Richard Harman was educated at The King’s School, Worcester, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read English.  Having spent two years working for an academic publisher, he decided his real vocation was in teaching.  After five years at Marlborough College teaching English and Drama, during which time he also completed his PGCE at Exeter University, he spent 12 years at Eastbourne College.  Progressing from Head of English to Housemaster of a Sixth Form girls’ house to member of the Senior Management Team, he then became Headmaster of Aldenham in September 2000 and thence to Uppingham in 2006.  After a decade leading Uppingham and 32 years overall in teaching, he embarked on a third career as Chief Executive of AGBIS. Richard is much enjoying the challenges at AGBIS, having been Chairman of the Boarding Schools’ Association for 2011-12 and Chairman of HMC for 2014-15.

Having worked in the City, my career as a Bursar started in 1993 at Cranbrook School, appointed to Dulwich Prep School (Cranbrook) in 1996, Bedales Schools in 2003 and the King’s School, Canterbury in 2010.  I joined the Independent Schools' Bursars Association

(ISBA) Committee in 2007 and was elected ISBA Chairman from 2013 – 2016.  In October 2008 I was elected a fellow of the Royal Society for Encouragement of the Arts (FRSA).  I have sat on both the ISI and BSA Board as a Director and I am currently an ISI Compliance

Inspector.  I am a Director on the ISC board and currently a Governor of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and a Trustee on the Turner MAT Schools’ group.  Elected as Chair of AGBIS in March 2019 and became Vice Chair of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) in January 2021.

Julie Robinson began her career as a teacher, housemistress then head of prep schools.  Julie led on education and training for the prep schools association, IAPS, then joined the Independent Schools Council in 2015.

ISC’s small team of staff has been described as “sleepless champions of the sector”, representing independent education at national level in the media and across government departments.

ISC’s data analysis informs advocacy of the sector and Julie promotes sector-wide campaigning, appearing in the national media (including Newsnight, Sky, BBC and Channel 4 News, The Today Programme) and contributing to books and articles.

ISC is a coordinating body bringing together the associations representing heads, governors, bursars and schools (AGBIS, GSA, HMC, ISA, IAPS, ISBA and the Society of Heads) along with affiliates BSA, COBIS, SCIS and WISC, to inform and promote the sector, rebutting untruths and explaining the value of independent education to wider society.

ISC provides a vital route into government policy for independent schools groups as well as presenting a united front for the sector at large.

Julie is a parent and a school governor for a state school and an independent school.

Vanessa joined ISI in February 2021 in this newly merged role, which embeds the fundamental and supportive connection between effective inspection practice and high-quality education provision.

After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with MA (Hons) in English Literature, Vanessa attended the College of Law in London and Guildford before qualifying as a solicitor with first class honours. She practised for a number of years in London, specialising in commercial and media law. Having retrained as a teacher, her distinguished career in education leadership includes the headship of The Tiffin Girls’ School, one of the highest performing state schools in the UK. Vanessa joined Ofsted as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI), where she led inspections in both the state and independent sectors and was seconded to the Unregistered Schools Taskforce. Vanessa also has commercial experience building a successful education consultancy practice supporting school improvement in the UK and internationally. She has combined this with her work as a School Improvement Partner (SIP) for Achieving for Children in Richmond and Kingston local authorities, while continuing her work with Ofsted as an Ofsted Inspector. In her consultancy and SIP work, she has worked closely with school leaders and governors from diverse education providers, including independent schools, primary and secondary academies and maintained schools, special schools, multi-academy trusts, and international schools. Vanessa has also served on a school governing body as both foundation and parent governor, including chairing the governors’ personnel committee.

Rhiannon Williams is Deputy Chief Inspector at ISI and was formerly director of studies at a large day and boarding prep school for children aged 3-13. She is also a member of the management committee of a Pupil Referral Unit. Rhiannon has worked in the education sector for over a decade, prior to which she was an environmental lawyer. This included working in regulatory compliance at the European Commission, and as a university lecturer and researcher. Rhiannon is a former solicitor, whose qualifications include PGCE (Cantab), MA Law (Cantab) and Licence Spéciale en Droit Européen (ULB).

Paul Miller, PhD, is Professor of Educational Leadership & Social Justice, and the first (and only) Black professor of educational leadership in the UK. He has written extensively on the progression of BAME teachers in England. His work has been used by the DfE in policy development and he is a member of the DfE's Workforce Diversity Steering Group. 

Adam is Head of Partnerships at SafetyCulture and has spent two years working closely with Marsh Education to enhance control and mitigate risk in schools through technology. Adam's focus is on ensuring these initiatives actually hit the ground and make a difference at each individual school. SafetyCulture's mobile inspections app, iAuditor, is used by many schools for safety, compliance, and safeguarding checks as well as many others.

Daniel is a member of the DWF Advocacy team, enjoying a highly varied practice across all areas relating to disease, injury, RTA law, police and prisons law and costs.

John Fraser leads Marsh’s UK Education Practice and has over 30 years’ experience working in the insurance industry. John has significant experience in insurance and risk management programme design across industry sectors, specialising in the education and heritage sectors for over 10 years. John is particularly passionate about the role insurance and risk management can play in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of pupils and staff.

