The Trustees

Mary Higgins

Trustee and Member

Mary Higgins has been part of Create’s governance as a Member and Trustee since its designation in 2016. She had over twenty years’ professional experience as a school improvement adviser and senior officer for Schools HR in Birmingham Local Authority with a specialism in employee relations, recruitment, workforce reform, appraisal and performance related pay. She worked with West Midlands authorities on succession planning for school leadership.

Mary has been active in school governance over many years and with different types of schools – primary/secondary/special and academies/mainstream including as Chair of Governors. She is the only Trustee who is also a Member and so she plays an important role in bridging the two levels of governance.

As Trustee she is a member of the Curriculum and Resources Committee and the Scrutiny Committee. She leads the appraisal of the CEO with the support of an External Adviser and is the Board’s safeguarding lead.

Jay Hussain

Vice Chair

Jay Hussain joined the Board in March 20, bringing a broad range of expertise and experience of financial audit, governance, organisational development, management arrangements, procurement, contract performance, risk management, value for money reviews and fraud and forensic investigations.

Jay has 17 years’ experience of delivering audit, assurance and advisory services, as well as a deep understanding of partnership and collaborative working.

Jay co-chairs the Finance and Audit Committee and is the Board’s whistleblowing lead.

Julian Miller

Trustee and Chair

Julian Miller joined the Board in March 2020, bringing a wide range of experience, having held a variety of financial posts including Divisional Finance Manager, Head of Financial Management and Planning, Deputy Director and Director of Finance.

Julian studied in Birmingham, graduating with a BA in Business Studies in 1995. He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), having qualified in 1999. He was seconded to the former Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) as Interim Director of Finance. He joined the Board of Directors at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust as Director of Finance and is currently its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Julian co-chairs the Finance and Audit Committee at Create, chairs the Pay Committee and was elected as Vice Chair of the Board for the academic year 2020/21.

Hana Haq

Trustee

Hana Haq joined the Board in March 2021 bringing a wide range of experience, having held a variety of Legal and Operational posts including Solicitor, Senior Manager and Client Performance Manager.

Hana studied LLB (Honours) in 2003. She is a professional Member of the Law Society since 2009 after qualifying as a Solicitor.

Hana is actively involved in Parents Association Committee at her children school for several years. She has a keen interest in children education. As a result, she has supported various educational mentoring schemes at schools/ colleges over time.

Sophie Garner

Trustee

Sophie Garner joined Create as a Director in March 2021. She is a barrister at St Philips Chambers in Birmingham specialising in employment and discrimination law. She is also qualified as a governance professional (ACGI), and undertakes claims and organisational investigations in which governance issues are at stake.

She is actively involved on a voluntary basis in the regulation of the barrister’s profession on issues of equality and governance, both nationally (Bar Council’s EDSM Committee) and locally (Midland Circuit – Chair of EDSM). She has held positions as Trustee/Director of a number of charities and organisations since the early 90s, including a four year period as a school governor. She is currently a Trustee of Muslim Women’s Network UK. Her areas of special interest include equality and diversity and the development of strong cross-cultural communities.

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor has been working in the education sector across a range of maintained, independent and international schools for the last 25 years. He is currently the Secondary Headteacher at Kings’ School Al Barsha in Dubai before which he was Principal of Fulneck School in Leeds. He has also held senior leadership positions at Trent College near Nottingham (Deputy Head Academic) and in Preston (Assistant Headteacher).

Paul is a Secondary trained teacher who specialises in Politics and has held middle leadership positions in both academic and pastoral aspects of schools. He has considerable experience in leadership and management, professional development and curriculum. Paul is a passionate believer in the development of the whole child, keen to develop our provision for ensuring that all pupils are proactive in maintaining their physical and mental well-being.

Alison Kriel

Alison Kriel was an inner city Executive Head Teacher for nearly 20 years and a CEO for 5 years. As a child she attended a Cape Coloured school in South Africa during the apartheid regime, an international school in Botswana, a girl’s grammar school in Ireland and a middle class sixth form in England all of which informed her passion for social justice, leadership, wellbeing, equity, inclusion and diversity. She has a reputation for excellence in leadership, leading schools with high social challenges to be in the top 0.1% nationally. She attributes the success of the schools to having a team of talented staff who taught from the soul and were focussed on delivering a global curriculum which celebrated the uniqueness of each pupils which led to raised self-esteem. ‘When staff and pupils feel good about themselves, success follows’. Alison believes that the key reason for the outstanding results achieved by her pupils at her schools was due to positive self esteem. A well planned global curriculum gives teachers an opportunity to focus on the critical skills children need to go out and to be independent self-sustaining adults, who understand their responsibility to self, their community, the wider world and our planet. These skills include the development of resilience, collaboration, leadership, acceptance of difference, and adaptability.

Alison now works nationally and internationally supporting leaders with the strategic development of their schools, particularly those in challenging circumstances. She also mentors teachers and school leaders. She is a regular speaker and panel member at conferences, speaking on a wide variety of subjects including Conscious Leadership, Turnaround Schools, Unmeasured Curriculum, The Global Curriculum, Appreciative Inquiry, Wellbeing, Staff Retention, Intersectionality, Breaking Through The Concrete Ceiling, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Ubuntu and AntiRacism.

Alison is the founder of the newly launched Above & Beyond Education – a social media platform for all educators and schools to celebrate, connect, support, grow and collaborate to make every school into a great school.

Professor Tim O'Brien

Tim is the son of Irish Immigrants to Birmingham and spent the first eighteen years of his life living in Balsall Heath. He is Professor of Psychology and Human Development at the world-leading UCL Institute of Education, London and is also a Professor at MIC, University of Limerick, Ireland. Tim began his career as a teacher and senior leader in mainstream and special schools. He is a chartered psychologist, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and Chair of the Advisory Board for the UCL Centre for Inclusive Education

Due to his years of research in the field of wellbeing, he was appointed to the UK Department for Education Expert Advisory Group on Teacher and Leader Wellbeing and Mental Health. Tim has many publications in the fields of psychology, inclusion, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities - particularly relating to children who experience social, emotional and mental health needs. His first book, published in 1998, was about behaviour. His most recent book is about the mind. His work has been published in many languages.