Tony has been involved in school governance for over ten years, formerly as Chair at Sidley County Primary School, Bexhill, before it became Glenleigh Park Primary Academy. He chaired the LAB and joined the Aurora Academy Trust Board from its start and now chairs the Board for the second time. He retires from his role as Deputy Chief Constable of Kent Police in 2021 (after previously working for Sussex Police for 26 years) and will continue to support the Trust with expertise in strategic management and governance. Tony passionately believes that all children should have a high quality education to enable them to achieve their potential.

Ron Packard is the CEO and Founder of Pansophic Learning, a global technology-based education company. Packard is a well known educator, entrepreneur and visionary as well as the author of the highly regarded and reviewed book, Education Transformation. Packard was previously the long-time CEO and Founder of K12 Inc. He oversaw the growth of K12 from just an idea to almost one billion dollars in revenue, making it one of the largest education companies in the world. During his tenure, revenue compounded at near 80%. Before K12, Packard was the Vice President of Knowledge Universe and CEO of Knowledge Schools, one of USA’s largest early childhood education companies. He was also instrumental in the successful investments in Learn Now, Children's School USA, Leapfrog, TEC, and Children's Discovery Center.

Packard also worked for McKinsey & Company and for Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. Packard has received the Education Industry Association's James P. Boyle Entrepreneurial Leadership Award, as well as the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the IT Services & Solutions category in Greater Washington. The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business named him a Distinguished Alumni, and he also received an Outstanding Leadership Award from the United States Distance Learning Association. He sits on the Digital Learning Council. Packard previously served on the Department of Defense's Education Advisory Committee. Packard has been featured on nationwide radio and television shows and magazines, including Bloomberg TV, Forbes, and the Washington Post to name a few. He holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, both with honours.

Mark has had several disparate careers in different industries including the performing arts, marine engineering, the construction industry and economic development. Persuaded to apply his financial skills as a governor when schools were first given control of budgets in 1988, Mark has seen increasing professionalism in School Business Management since then. After working in that field himself, he now supports SBM’s across Sussex and Surrey for the RC Diocese in a part-time capacity. As a Trustee for City Academy Whitehawk, he agreed their becoming part of AAT where he is now a Trustee and chairs the Finance, Audit and HR Committee.

Stephen has been involved in school governance since 2009. Originally joining as a parent governor of a local board, he has since then been chair of governors, chair of an academy trust and now enjoys serving the Aurora group of schools as a Trustee with particular responsibility for Safeguarding. Three of Stephen’s children are currently attending City Academy Whitehawk.

Stephen has a background in community development mainly outworked through his role as a church pastor. He is passionate about education and the central role that schools play in the community.

Brett is an international business management and marketing professional with a complementary career as an experienced non-executive and consultant director. Accustomed to operating at board and senior management roles for a range of businesses, professional membership groups, multi-nationals and charities. A member of the Finance Audit, HR and Risk Committee and active supporter of the wider Aurora Academies team since joining the Board of Trustees in 2019. Brett has a long held passion around education and its role is supporting and developing young people to reach their full potential.

Maria Szalay, Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, brings over 20 years of strategy, operations and development capability to Pansophic Learning. Ms. Szalay joined K¹² in 2000 and was instrumental in growing K1 2 from a pre-revenue start-up to a $900 million public company. In this time, she served in a variety of roles including product management, product development, operations, strategy, and corporate development.

Prior to joining K¹², Ms. Szalay served as practice director at Operon Partners, an e-business consulting firm. At Operon Partners, Ms. Szalay led consulting teams assisting clients with turnkey eBusiness strategy, product management and business transformation consulting services. She worked directly in client organisations developing business plans to obtain funding, and also assisted with the implementation of online initiatives, with specialized expertise in integrating these solutions with their brick-and-mortar business.

Prior to joining Operon Partners, she worked at Telecom New Zealand rolling out the company's Online Solutions business, where she was instrumental not only in developing the online strategy and implementation plan for Telecom Broadband, but also in executing to the implementation plan. Prior to that, Ms. Szalay worked for eight years as a management consultant at KPMG, assisting clients with systems implementations, product marketing and placement initiatives, including new product and service launches.

Ms. Szalay started her career at Shearson Lehman. She holds a BS/BA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an MBA from American University.

Adam has over 25 years of experience in the education sector. He founded Schole, a chain of low cost private schools in East Africa, in 2012. Previously, he spent eight years as CEO of youth leadership charity Changemakers, where he helped over 10,000 young people to reach their leadership potential, and advised Prime Ministers Brown and Cameron on education and youth policy. Adam has held non-executive roles for a wide range of educational organisations, including the General Teaching Council of England, the Teaching Regulation Agency and Chair of Governors of a secondary school in Hertfordshire. He was named in the Social Index, which celebrates entrepreneurs running businesses with a social purpose, in 2019, 2021 and 2022. Alongside his work in the education sector, Adam is Artistic Director of award winning theatre company OVO.

Stuart has been in education for over 30 years and has extensive leadership experience. Over his career, he has been the headteacher of three large secondary schools and one all-through school, and he has been executive director of education across a large secondary and 4 primaries in a large multi academy trust. Stuart is a champion of comprehensive education and inclusion and he believes in ethical leadership. He has performed many governor roles, including the chair of governors at his local primary and he currently chairs AAT’s Education Standards and School Performance Committee. Stuart is the Chief Executive Officer of a small multi academy trust in Kent.

As a Chartered Surveyor and experienced property professional, Jo is delighted to have the opportunity to bring her experience in shaping and managing places where people can thrive to Aurora. Leadership and mentoring have formed a large part of Jo’s career, including through support to fellow professionals pursue RICS qualification and working with people and horses to support their personal development through awareness and connection. When Jo is not working, she loves to ride and spend time with her horse - a dream that she never thought possible as a child, and she hopes that through working with Aurora, she can help develop the framework that enables as many children as possible to achieve their potential.