Our Team
Executive Leadership Team
Guy Shears - Executive Principal (CEO)
Guy’s 33 year-long career in education includes 25 years (to date) spent in senior leadership roles such as headteacher, executive headteacher, and now as the founding Chief Executive of a multi-academy trust established by the Royal Society of Arts in 2012. His experience spans across a wide range of educational settings, from early years to sixth form.
Guy has a proven track record of driving school improvement, successfully leading transformative changes in 13 schools that currently serve 7,351 students. His leadership approach focuses on raising standards in challenging areas, with a strong commitment to creating a distinctive school culture that promotes social justice. A National Leader of Education and a lead Ofsted inspector, Guy also serves on the Department for Education’s West Midlands Advisory Board and leads a CEO learning group on "Culture at Scale" for the region.
Ian Mellor - Director of Education
Ian is the Director of Education for Central Region Schools Trust, overseeing all 13 schools from early years to post-16. In addition to school oversight, he line-manages Safeguarding, SEND provision, and Attendance across the Trust.
Ian holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Liverpool and a postgraduate degree from Durham University. He began his career teaching Physical Education and Maths and joined the Trust in 2007 as Director of Learning and Standards at Arrow Vale School. He was part of the leadership team that achieved an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted rating in 2014. As Vice Principal, he led on Raising Standards, Sixth Form, Data, Timetabling, and Curriculum.
From 2017 to 2025, Ian served as Principal, maintaining the school’s ‘Outstanding’ status in both 2018 and 2024. In 2022, he became Executive Principal, overseeing the development of two schools. Under his leadership, Waseley Hills School improved from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’ in its 2025 inspection.
Ian has worked closely with the Department for Education, local authorities, and external partners on major school rebuild projects, with completions planned for 2025 and 2026. His leadership is defined by a commitment to excellence, strategic improvement, and ensuring high-quality education across all phases of the Trust.
Samantha McMonagle - Executive School Improvement Lead
Samantha has been a valued member of Central Region Schools Trust since March 2018. She has played a key role in cross-phase school improvement, leading the development of the Trust’s co-design model for collaboration and CPD, and overseeing the transition from a teaching school to the People Development Institute. Samantha supports schools through their improvement journeys, including induction into the Trust.
She leads on Disadvantaged and Teaching and Learning and oversees the Trust’s school improvement team and school-to-school support, working closely with the Director of Education and Executive Principal for Primary. Prior to this, Samantha spent nine years as a School Improvement Advisor for a local authority, including time as a National Challenge Advisor and National Strategies Consultant for Improvement.
Her career began as a Head of English and senior leader in a large secondary school. Samantha holds a degree in English Literature from Cardiff University, a postgraduate teaching qualification from Nottingham University, and a Master’s in Education with distinction from the University of Birmingham.
Samantha specialises in leadership development, school improvement, and disadvantaged pupil outcomes. She leads the People Development Institute and contributes to several national steering groups, including with the EEF, supporting school improvement across sectors and phases.
Angela Crawley - Executive Principal (Primary)
In September 2023, Angela was appointed Primary Executive Principal, focusing on school improvement across the Trust. She has played a key role in driving curriculum and assessment developments throughout the primary phase and has taken on interim leadership roles to support schools during periods of transition. Her current focus is on strengthening provision across all primary-phase schools, with particular emphasis on ensuring effective transition into Key Stage 3.
Before joining the Trust, Angela held a range of leadership roles across different school settings. She has experience as a Deputy Headteacher, where she led on attainment, curriculum, behaviour, and personal development, and later moved into both acting and permanent headship roles.
Angela brings extensive experience in curriculum design, assessment, pedagogy, and strategic planning. She is particularly passionate about oracy—having trained as a National Leader—and the arts, which she studied formally. Her leadership is grounded in a commitment to educational equity and social justice, delivered through high-quality outcomes, innovative strategy, and inclusive, ambitious curricula.
She is also an active member of several primary education networks and regularly contributes to sector-wide innovation and improvement initiatives, helping to shape best practice across the wider educational landscape.
Stephen Brownlow - Executive Principal (Secondary)
Stephen joined Central Region Schools Trust in September 2022 as the Business Improvement Partner. He moved on to become the Chief Operating Officer and then one of the Executive Principals. He is currently the Principal at Gospel Oak School and is responsible for performance management and appraisal across the Trust.
