Members & Trustees

Richard Boggis-Rolfe became a Member in January 2025 after being a Trustee since 2017. Richard is Chairman of Odgers Berndtson which is the largest British executive search firm. He began his career in executive search with Russell Reynolds. He then spent 14 years with Norman Broadbent International and established their Hong Kong office as its first Managing Director. He has extensive international experience and was responsible for the establishment of Odgers Berndtson Middle Eastern office. Richard graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge and served in the Coldstream Guards before attending the London Business School as a Sloan Fellow.

Jemma Kojima is a Consultant Hand and Wrist Surgeon at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital. She gained her medical degree from Oxford University in 2005 and lives in Tetbury with her husband (a former MasterChef finalist) and young children. Jemma has a particular interest in education and teaching and she is a tutor for Bristol, Oxford and King’s College University students. Jemma is a triathlete and has competed in marathons in London, Berlin, Paris and Kenya. Jemma became a Member of the Board in May 2021.

Colin Littler joined the Governing Body at Bradon Forest School in 2012, holding both Vice Chair and Chair positions. He was previously Chair of Governors at St Mary’s primary school in Purton. Both his children went to Bradon Forest School. He is a retired Communications Project Manager and he has been involved in a number of Amateur Dramatics productions. Colin became a Member of the Board in 2016 on the resignation of Jan Lester.

Martin Smith is the Wiltshire Councillor for the Sherston division which includes the surrounding areas of Malmesbury. He was initially a Governor at Sherston C of E Primary school from 1996 to 2003, as Vice-Chair for much of the period. He then became a Governor at Malmesbury School from 2003 to 2015 with periods of being Vice-Chair and Chair of the Curriculum Committee. In 2020, he rejoined the Governors at Sherston as Vice-Chair. He is also a Parish Councillor in Sherston and volunteers with climate change organisations in Sherston and Malmesbury. He has had a career in software development for over 30 years in both Financial Services and Education sectors, in which time he was a Chartered Engineer, Chartered IT Professional and a Member of the British Computer Society, specialising in Project and Programme Management. He graduated from University College, Oxford. He now works part-time as a Senior Project Manager for an insurance company. Martin became a Member of the Board in 2020.

Nicky has over 35 years’ experience in education and is a highly experienced CEO, having grown Excalibur Academies Trust to 20 schools serving over 10,000 pupils and leading 2000 staff across the primary, secondary and church school sectors. Prior to her role as CEO, Nicky held three substantive headships in the secondary sector.
As Lead for the Swindon and Wiltshire Trust Leaders Learning Network group, and a member of the DfE South West Region Trust Development Group, Nicky actively promoted and facilitated collaborative working between trusts. She is a strong believer that we are stronger together and is committed harnessing the power of trusts at a local and regional level to act as civic leaders to make positive difference for communities.
Nicky now works as a governance and leadership consultant for the Confederation of School Trusts as well as her voluntary work in the academy trust and local government sectors.

Kevin joined the Athelstan Trust Board in November 2024. Kevin recently retired from full-time employment following careers in both retail and social care. His retail career was spent entirely with WHSmith, fulfilling many roles across high street stores and at the retailer’s head office in Swindon. Kevin moved into the social care sector in 2005, and worked in senior roles across Craegmoor Healthcare, Care UK, The Orders of St John Care Trust, and St Monica Trust in Bristol. The latter two are charitable organisations in the adult care home sector with a religious ethos underpinning their work. In his spare time Kevin is a keen photographer especially on holidays and at airshows. He enjoys walks in the countryside and drone flying. More recently he has taken up the racket sport of Padel.
Kevin was elected as Vice Chair of the Board in October 2025.

Laura joined as a trustee in July 2026. Having spent the last 6 years working in Westminster as Chief of Staff to a former Secretary of State and Education Minister, and welcoming her two sons, Laura has a specific interest in making sure children and young people in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire receive the high-quality education they deserve.

Laura lives in Tetbury with her family. She graduated from the Royal Agricultural University in 2011 and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor thereafter, before moving into a political role at Conservative Campaign Headquarters and then roles in parliament initially with a backbench MP and then with a Government Minister.

Laura has been elected to Cotswold District Council, representing Tetbury with Upton and runs a small online retail business.

Rich Jefferson joined the board in October 2022. Rich is Chair of Ambition Institute, a charity providing professional development to educators serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds to keep getting better. After graduating from Cambridge, Rich spent two decades in sales and trading in London and New York mostly as a Managing Director of Deutsche Bank before moving to the Malmesbury area. Since then, Rich has been CFO for a fast-growing US based Fintech and is a Non-Executive Director at AbacusBio, a global agribusiness based in New Zealand. Rich is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, married with two daughters and has been a governor for three primary schools.

