Kevin has lived in Bedfordshire all of his life and has been a school governor at Kempston Special Schools for 12 years, being Vice Chair of Trustees of St Johns, then BILTT MAT, before becoming Chair of Trustees.

As a Chartered Management Accountant, Kevin has been Director of Finance and Operations at Southbank International School, a successful and well-established international school in Central London, for 8 years. Kevin has been employed in the Education Sector for 22 years, having previously been employed as Director of Finance at an HE College and Local Authorities including Bedfordshire / Central Bedfordshire (Headteachers Finance, Head of Children’s and Schools Finance and as a Commissioner – working with Special Schools, SEND services and Home to School Transport).

Date Appointed:          29.5.2020
Date of Declaration:   9.12.2021

Deirdre is a teacher with over 40 years’ experience, in both the primary and secondary sectors. She also spent time working in an AP in Islington. She has worked at different levels of educational management in schools and her previous full-time post was as a head teacher in Bedford. Currently she works in a local primary school with pupils who have both learning and emotional needs.

Deirdre’s drive and passion in education throughout her whole teaching career is to ensure that “no child is left behind”. This can be achieved at school and borough level, and through Deirdre’s work in the NEU both locally and as a national executive member which addresses the issues of fair funding and equality for all.

Deirdre feels privileged to be a part of BILTT and to be involved in creating superior special educational needs provision in our borough.

Date Appointed:          7.12.2019
Date of Declaration:   9.12.2021

Catherine has been a governor at Grange Academy since 2017 when her son attended the school, and she was keen to support the community which had helped him so much. In January 2021 Catherine was pleased to also join the BILTT Trust Board.

Catherine has two children who have been through our local mainstream education system and are now in their twenties, whilst her youngest son is nearing the end of his schooling in the specialist education sector.

She has a background in education, teaching History in schools in Northamptonshire, Shropshire and London before her family settled in Bedford. For the past seven years she has worked in a local primary school, where her role includes providing Emotional Literacy support for pupils and recently training as a Mental Health First Aider.

Date Appointed:         10.2.2021
Date of Declaration:   9.12.2021

An adoptive Bedfordian, Simon has been involved with St Johns School and BILTT as a trustee, chair of the SJS Local Governing Body and parent since his daughter started at St Johns in 2012. Simon has first-hand experience of the outcomes the schools achieve and is continually both humbled and in awe of the unique environment BILTT has fostered at school and trust level.

Professionally, Simon has over 30 years’ experience in senior management roles at companies like Accenture and Barclays.  In his spare time, he still supports the Australian Rugby and Cricket teams, as well as Bedford Blues and Kempston Rovers football club.

Date Appointed:           7.7.2021
Date of Declaration:    9.12.2021

James is a teacher with over 25 years’ experience, in both the primary and secondary sectors in the UK and overseas. James has been a Headteacher in three schools; his current school includes ARPs for Hearing Impairment and Cognition & Learning. 

James has two children that attended mainstream schools in Bedfordshire. In his spare time James coaches football at grassroots and academy levels as well as supporting school matches whenever possible. James joined the BILLT Trust Board in September 2025. 

Kerrie is a teacher with over 20 years’ experience, in both the primary and special school sectors. She grew up in a family who fostered children with and without SEND and understands the lifelong challenges that these young people face. Early in her career, she worked in residential settings for adults and children with severe, profound and multiple disabilities and is acutely aware of the need to develop maximum independence for all pupils from the day they join an educational setting. She has worked at different levels of educational management in schools and is currently Inclusion Manager in a diverse local primary school where a significant number of pupils have SEND and/or emotional  needs. Kerrie has established school-led provision units for pupils with high needs and is currently leading the development of a trust-wide high needs provision.

Kerrie has had a passion and motivation to ensure ‘Achievement for All’ in education throughout her whole teaching career. This has included staff and she has been involved in developing a progression pathway for support staff to reach their potential. Kerrie has a reputation for high quality inclusion provision in Bedford and supports other local SENDCos through a coaching and supervision program in Beford Borough.

Kerrie is proud to support BILTT and contribute to driving the delivery of high quality education for pupils with SEND.

Rob has lived in the area for nearly 30 years. His daughter, now 25, attended St John’s throughout her school career; the confident and courageous young lady that she has now become is due, in no small part, to the dedication, expertise and care of all at St John’s. Rob previously served as a trustee – including a period as Chair – and governor to St John’s prior to that. First amongst his other passions is sailing, including competitive dinghy racing and more recently as instructor and race coach.

Date Appointed:            3.10.16
Date of Declaration:    9.12.2020

Mrunal is the chair of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. He has over 20 years of experience leading large complex organisations and change programmes. Before becoming Chair at EEAST, he was Co-chair of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), a national organisation that represents the families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities where he worked with ministers and senior officials in government and the NHS.  He remains a steering group member of the Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum.

Before joining the NNPCF,  Mrunal was a director at Leonard Cheshire Disability and has extensive experience of the charity sector developing strategy and new services. Prior to this Mrunal spent 18 years in the finance industry and spent 11 years at Deutsche Bank where he was a director of strategic change.

Mrunal lives in Bedford and his son attends St Johns school.

Date Appointed:              09.06.22
Date of Declaration:       10.06.22

Kerri is Chair of Bedford Borough Parent Carer Forum (BBPCF) and is a parent carer of two young people with SEND in mainstream education. She is also a SEND Governor at a local Bedford School.  

Kerri works at National and Local level with Education, Health and Social Care striving to ensure that all young people  with SEND in Bedford Borough receive high quality education, services and support with high aspirations to enable them to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Date Appointed:              21.09.23
Date of Declaration:       22.09.23