MAT Governance

Multi Academy Trust Members

Mr John Oliver

John is an Executive Director of Sellafield Ltd and has accountability for all Capital Projects.

On graduation John joined BP plc and worked in a variety of technical, commercial and management roles before moving to a number of US Energy companies to develop and deliver energy projects in the UK, US and Eastern Europe. He joined BAA as Project Leader on Terminal 5 and on the successful completion of the project moved to BG Group as Global Head of Projects. In 2013 he was seconded to Karachaganak Petroleum Operating Company in Kazakhstan to lead the development of the Karachaganak Field.

He joined Sellafield Ltd in 2016, initially as the Director responsible for the High Hazard Retrieval programmes, and latterly as Director of Projects.

John is Chartered Engineer and Chartered Project Professional and is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Association for Project Management and the Institute of Directors. John is also a Freeman of the City of London and a member of the Whitehaven Harbour Commission.

Mr Andrew Sellar

Andrew is the NDA’s member representative for the West Lakes Academy Multi Academy Trust.

Andrew has over twenty years’ experience in fast moving consumer goods, wholesale, financial service and energy sectors, having worked in operational and project roles with Mars, Clarks, AXA and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Andrew gained a Masters of Engineering in 1997 from Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

Dr Lynne Livesey

Biography to Follow

West Lakes Multi Academy Trust – Board of Trustees

Mr Adrian Thompson – Sponsor Trustee Sellafield (Chair)
Mrs Michelle Pearse – Sponsor Trustee NDA (Vice Chair)
Dr Rick Wylie – Sponsor Trustee UCLan
Professor Mick Waters – Co-opted Trustee
Professor StJohn Crean – Sponsor Trustee UCLan
Mrs Jackie Oakes – Co-opted Trustee
Mr Stephen Asquith – Sponsor Trustee NDA
Mr Peter Oldfield – Sponsor Trustee Sellafield Ltd
Ms Nicole Nicholson – Co-opted Trustee

Clerk to the Board of Trustees: Caroline Stevenson

Members of the Board of Trustees and the clerk can be contacted via contactus@westlakesmat.org.uk

Mr Adrian Thompson (Chair)

Adrian Thompson is based in a senior HR role at Sellafield Ltd. He brings a wide background of experience from commercial and public sector organisations.

Mr Adrian Thompson (Chair)

Mrs Michelle Pearse

Michelle Pearse has worked for the NDA since 2005, and has been the Quality Manager since 2010. She also leads and manages the team of 20 administration staff across the NDA’s five offices, ensuring the organisation has the right level and amount of support across all functions and projects.

Michelle has worked in a variety of industries; manufacturing and automotive design, research and development, and the nuclear sector since moving to Cumbria in 1999.

She is on the Steering Group of the Nuclear Sector Special Interest Group for the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and is the placement lead and supervisor for the NVQ Business Administration Apprentices who have been through on the NDA’s scheme managed by Energus.

Mrs Michelle Pearse (Vice Chair)

Dr Rick Wylie

Rick Wylie is Reader in Applied Policy Sciences in the Lancashire School of Business and Enterprise at UCLan. He is also Samuel Lindow Academic Director at the University of Central Lancashire’s Westlakes campus, Principal of the Samuel Lindow Foundation and Executive Director of the UCLan Applied Policy Sciences Unit. He is a political scientist with a PhD in public opinion, perceived risk, values and the natural environment (2010) an M.Phil in policy partnerships and government industry relations (1996) both from Newcastle University where he took a first degree in Politics in 1989. His 40-year career spans public, private and social sectors and includes manufacturing, retail and local government. For over 25 years he has worked in Higher Education undertaking roles in management, teaching, research and knowledge transfer. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Travel and Tourism, a Fellow of the Tourism Society, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain.

Dr Rick Wylie

Professor Mick Waters

Professor Mick Waters works with the schools in the West Midlands in raising standards. This work began as part of the Black Country Challenge and has continued through the University of Wolverhampton’s involvement with the development of Academies and Teaching Schools. He works with schools in other parts of the country on innovative approaches to learning and on several other initiatives to push the boundaries for making learning better.

Mick is an Honorary Fellow of the College of Teachers and supports several educational causes. He is a patron of Values Based Education, which encourages schools to consider values in all they do, and of SAPERE which promotes Philosophy for Children as a route to learning. Mick is also a patron of the Curriculum Foundation, which seeks to promote a voice for the power and potential of the whole curriculum. Mick supports the National Association for Environmental Education as a vice president and is also chair of CoEd which promotes compassionate education.

During his career, Mick has been a teacher and head teacher before working at senior levels in Birmingham and Manchester Local Authorities. He worked at a national level with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority where he was Director of Curriculum.

Mick recently led an Independent Review of School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions for the Welsh Government with some exciting new proposals for teachers’ careers and professional learning. This followed on from work he did in helping the Welsh Government to produce new Professional Standards for Teaching and Leadership

Mick believes that learning should be treasured and valued and that it needs to be shaped to fit with children’s lives as well as structured to help society meet the promise of the future. People in schools need to set understandings of their children alongside the learning they should meet to create learning that is irresistible.

Mick believes in being close to teachers, children and schools, and is often to be found in the classroom working with children. He has written and contributed to many books on the curriculum, teaching and learning, and leadership, as well as making presentations at numerous national and international conferences. He is passionate about the role of education in improving life chances for pupils. He enjoys asking adults to look at learning through the eyes of a pupil.