Alison Anderson has dedicated over 30 years to education, with 14 of those as a Chief Executive Officer — first leading a Standalone Academy Trust and now serving as CEO of ACT Multi Academy Trust. Throughout her extensive career, Alison has held a wide range of leadership roles, including Advanced Skills Teacher, Senior Leader, and Headteacher across several schools. She has also served as a Local Leader of Education (LLE) and a National Leader of Education (NLE), supporting school improvement across diverse Local Authorities from Westminster and Newham to Cambridgeshire.

As CEO, Alison has successfully led a Teaching School and has been deployed on numerous occasions as a National Leader of Education to provide system leadership and school-to-school support. She has worked closely with the Diocese of Ely as an Educational Advisor and continues to collaborate with the Diocese on many aspects of the Church Schools agenda. In addition, she supports the Diocese in completing Headteacher Performance Management (HTPM) and served as an Ely Diocese Regional Advisor (EDRA), offering strategic guidance and expertise to schools across the region.

Alison is also a Trustee at AdAstra Multi Academy Trust and St Bede’s Inter-Church Academy, reflecting her strong commitment to educational governance and collaboration. She is an active member of the Cambridgeshire Schools Forum, representing the academy sector, and contributes to wider educational networks through her involvement with the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) and Whole Education, championing innovation and excellence across the system.

Whatever role Alison has held, her guiding principle has remained constant: pupils are always at the heart of every decision. Her own education and life experiences have shaped a deep belief in the power of a nurturing environment—where talented teachers, inspiring leaders, and compassionate role models empower every learner to thrive. Alison is passionate about ensuring that every child within the Trust receives a high-quality education that unlocks doors, creates opportunities, and instils a lifelong love of learning. She firmly believes that the role of educators is to help young people overcome barriers, ignite curiosity, and nurture ambition so they can reach their full potential.

Bridget Harrison is Deputy CEO of ACT Multi Academy Trust, where she provides strategic leadership for educational standards and leadership development across the trust. With over twenty years’ experience spanning all phases of education, she began her career as a teaching assistant before progressing through roles as SENDCo and deputy head to multiple headships across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

As a headteacher, Bridget led schools in both inner city and rural communities, securing improved outcomes, strengthening curriculum design and developing confident, sustainable leadership teams. Prior to joining ACT, she served as one of His Majesty’s Inspectors in the East of England. In that role, she inspected a wide range of schools, quality assured the work of other inspectors, led investigations and contributed to the development of national inspection practice. Following her time as HMI, she worked nationally as a leadership consultant, advising schools and multi academy trusts on curriculum design, governance and strategic school improvement.

At ACT, Bridget oversees the trust’s improvement strategy and professional development programme, working alongside headteachers and central leaders to strengthen teaching, secure coherent curriculum implementation and improve outcomes for pupils across all academies. She led the development of the ACT FRAME Teaching and Learning Framework and continues to support academy improvement through structured quality assurance and leadership coaching.

Nationally, Bridget serves as a panellist for the Teaching Regulation Agency, is a Trustee and Culture Champion for Anthem Schools Trust, and is an active member of the Confederation of School Trusts and the Whole Education network.

With more than 20 years’ experience in primary education, including multiple headships and senior leadership across five schools, Mike serves as Director of Equity and Improvement for ACT Multi Academy Trust. Throughout his career, he has been driven by a clear commitment to improving life chances through education. As a headteacher, he led schools serving diverse communities, raising standards while strengthening inclusive practice and developing leadership capacity. Beyond his own schools, he has provided strategic support to maintained Diocesan settings and coordinated the EDRA programme, focused on strengthening provision for vulnerable pupils and improving outcomes across multiple schools. This experience deepened his expertise in system leadership and sustainable, cross school improvement.

In his trust wide role, Mike leads on equity, achievement and school improvement across ACT. Alongside overseeing Pupil Premium strategy and ensuring funding secures measurable impact for disadvantaged pupils, he works in close partnership with headteachers to diagnose priorities, strengthen curriculum and teaching, improve attendance and inclusion, and embed evidence informed practice through structured quality assurance and improvement cycles. His focus is on turning strategy into classroom impact and ensuring that improvement is deliberate, coherent and sustained.