Chris Montacute joined the Trust in September 2025 following a varied and successful career that has included headteacher of two large secondary schools and Strategic Director of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) responsible for programmes that assist schools to raise standards of achievement. Subsequently he set up a successful education consultancy with his wife, a former primary headteacher. A major focus of this role involved working as an Education Adviser in the Department for Education’s Academies and Free Schools teams where he provided challenge and support to academies and advised on applications for Free Schools. He is committed to working alongside fellow professionals supporting them to create the conditions necessary for young people to develop their talents, achieve their ambitions and revel in their successes.

In his spare time he loves to travel, a consequence of his time as a teacher of Geography, watch sport and attempts to keep fit in the gym.

Ryan O’Mahony joined the Board in 2026.

Ryan is a Delivery Director at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, bringing over 25 years of experience in the delivery and assurance of Software Development and Integration Solutions. His career has been predominantly focused on the Government and Public Sector, working across intelligence systems and business critical applications. He has led multiple strategic initiatives, including commercial contract innovation and improvements to communication channels across internal systems and customer interfaces.

Ryan graduated from Cardiff University with a degree in Computer Science before returning to Bristol and later settling in Wiltshire with his Wife and three children.

Since 2019, Ryan has served on the Governing body of Forest and Sandridge CofE Primary School in Melksham, first as Vice Chair and subsequently now as Chair of Governors, with a strong emphasis on Safeguarding. His eldest Daughter currently attends Abbeyfield School, his Son is due to start in September and his youngest Daughter is expected to join in the coming years.

In addition to his professional and Governance roles, Ryan has acted as a Non Executive Director for small businesses, supporting them in strengthening financial security and developing effective strategies for sustainable growth.

Chris joined the Board in March 2024.
Chris is a lawyer who runs a consultancy practise helping a variety of clients, ranging from start-ups to large listed multinationals companies. Chris specialises in helping clients with complex transactions including M&A, technology development and bringing technology to market. He has worked with clients including Ericsson, Virgin Media and Rolls-Royce, across different sectors including software, telecoms, aerospace and defence.
Chris lives in a village near Malmesbury and has a son at Malmesbury School and daughter who’s joining in September 2024.

Keval Shah joined the Board in March 2024.
Keval has spent his 25-year working career in investment banking as a Managing Director in the international debt capital markets, most recently as Head of Bond Syndicate and Credit Sales & Trading at Lloyds Banking Group. This involved working with companies and governments in capital raising and implementing risk management solutions. He has strong technical and commercial expertise with a track record supporting clients and solving complex problems through several economic cycles.
He is a passionate advocate for diversity, striving to shape genuinely inclusive environments.

Keval graduated from Worcester College, Oxford, where he met his wife and discovered Malmesbury, moving to the area over 15 years ago. His three children attend local schools.

Keval was appointed Chair of Trustees in July 2024.

Neil joined the Trust in November 2023. Since qualifying as a maths teacher in 1992, Neil has spent 31 years working in comprehensive education. His teaching started out in a big inner-city school in Newcastle upon Tyne before heading south to work in five further schools in Cheltenham, Marlborough, Hungerford and Chippenham. He has held a variety of positions in school, being a deputy head of year twice and leading the Maths department in Balcarras School. For the last 20 years of his teaching career, he held positions on senior leadership teams, and was Headteacher in two schools.

Paul joined the Trust following the conversion of Abbeyfield School into the Trust in October 2025. Paul was a Governor for 7 years and Chair of the Governors for the last 2 years at Abbeyfield. Paul is a Chartered Surveyor by background, mainly from an investment and finance of real estate perspective as well as having considerable experience with the development and management of property.
He has also run businesses, served on the Boards of many UK, US and European companies primarily, but not exclusively, related to real estate investments. He has lived and worked in the USA (16 years), Luxembourg (1 year) as well as in London. Now fully retired since 2018, Paul has also been resident in North Wiltshire since 1995.

Matthew has taught in schools for over 30 years and worked in educational leadership for two decades. He was a secondary school headteacher for 12 years, leading a highly successful school in the South West of England. Matthew was a primary school Chair of Governors for 8 years and has led school improvement for an Oxfordshire trust. He currently sits on the Department for Education’s advisory group for Inclusion and on the steering group for a new MSc in educational leadership for Bayes Business School.

Beyond the day job, Matthew has published two well-received books on education which have influenced policy and professional development across many academy trusts. He is a prolific blogger, regularly posting articles on his personal and assessment-specific site, and regularly speaks at conferences on matters relating to leadership, teaching, and education policy. Matthew recently co-developed an innovative professional development programme for educational leaders called Getting Heads Together, developed in partnership with European colleagues through the Erasmus programme. He has also undertaken work for Ambition Institute, facilitating the NPQH, coaching headteachers, and writing assessment materials.

Matthew holds a degree in Business Education, Qualified Teacher Status, an MA in Education Leadership, NPQH, and is currently completing the NPQEL. In his spare time, he climbs mountains, including reaching the peak of Kilimanjaro in 2024, scaling the 9 highest Scottish mountains in 36 hours, and taking over 200 Sixth Form students on numerous mountain adventures during his time working in schools. He is passionate about delivering a first-class, rounded educational experience to all pupils.