Paul specialises in complex and sensitive litigation. His caseload ranges from injury and non-injury work to policy coverage advice, product liability work and contractual disputes.

Mike Bentley has worked in Marsh’s Education Practice for 18 years acting as a Client Executive for a large part of that time. He is now the Practice’s General Insurance Advisory Leader overseeing the internal advisory teams. Mike continues to act as a Senior Client Executive to some of the UK’s largest Independent Schools.

Jenny Garrett OBE is an Award Winning Career Coach and Leadership Trainer, with over 15 years experience of running a Global Business.

Jenny empowers people to make the transformation that they are seeking actually happen, that could be: navigating their career successfully finding work that is more on purpose for them or getting the best from their team.

Everything she does is aimed at either advancing gender balance, creating inclusive workplaces or equipping young people with the skills that leaders of the future need.

What she is best known for is her book Rocking You Role which is a guide to success for female breadwinners, delivering inspiring talks, career coaching, delivering leadership training, speaking in media, facilitating retreats and running teen conferences.

Simon joined HMC in September 2020 following nine years as Head of the King’s School in Macclesfield, where he was also a pupil. In that time, he led the Foundation’s 2020 vision, which transformed the split-site diamond school into a fully co-educational school operating from a bespoke new campus in the country’s largest school improvement project.

After reading history at Christ Church, Oxford, Simon completed a doctorate on mid-nineteenth century Prussia at the universities of Oxford and Bonn.

Whilst a postgraduate, he taught for a year part-time at Stowe. His first permanent post was at Loughborough Grammar School, after which he became head of history and humanities at Oakham. Moving to Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School as Deputy Head (Development), he was allowed to dabble in most areas of school life.

Simon has been Chair of Trustees at the Macclesfield Music Centre and involved in a variety of groups supporting the town’s regeneration.

An ISI inspector, Simon has been a member of HMC’s Professional Development Committee as well as Secretary and Chair of the North West Division.

Melanie Horsburgh is Director of Member Services at HMC. She has worked at HMC for nearly ten years, and before taking up her current position was Director of HMC Professional Development. Melanie leads HMC’s services for member heads, including the accreditation and induction of new members of HMC, professional development for heads and staff in their schools, inspection, and HMC’s annual and spring conferences.

Prior to joining HMC, Melanie held various senior positions at the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), where she was responsible for NCSL leadership development programmes including NPQH. Her early career was spent in educational technology at Texas Instruments, and publishing at Pearson.

Craig Mairs is a graduate of Edinburgh and Manchester Universities. He has 25 years’ experience in education in a variety of roles encompassing many aspects of school life. Craig trained as an English teacher and managed a large academic department as Head of English. In pastoral roles he has experience as a Head of Year and a Head of Sixth Form.

Craig was appointed Principal of Oldham Hulme Grammar School in September 2014 and led the school through a successful “double excellent” Independent Schools Inspectorate inspection in September 2019. He is a member of the Headmaster and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) and serves on the national HMC / GSA Universities sub-committee. He is currently Secretary of North West HMC.

As a Primary School teacher Ann taught in both the maintained and independent sector before become Head of Nursery and Infants at Oldham Hulme Grammar School. She became an ISI team Inspector in 2005 and in 2009 became a Co-ordinating Inspector for Early Years until 2017. After retiring as Head in 2009, Ann was invited to become a Governor at Hulme. Currently Vice Chair, she has been Chair of the Education Committee and Safeguarding Governor. She is on the Finance and General Purposes, Education and Marketing Committees and leads the Principal’s Appraisal Committee.

Tracey Young is a Partner and Head of Education at haysmacintyre. She has been advising the charity and education sector for over 20 years and now specialises in supporting independent schools.

She provides her clients with audit and accounting services, and has a strong track record in financial due diligence on mergers and acquisitions. Tracey is often asked to advise boards on governance, risk management and financial reporting.

Having worked in the City, my career as a Bursar started in 1993 at Cranbrook School, appointed to Dulwich Prep School (Cranbrook) in 1996, Bedales Schools in 2003 and the King’s School, Canterbury in 2010.  I joined the Independent Schools' Bursars Association

(ISBA) Committee in 2007 and was elected ISBA Chairman from 2013 – 2016.  In October 2008 I was elected a fellow of the Royal Society for Encouragement of the Arts (FRSA).  I have sat on both the ISI and BSA Board as a Director and I am currently an ISI Compliance

Inspector.  I am a Director on the ISC board and currently a Governor of Tring Park School for the Performing Arts and a Trustee on the Turner MAT Schools’ group.  Elected as Chair of AGBIS in March 2019 and became Vice Chair of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) in January 2021.

Temi began her career as a consultant in Legal Executive Search, both in the UK and internationally, eventually becoming Co-Head of the Senior Team covering US and UK law firms, and US financial institutions. A key part of her role involved supporting local and multinational clients to achieve their strategic goals.  Prior to Inclusion Labs, she worked in Strategy and Research with a focus on start-ups.  Temi is a mum of two daughters and committed to helping schools ask the right questions and focus on the important things when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion.  Inclusion Labs offers a custom programme for schools, grounded in research and best practice, but most importantly on the lived experience of students and families, particularly those from underrepresented groups.