Our people

Balbir leads on the development and delivery of conferences and events for CST Professional Development, working closely with the wider CST team, partners and suppliers.

Catherine McGuire is Head of Partnerships at CST Professional Development. Prior to this, she worked in partnerships within the third sector, where she worked with FTSE 100 corporations, leading legal and investment firms, and a large variety of independent businesses to develop lasting impactful partnerships.

Claire Aylmer is CST’s Lead Conference Producer, with focus on the programming for our professional community conferences and CST's Annual Conference. Prior to this, Claire was Events Manager at the membership body Association for Project Management, responsible for the programming and delivery of the organisation’s flagship conferences, awards competitions, and specific interest group seminars.

Dani is Senior Administrator & Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer.

Emma is Executive Assistant to CST’s CEO, Leora Cruddas CBE, and Deputy CEO, Steve Rollett dealing with daily correspondence, diary management, appointments, and various other administrative tasks on their behalf.

James is Head of Communications, helping promote understanding of school trusts and CST’s role in helping to build an excellent education system in England. James trained as journalist and has wide-ranging experience across print, digital, and broadcast. For the past 10 years he has worked across media and public relations, marketing, strategy, and governance in a range of sectors including education, health, local government, and the arts.

Joanna leads on the administrative support for all memberships of CST. Her role involves working directly with both members and potential members of CST ensuring that new memberships, renewals, payments and general membership queries are dealt with promptly and efficiently.

Martyna is our Professional Learning Coordinator, focusing on our professional development training courses for trust leaders.

Mohini is Finance Manager at CST.

Rukia leads the delivery of CST’s trust development services, connecting school trusts with expert governance and leadership specialists. This involves working closely with school trusts to understand their context and service requirements to develop a tailored project that is closely aligned with their objectives. Rukia has been involved in school governance since 2016, including being chair of a local governing body, and is currently a trustee of a 24-school primary trust in the East Midlands.

Sarah is CST's Professional Communities Manager and is responsible for the running and development of our 10 professional communities. She started her journey within education in Australia, where she owned and operated a community dance school teaching jazz, tap and ballet classes. Sarah is a degree qualified primary school teacher who has worked in schools across Tasmania and London before moving into international education recruitment. Sarah joined the team at CST in August 2022.

Viv provides administrative support for the day-to day operation of CST’s trust development services, including liaising with school trusts, the wider CST team and our consultants.

Emily is the Marketing Executive at CST. Prior to joining CST, Emily led the social media and creative marketing strategy for an evolving independent school. She supports the promotion of CST’s conference programme, professional communities, and other services.

Zoe Lee-Morris is the Junior Conference Producer at CST. Prior to joining, Zoe worked within the higher education sector as a conference and events supervisor. Her current role involves assisting with the curation of CST’s market-leading conferences, working closely with external partners, speakers and the wider CST team.

Emma is the Professional Communities Co-ordinator at CST. Prior to joining, Emma worked in the finance industry for 15 years in training and event management. She supports our 11 professional communities.

Josephine is an events coordinator at CST.

James supports CST's policy work, advocating for and supporting our member trusts.

Prior to joining CST, Josie worked within the technology sector as an events manager. Her current role involves working across the professional community conferences and flagship annual conference, working closely with the wider CST team, partners, and suppliers.