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The Trust Leadership Team

Michael McCarthy
Chief Executive Officer

Michael joined Consilium as the outgoing CEO of The Priestley Academy Trust in Bradford. Michael drove successful change for the whole trust with a focus on collaboration and excellence with integrity.

During his tenure the trust won two national awards for his work. Michael’s previous roles have included Deputy CEO in the North East, Tyne Coast Academy Trust, overseeing primary and secondary provision as well as Director of Primary. Michael has a wealth of school improvement experience in several leadership positions. Michael is also one of the newly formed system leaders and coaches CEOs new to the role.

Michael is a Trustee for both Galileo Trust and One Excellence Multi Academy Trust in the North East.

Chris Davis
Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Chris has now been with Consilium Academies since January 2020 working at school and regional level, in addition to this, working at scale across the wider trust. Chris has recently introduced a regional model of school improvement and this change in strategy is now seeing increased capacity and targeted deployment of resources to our schools.

Previous experience demonstrates a strong track record of school improvement in both the Local Authority model, and a Multi Academy Trust. Prior to Consilium Academies, Chris worked for a large national MAT; most notably in very challenging circumstances across the North West region. This work was across both the primary and secondary phase of education and given many successes, contributions were then given to national strategy, and several working parties further aiding improvement at scale.  

Chris is hugely committed to the sector, coaching new and aspirant leaders, many of whom have gone on to secure successful headships across the country.

Further commitments include being a governor at a local authority secondary school in Stockport and further to this, Chris is a Trustee at a North West based MAT.

John Halstead
Chief Finance and Operating Officer

John is the Chief Finance and Operating Officer at Consilium Academies and has strategic responsibility for all operational areas of the organisation and the effective delivery of the following Consilium Academies central teams: Finance, Estates, IT, Marketing, Health and Safety and Administration.

John’s previous roles in education include Director of Finance and Trust Head of Finance. Prior to working in education John trained as an accountant at a top 8 accountancy firm specialising in Academy and Trust audit work and accounts preparation.

John is currently the independent chair of the audit committee for Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust and was previously a Trustee at The Hallam schools Partnership Academy Trust where he was Chair of the Audit Committee.

Nathan Millington
Director of Estates and Operations

Nathan joined Consilium Academies in 2021 as Head of Estates, becoming Director of Estates and Operations in April 2022. He has worked in several countries as well as industries, focusing on large public sector and commercial estates. Prior to Consilium, Nathan worked in property and construction for nearly 20 years and was previously Head of Estates for the Science Museum Group as well as Director of Operations for Ascension Island Government.

Nathan brings a breadth of knowledge from his experience and focuses on the strategic management of the Built Environment and the supporting services to allow the schools to keep running. His main responsibilities include the management of business operation, catering, cleaning, health and safety and capital development