OUR FUTURE

Members of the Trust

Sue Shippen

Sue is the Subject Director for Education and Professional Studies, Foundation Degrees in Development and Education of Children and Young people and a suite of MA Education programmes at York St John.

She joined York St John University in September 2014 as a visiting lecturer while continuing her work in the field of Early Childhood Education, Care, and Safeguarding. 

Prior to joining York St John University on a more permanent basis in August 2016, Sue worked full-time in Integrated Services in North Yorkshire. She developed community based services and project managed Children’s Centres including developing sustainable buildings and recruiting staff from a range of professional backgrounds. The role involved working at a strategic and operational level developing universal and targeted services with partner agencies to support vulnerable children and their families. She facilitated multi-agency team work with health, education, social care and private and the voluntary sector agencies and had responsibility for leading ‘Common Assessments’ for children and young people. During her time as a Children’s centre services manager she completed the NPQICL leadership qualification. And more recently she has taken on the responsibility of managing a small team of family workers working in the early intervention, prevention, and children in need domains.

Philip Lewis Ogden

Philip is an Associate Director in the Commercial Division of Stamp Jackson and Procter (SJP Law), a firm of solicitors with offices in York and Hull. Philip specialises in advising owner-managed businesses, international clients as well as, and in particular, charity and voluntary organisations. He has significate experience within the education sector. Philip qualified as a solicitor in 1987 so has now over 30 years of legal experience. He joined Stamp Jackson and Procter from Harrowells in 2019.

Philip is known for his ability to advise on a range of complex issues. He advises his clients in all sectors, ranging from haulage to healthcare. Philip was Chairman of Prohelp (the professional firms association which manages the provision of pro-bono professional advice and support to the voluntary sector) within HRH the Prince of Wales Responsible Business Network, Business in the Community. He is a Trustee of a well known local charities and is a former Chair of school governors. He has, as a consequence of his contacts and experience, regularly asked to speak and provide strategic support.

Mike Whytock

Mike is Head of Jaguar Land Rover Financial Services UK. Land Rover Financial Services are part of the Lloyds Banking Group. Previously Mike has been the Head of Franchise and Leisure and a Regional Director for Lloyds TSB Asset Finance. He has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History and Politics. Mike is a highly visible and effective leader with a proven track record in the Asset Finance arena with extensive experience of different markets. He had demonstrated the ability to develop and execute both growth and manage for value strategies as well as thrive in more complex Joint Venture environments. Mike has been responsible for running successful P&L businesses within the Bank for the past 20 years.

Graham Cook

Graham has over 30 years in the computer software industry with a broad range of technical, operational, organisational, financial, strategic and international experience including 2 years working in the USA. He undertook a management buyout with 2 colleagues in 2011 to establish a software business based in the UK, USA and Sweden where he was CTO until the business was sold to a larger technology company in 2017 and subsequently became a Vice President until retiring in 2020. He was also a Director and co-owner of a local manufacturing business from 2009 – 2020. He served as a Parent Governor at Woldgate from  2009-2019 where he was Chair from 2011 to 2015, a period which saw the reorganisation of GB structure, appointment of a new Head (now our CEO) and improvement in the Ofsted rating from RI to Good. Graham has been the Chair of the Finance Audit and Risk Management committee of the WLP Board prior to becoming Chair of the Trust.

Karen Taylor

Karen is a qualified Chartered Certified Accountant and accredited SRMA. She has worked for North Yorkshire County Council for 15 years and is currently the Senior Financial Consultant to Schools and Academies, supporting headteachers in managing their schools and particularly their budgets. She has a long track record of assisting managers without a finance background to manage the finances of their organisation and has previously worked in the NHS and for Castle Howard. She was also a Trustee of the Wolds Learning Partnership from January 2017 until December 2019.