Sally Boaden

Sally’s experience as a CFOO brings a wealth of experience in school business leadership and strategic operations. She is responsible for leading her Trust’s central services, including finance, estates, HR, governance, health & safety, and compliance, ensuring they deliver the highest standards of support to schools across the Trust.

With a Master’s degree in Education Leadership & Management and accreditation as a Schools Resource Management Adviser (SRMA), Sally combines professional expertise with a passion for operational excellence. She is committed to building resilient systems that allow school leaders and staff to focus on what matters most—improving outcomes for pupils.

Beyond the Trust, Sally contributes nationally as a member of the Advisory Board for the National Network of Special Schools (NNoSS), sharing her expertise to strengthen school business practice across the sector. She is also a strong advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion, values which underpin her leadership approach.

Helen Burge

Helen brings over 25 years of experience in operations and strategic management across the education sector. She is a Fellow and Trustee of the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) and holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Passionate about sustainability, Helen co-founded the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN) Operations Group, where she leads initiatives that drive meaningful, long-term change.

Her work spans private schools, maintained schools, and multi-academy trusts, supporting all age phases from 2-18. Helen is known for her practical, strategic approach, empowering school leaders with the tools, insight, and confidence they need to lead successful sustainability and operational improvements.

Emma Gray

Emma Gray has over 22 years in School Business Leadership in maintained schools, single academy trusts and multi academy trusts, with experience across all phases from 2-18. As a DfE accredited School Resource Management Advisor (SRMA) and CFO Mentor, Emma’s focus on finance has enabled her to support many schools in managing their budgets and planning deficit recovery. She secured over £6million of additional capital funding for her own trust, and has recruited and developed many operational staff.

As a passionate advocate of the role of the School Business Leader, Emma has built up a wide network, through writing, blogging and supporting colleagues on social media platforms. She is a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leaders and holds an Masters in Business Administration from Warwick University.

Neil Limbrick

Neil brings over two decades of experience in education technology and digital strategy, working with schools, academies, and multi-academy trusts across the UK. As the founder of Limbrick Consultancy LLP and theEducationCollective, Neil has supported thousands of school business leaders and IT professionals through practical advice, strategic planning, and accessible digital tools.

Widely recognised for his ability to simplify complex technical concepts, Neil has developed a suite of innovative platforms, including the Digital Confidence service, which helps schools align with DfE technology standards and make informed, strategic decisions.

A trusted voice in the sector, Neil regularly collaborates with school and trust leaders on digital transformation, risk management, and compliance, combining deep technical knowledge with a practical, user-focused approach.

Laura Williams

Laura has spent 20 years in education leadership – from SBM to MAT COO/CFO, Company Secretary to Trustee, Governor to Committee Chair. She knows what it’s like to balance budgets with one hand, a staffing crisis with the other and still have 17 tabs open in your head and on your desktop.

Now working as a coach, trainer and consultant, she brings that lived experience into every conversation. Her style is straight-talking and practical, fuelled by chocolate and a stack of post-its with a focus on strategies leaders can actually use between meetings, deadlines and fire drills.

Justin Smith

Justin brings a wealth of experience in school business leadership, having spent 18 years working as a senior leader in schools, and the last 8 years running his own consultancy and training company. Following a career spent in private sector business development and marketing, Justin moved into the education sector and has worked as a senior leader in 3 large secondary schools in Norfolk and Suffolk.

In 2017 Justin established his own business, Chameleon Consultancy and Training, designed to provide specialist marketing, income generation and bid writing services to the education sector. A vastly experienced bid writer, Justin has secured over £8 million in additional income for schools, from a variety of sources including conventional grants and trust funds, commercial sponsorship and donations. Much of Justin’s work involves training and coaching school and Trust leaders to help them build capacity and capability within their operational and strategic teams. 