Mike believes that equity is not an add on but the foundation of excellent education. He is committed to removing barriers, coaching leaders and ensuring that every child receives high quality teaching, ambitious expectations and genuine opportunity. His work across the trust is rooted in the belief that strong leadership and consistent improvement enable every pupil to thrive.

With over 20 years of dedicated experience in education, Rebecca has established a profound commitment to nurturing the potential of every child, especially those with additional needs. Beginning as a teacher and progressing to the role of assistant headteacher, Rebecca has cultivated a rich understanding of the diverse challenges faced in the classroom.

As a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCo) for the past decade, Rebecca completed the NASENCO award in 2018, further solidifying a passion for creating inclusive learning environments. Rebecca believes that every child deserves a creative and adaptive approach to learning, emphasising the importance of tailoring teaching methods to meet individual needs.

Having successfully led a large primary school's SEND department, characterised by a high level of complex needs, Rebecca takes pride in the transformative impact made within the school community. Now serving as the Director of Inclusion and Safeguarding, Rebecca is driven by a vision to further enhance educational practices across the Trust, ensuring that all children within our settings flourish in their learning journeys.

With a warm and compassionate demeanour, Rebecca continues to inspire colleagues and students alike, championing a future where every child's unique strengths are recognised and celebrated.

With over 12 years of experience in various support and management roles in education, Michelle has used her qualifications and passion to further understand the links between children’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing and recognises the importance of a holistic approach in supporting children to help improve behaviour and attendance in school. As a Trauma Informed and Licensed Thrive Practitioner she has many years of experience to offer our schools in supporting good attendance and behaviour culture across the Trust.

After taking the lead role in developing Pastoral care for our children across all key stages, Michelle developed the Home School Hub at Buckden CE Primary School, which is a unique provision providing specialist support and therapies for children and their families. As a trained Family Support Worker, Michelle has used her natural ability to network with Multi-agencies and signpost our families for early support. Michelle’s direct involvement with supporting our more vulnerable children and their families led to her receiving the Carer Friendly Tick Award in Education.

In her role as Director of Attendance, her commitment and drive to working alongside children and families to support wellbeing and attendance is driven by her passion to ensure equal opportunities and inclusion for all children.

Amy brings 5 years of financial management experience, specifically in the education sector. Starting as an admin and finance assistant, Amy quickly developed her career and became a School Business Manager, moving onto CFO. Prior to Education, she worked in retail management for 16 years developing many transferable skills in people management, premises management, budgets, finance and HR. She now runs the operational side of the trust with a more strategic hat on and is passionate about ensuring that all children have an equal opportunity whichever school they attend.

Amy lives with her two teenage children, husband and dog. She is currently developing her professional qualifications further by studying for accountancy qualifications. This will enhance her understanding and build strong foundations for the trust to grow. 

Emma brings seven years of finance experience working within a multi academy trust setting. Starting as a finance assistant, Emma embarked on her AAT qualifications developing her career to become a Regional Finance Officer in Northamptonshire before joining ACT as the Trust Finance Officer in January. Emma is just about to complete her final AAT qualification, Level 4 diploma in professional Accounting.

Prior to education Emma worked within the local authority as a community services officer and electoral services officer, bringing with her plenty of experience working within busy environments, juggling lots of different responsibilities.

Emma is passionate about providing an excellent service by improving processes, working with people, and listening to the requirements of what is needed to achieve those goals.

An experienced and strategic Estates Director with over 19 years of leadership in property and facilities management within the education sector. Skilled in overseeing the operational and strategic aspects of the physical estates of a multi-academy trust (MAT), ensuring that all school buildings and facilities are safe, efficient, and fit for purpose.

Adept at managing a wide range of responsibilities including capital development, maintenance, health and safety, and compliance, while delivering value for money and supporting the educational goals of the trust.

A collaborative leader with a strong ability to work alongside senior leadership teams, governors, and external contractors to drive sustainable solutions for estate management. Known for proactive planning, budget management, and a track record of successfully delivering on complex property projects, from new school builds to major refurbishments. Dedicated to creating environments that support the learning and wellbeing of students and staff.