Meet the Central Team

Judith Schafer

CEO Changing Lives Learning Trust

As CEO, I am part of a creative, strong and effective Executive Team which works tirelessly to safeguard the future of our Trust and everyone that works in it. As Director of One Cumbria Teaching School Hub, I am responsible for working with partners to secure and sustain exceptional training for teachers across Cumbria, at all stages of their careers. Cumbria’s children need the best schools in their own communities. They need aspiring professionals to help them shape their world and our Trust’s vision to change lives through learning supports that noble ambition. It’s a great place to work; as a team, we have the creativity and desire to really make a difference to children everywhere.

Laura Watson

Chief Finance Officer (CFO)

In my role, I work closely with the members of the central executive team and the senior leadership team of each academy to ensure we are financially efficient, leveraging our Trust’s economies of scale and increasing the money available for the benefit of improving teaching and learning. I am a qualified chartered accountant and before joining Changing Lives Learning Trust, I gained experience with a local accountancy firm specialising in external audit.

Tracey Shackley

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

As Chief Operations Officer I provide strategic and operational leadership for support services of the Trust. I play a lead role in designing and implementing new central shared services, structures and systems. I work with the Trustees, Chief Executive Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer to formulate the aims and objectives of our Trust and in establishing the policies, systems and procedures through which these can be achieved. I provide operational leadership for specified support activities of our Trust, including Administration and Business Management, IT, Estates Management, Human Resources and PR and Marketing.

Lynette Knibb

Director of People and Culture

My role within the Trust is to support our educational vision by developing and implementing HR strategy and practices that add value and align to our vision and objectives to develop a skilled and diverse workforce who will deliver the very best possible outcomes for our students and communities. We are committed to supporting our employees to perform at their very best and become an employer of choice within Cumbria.

Laura Lithgow

PR and Marketing Manager

In my role, I am responsible for publicity and communications for our Trust. I work to ensure that each academy maximises its publicity by overseeing the communication channels between each academy and the wider community including the Trust’s websites and social media.