Justin is an assessor with Best Practice Network, assessing the School Business Professional Apprenticeship. In 2024 he was appointed Chair of MarCommEd (East Anglia) a community interest company established to support and promote the work of marketing professionals in the education sector. Justin was awarded the Guardian/ISBL Marketing Award in 2015 and is a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leadership.

Justin is currently studying an MA in Educational Leadership, which he hopes to complete soon!

Matthew Clements-Wheeler

Matthew Clements-Wheeler is a respected authority on the non-teaching aspects of running schools and academy trusts.

For nearly 30 years, he has worked with educational and non-profit leaders across the UK and internationally - supporting schools, trusts, charities, and sector bodies through policy advice, leadership development, and coaching for strategic improvement. He currently does this via his company Mastery Clarity Wisdom Ltd.

Matthew’s career spans grassroots to global. He’s been an SBM and a deputy head in a range of schools - some of them in surplus, some in deficit and one which was on fire during Ofsted. He regularly delivers training and advocates for more effective governance, strategic planning and not-for-profit resource management.

A former Chair of the Institute of School Business Leadership, Matthew has sat on the National Qualifications Board for the school business profession and the Chartered College of Teaching’s Leadership Development Advisory Group. Outside of education, he has led leadership development projects in England and South Africa, community renewal schemes in Mozambique, aid work in Zambia, and urban regeneration partnerships in the UK.

His hobbies include adopting greyhounds, pretending to run better than he can and singing along (badly) to musicals.

Sharon Marsh

Sharon is a Consultant School Business Professional with a passion for helping schools thrive from the inside out. For over twenty years, she has been dedicated to managing the operational and strategic side of school life, covering everything from finance and HR to estates management and communications. Her goal is to free up school leaders so they can concentrate on what matters most: providing the best possible teaching and learning for their pupils.

Sharon believes in a collaborative approach.  She enjoys working with teams to uncover their unique strengths and use them to improve procedures and boost efficiency.  Sharon is a natural communicator and has been fortunate to work with a diverse range of people and cultures, always with a focus on inclusivity.

Sharon set up her own consultancy company, Fairmead Professional Services Ltd in 2020 and provides schools and colleagues with consultancy services, interim support, internal scrutiny and mentoring support.  Sharon is proud of her work empowering individuals within teams, which in turn makes the entire team stronger and more productive.

Sharon has experience with various types of schools, including LA maintained, academies, trusts, and private schools, in roles such as SBM, CFO, COO, Company Secretary and is chair of resources in a local all-through school.  Sharon is also an accredited SRMA and carried out reviews in the across the south.

Sharon believes that the SBL Support Hub reflects her personal view that SBMs should not feel that they are alone, and that there are people out there who are happy to listen and provide practical support in timely and sensitive manner.

Rebecca Beaver

Rebecca’s experience in the education sector spans over 20 years and includes leadership roles across primary and secondary settings. Accredited by the Department for Education (DfE) as a School Resource Management Adviser (SRMA), Rebecca now works independently and on behalf of the DfE as an SRMA, supporting schools and academies to review their resource management. She is a Fellow of the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) and a member of the accreditation panel for the SRMA and SBP mentoring programme.

Rebecca is a facilitator and assessor for the Diploma in School Business Management on behalf of Best Practice Network and contributed to the OpEx for Education framework as a member of ISBL OpEx project team. Rebecca’s work in the education sector includes leading on operational excellence. She has written the DfE funded strategic planning and operational leadership local support offer training and supports delivery of these sessions on behalf of ISBL.

A proud recipient of ISBL’s CEO Award for Exceptional Contribution to School Business Leadership Rebecca’s passion to support leaders in education to maximise their resources is driven by the belief that every child, irrespective of background, has the right to achieve their best. She supports the education sector as a volunteer in the role of governor of an outstanding primary school in the West Midlands and as a volunteer with the charity Eagles Nest, recently supporting them through organisation of a charity auction which raised over £5,000.

Rebecca is thrilled to collaborate with the SBL Support Hub. In addition to her knowledge and experience, she shares empathy and understanding of the challenges faced by those in the SBP role.