Prior to joining Central Region Schools Trust, Stephen has been the Headteacher of three schools and the CEO of a Trust. He has extensive experience of leading schools and school improvement. He has taken a school from being identified by Ofsted as inadequate and requiring special measures to good in two years.
He has extensive knowledge of Trusts and, alongside another Headteacher, founded a Trust in 2018. He is committed to improving the educational experience for all students and fully supports the mission to support social justice through exceptional schools.
Caroline Symonds - Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
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Edward Cooper - Head of Operations
Ed joined Central Region Schools Trust in 2022 and was appointed Head of Operations in 2025. He leads the trust’s operational functions across IT, Estates, Governance, and Data, ensuring these services are compliant, strategically aligned, and continuously improving. His work focuses on removing non-academic barriers to learning, enabling school leaders to focus on teaching, learning and pupil outcomes.
Ed has worked in the education sector since 2012, developing a strong track record in operational leadership and a deep understanding of the multi-academy trust landscape. Prior to joining Central Region Schools Trust, he served as IT Operations Manager within a large MAT, where he oversaw IT service delivery for more than 50 schools across the UK. Since joining the trust, Ed has continued to lead on range of large scale, cross-functional projects—driving improvements in infrastructure, strengthening security, and enhancing service delivery across the trust.
With a strong commitment to operational excellence, Ed plays a key role in shaping the strategic direction of trust operations. He is passionate about developing high-performing, collaborative teams and embedding scalable systems and processes that drive consistency, efficiency, and continuous improvement. Ed also leads on our multi-million-pound capital programme, encompassing major building projects and long-term estate planning ensuring value for money, long-term resilience, and sustainable growth across our schools.
Central Team Leaders
Edward Cooper - Head of Operations
Ed joined Central Region Schools Trust in 2022 and was appointed Head of Operations in 2025. He leads the trust’s operational functions across IT, Estates, Governance, and Data, ensuring these services are compliant, strategically aligned, and continuously improving. His work focuses on removing non-academic barriers to learning, enabling school leaders to focus on teaching, learning and pupil outcomes.
Ed has worked in the education sector since 2012, developing a strong track record in operational leadership and a deep understanding of the multi-academy trust landscape. Prior to joining Central Region Schools Trust, he served as IT Operations Manager within a large MAT, where he oversaw IT service delivery for more than 50 schools across the UK. Since joining the trust, Ed has continued to lead on range of large scale, cross-functional projects—driving improvements in infrastructure, strengthening security, and enhancing service delivery across the trust.
With a strong commitment to operational excellence, Ed plays a key role in shaping the strategic direction of trust operations. He is passionate about developing high-performing, collaborative teams and embedding scalable systems and processes that drive consistency, efficiency, and continuous improvement. Ed also leads on our multi-million-pound capital programme, encompassing major building projects and long-term estate planning ensuring value for money, long-term resilience, and sustainable growth across our schools.
Bryan Tait - Estates Strategic Lead
Bryan joined Arrow Vale High School as School Business Manager in April 2005.
He took up his current role as Estates Strategic Lead in June 2025, having worked within the Estates Team since 2016. In this role, Bryan oversees the estates function across the Trust, with responsibility for strategic planning, statutory compliance, health and safety advice and support, and capital investment. He ensures that school buildings are safe, warm, compliant, and meet the evolving needs of the curriculum.
Before working in education, Bryan began his career in 1989 in the finance sector, supporting Worcestershire Social Services to manage and monitor departmental budgets. He later worked as a project manager within the Sure Start initiative, helping to deliver its aims across the Redditch community.
Throughout his career, Bryan has worked with organisations focused on social justice and community development, supporting families to grow, learn, and thrive.
Rita Patel - Head of Governance
Rita Patel joined CRST in July 2025 as Head of Governance and is responsible for Governance and Compliance in the Trust.
Prior to joining CRST, Rita has over 10 years experience in the education sector holding previous roles in governance supporting a number of Multi Academy Trusts.
Rita has a strong commitment to supporting the Trust’s vision of excellence, integrity, and inclusivity, with a specific focus on social justice ensuring that all pupils achieve their full academic potential and enrichment opportunities. Through working closely with the Executive Team and Trustees Rita is focussed on ensuring that the strategic goals are underpinned by robust governance and regulatory compliance.
Rita has led initiatives in Governance and Compliance, leading successful teams to evolve governance structures and is a certified governance professional.
Rita is focused on championing clear communication, transparency, and agility in our systems, enabling governance to be both responsive and empowering.
School Improvement Team
Trustee Biographies