in Purchasing for both UB and Spiller Petfoods. James graduated from Liverpool University with a BSc in Psychology and Computer Science and Information Technology.
>> The Graduate Recruitment Team
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Sarah Connor
Director of Ambassadors and External Relations
London Office
020 7517 2729
sconnor@teachfirst.org.uk
Sarah brings a background in business, education and the not-for-profit sector to her role at Teach First. Prior to joining the staff team, she was Managing Partner of a communications consultancy that worked with charities on their branding, messaging and campaigning. Before this, she spent two years teaching English and Drama at a secondary school in Kent and a further two as an educational journalist for the BBC. In her spare time, Sarah is a trustee for the sport and development charity ‘Alive and Kicking UK’, which she helped to found. Sarah graduated from the University of Bristol with a PGCE and the University of Kent with a BA in English & Drama.
>> The Ambassadors Team
>> External Relations Team
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Amanda Timberg
Director of Regional Development
North West Office
0161 234 0073
atimberg@teachfirst.org.uk
After successfully leading the first expansion region outside of London into Greater Manchester, Amanda now looks after the management of all three Teach First regions: London, the Midlands and the North West and the expansion of our two newest sites: Yorkshire and East Midlands. She works to ensure that the programme is high quality and consistent across the country for participants, pupils and schools. An alumnus of Teach For America, Amanda taught primary school for three years in Los Angeles and went on to join the Los Angeles staff of Teach For America as the Managing Director of Program. Most recently she worked in the Superintendent’s office of the Los Angeles Unified School District before relocating to Manchester and Teach First in February 2006.
>> The London Leadership Development Team
>> The North West Team
>> The Midlands Team
>> The Yorkshire Team
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