Central Team (ID 1108)

• Dr Craig Avieson
  Chief Executive Officer
  Dr Craig Avieson

  Craig has a wealth of teaching, leadership and research experiences over many years and across a wide range of contrasting schools within Suffolk, Norfolk and East London. Amongst other roles, he has worked as a university lecturer, teacher and senior leader. Craig became a primary Headteacher in 2014 and worked on the DfE Future Leaders programme. He then moved onto an Executive Headteacher role overseeing two primary schools for a further five years, before joining Evolution Academy Trust in September 2021 as Director of Education, and becoming CEO in January 2023.

  Craig has been a mentor and coach to aspirant and serving headteachers nationally, through the Future Leaders/Ambition Institute. Craig's focus is on ensuring primary education improves the life chances of all children, regardless of background. Craig is passionate about educational research and staff professional development across EAT. He also currently serves as an Ofsted Inspector.

• Phil Beecher
  Interim Chief Financial Officer
  Phil Beecher

  Phil has 8 years' experience in the education sector at executive level, working as both CFO and COO over that time and having played a leading role in a large academy trust merger. Currently he is CFO at Active Learning Trust and is with Evolution Academy Trust on a part-time interim basis. He is also Chair of Audit and Risk Committee for Inspiration Trust and Trustee/Chair of Audit and Risk Committee for St John the Baptist Catholic Multi Academy Trust. Prior to working in education, Phil was the Financial Controller for a NHS Trust, following 5 years at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

  Alongside his degree in History from Nottingham University, Phil also holds an MBA from the University of East Anglia, is a qualified Project Manager, Chartered Manager and has completed the Leading Safely qualification with the Institute of Safety and Health.

  Phil is a regular speaker at national conferences, acts as a mentor for other senior finance staff in the education sector and provides risk management consultancy to academy trusts.

• Katie Lawson
  Head of Education
  Katie Lawson

  Katie has 18 years of experience in education, eight of these years as a headteacher. Her most recent role was as an executive headteacher of two large schools and as a school improvement partner, working alongside headteachers to drive up standards. She is committed to CPD and believe that this is the biggest driver to school improvement. She has worked with the Julian Teaching Hub as a lead facilitator for NPQH alongside completing her own NPQEL qualification. She has supported many senior and middle leaders in all aspects of their work, with a particular focus on school improvement planning, curriculum design and providing quality professional development.

• Luke Delderfield
  Head of Operations
  Luke Delderfield

  Luke brings 18 years of experience of working in education and operations. This experience was gained at both universities and Multi-Academy Trusts.

  Luke's role covers Estates, IT and Catering and this allows him to ensure that all of our schools are safe and inspiring places to learn and develop.

• Suzanne Lightwing-Smith
  Head of Human Resources
  Suzanne Lightwing-Smith

  Suzanne brings over 20 years of experience in HR Leadership roles from a variety of sectors. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

  Suzanne is responsible for the HR functions across EAT and has a particular passion for employee development and engagement, striving to ensure that all colleagues are enabled to be the best they can be, offering support, guidance and frameworks to ensure everyone can thrive in a supportive and ambitious culture.

• Angie Chusonis
  Safeguarding and Attendance Lead
  Angie Chusonis

  Angie brings to the Trust over 15 years of experience in a range of teaching and leadership roles within primary education. She has recently been a Deputy Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead in a large primary school and this is where Angie really developed her passion for safeguarding and attendance. Angie enjoys working closely with our school colleagues to ensure that the culture of safeguarding and attendance provide the foundations for children to be safe, secure and thrive both personally and academically.

• Fiona Taylor
  Communications Manager
  Fiona Taylor

  Fiona leads on communications and marketing activity for the Trust. She has worked in a range of sectors in communications roles, including charities, higher education and local publications. She holds a diploma in internal communications and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).

• Lisa Brockett
  Executive Assistant to CEO
  Lisa Brockett

  Lisa provides administrative support to the CEO and central team. She has over ten years’ experience as an assistant in corporate environments and looks to build upon this within Education sector. Lisa brings a wide range of professional skills and experiences to her role and works closely with schools and central team colleagues.

• Paul Tidman
  Estates and Facilities Lead
  Paul Tidman

  Paul brings a wealth of experience to the role of Estates and Facilities Lead, having spent seven years as a site manager of a secondary school in Gorelston. Prior to that, Paul spent over 20 years managing multiple site teams across a number of holiday parks in Norfolk.

  Paul supports our schools in raising our standards and accelerating our estate maintenance plans.

• Andrea Ryan
  Governance Professional
  Andrea Ryan

  Andrea brings a wealth of experience from her career in governance. Following a change of direction from a career in banking, Andrea joined the Local Authority Governance Support Service in Suffolk in 2008. Since 2014, she has worked across all sectors of school governance including at Trust Board level. Her role is to provide support and advice to ensure strong governance underpins the high expectations of the Trust. Andrea completed the National Clerks’ Development qualification in 2018.