Paul Loft – Director
Paul has wide-ranging experience as a General Manager and a Finance Director in a number of Retail businesses.
In a thirty-year executive career in the Retail Sector, he was the Managing Director of Homebase and Habitat, GUS Home Shopping and Shoe Express/Shoe City, and the Finance Director of Argos, Debenhams, and Burton Menswear.
As a Non-Executive Paul sits on the Boards of Peabody, the London Housing Association, where he chairs the Audit Committee and the Customer Services Committee, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, where he chairs the Audit Committee and Black Stork, a charity dedicated to improving rehabilitation after traumatic injury.
In his plural career, Paul looks to bring his commercial experience to bear in organisations with a social purpose.
He is particularly interested in Risk Management, Organisational Change, Customercentricity, and Effective Service Delivery.
Paul was appointed as a Director on 23rd April 2021.
Assistant Principal for Culloden Primary Academy’s Deaf Support Base – closing date Monday 4th June at 9am
Culloden Primary Academy is seeking an energetic and innovative individual to join the leadership team and lead the Deaf Support Base within the academy.
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- the advertisement
To receive a recruitment pack please email hr@paradigmtrust.org.
Culloden pupils visit the Tate Modern
On Tuesday 24th April 2018, 26 pupils from Y3, Y4 and Y5 classes at Culloden Primary visited the Tate Modern to take part in the ASSEMBLY yearly event. All pupils and adults enjoyed looking at various pieces of art from different contemporary artists. One of the activities involved building structures using foam materials. We are very proud to announce that two of our Y5 pupils, Maya and Bushra, were filmed and interviewed to give their opinions about art in the cities.
Vacancy for Accounts Payable Clerks – closing date Monday 23rd April at 1pm
Due to the relocation of our finance function, Paradigm Trust is looking to build an Accounts Payable team responsible for all aspects of end to end Accounts Payable. We are seeking to appoint a number of Accounts Payable Clerks to be based at Ipswich Academy.
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Teacher Training Opportunities – Open Evening (Drop in)
We are holding an open evening on a drop in basis for people interested in teacher training opportunities in our Ipswich academies on March 22nd (6.30 – 8.00pm) at Ipswich Academy. Please come along to find out more about the opportunities we offer.
Paradigm Trust appoints new Chief Executive Officer
The Board of Directors of Paradigm Trust today announced the appointment of Bill Holledge as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Trust. Bill has been Chief Operating Officer and acting CEO for the last nine months.
David Willis, Chairman of the Board, said, “The Trust has undertaken a thorough search for our new Chief Executive, and we are delighted to be appointing Bill to the role. In a field of strong candidates, his vision for the future of the Trust and how we should get there was a compelling proposition. This, combined with the contribution that he has made while in the interim role, made him the unanimous choice for the position.”
Bill Holledge commented “I am delighted to have been asked to take on the CEO role on a permanent basis. I am a passionate advocate of Paradigm Trust’s vision of giving children the educational opportunities they deserve, and a firm believer that the key to improving standards is great teaching. Everything we do is about improving outcomes for our students and I am very much looking forward to working with students, staff, parents/carers and our local communities to continue doing just that.”
Media enquiries
For further enquiries, please contact the Paradigm Trust media team on 020 7618 9194, or email paradigmtrust@luther.co.uk.
John Helleur – Member
John became a member of Paradigm Trust in February 2020.
John is a retired senior manager who spent his career at the leading edge of developing and supporting software solutions in the challenging environment of global telecommunications. He blends experience of organisational transformation, culture change, and project management with a very strong awareness of the challenges in Primary and Secondary schools.
John was a governor at Ipswich Academy’s precursor schools for over 40 years, with roles including Vice-chair and Chair of the governing body, and chair of the Finance Committee. He was also a governor at his children’s primary school, St Helens, from 1980 for over 30 years, many as Chair of Governors. He was instrumental in working to transform Holywells High School to Ipswich Academy and was a founder of the ASSET (IPAT) Multi-academy Trust. Although no longer a governor, John continues to help Ipswich Academy as Chair of the Community Forum and leading a team of maths mentors.
In order to tackle embedded low literacy in disadvantaged areas of Ipswich, in 2016 John set up the Let’s Talk Reading charity, which he chairs, and which now works with 15 schools, 40 early years settings and a number of partner agencies and charities. He also set up sister charity, Read Easy Ipswich in 2018 to help to deal with adult literacy problems. He has interests in an educational project involving 16 disadvantaged schools in Delhi.
John worked for BT for over 30 years, leading software engineering research and development related to new telephone exchanges, network management systems, software architectures and latterly leading BT’s UK network strategy unit. He retired from BT in 2000. In 1995, he was appointed a non-executive Director of the Indian BT joint venture company, Mahindra-BT; then became its COO in 2000 and CEO between 2001 and 2004, positioning it for its public flotation as Tech Mahindra.
John is a strong advocate of carbon reduction and is rapidly changing his lifestyle appropriately. Apart from his family, his main interest is music: playing in a woodwind quintet and a saxophone quartet.
David Willis
Director and Chair of the Board of Directors
David joined the board of directors of Paradigm Trust in January 2014 and became the chair in July 2016. He is a member of the operations and finance committee and is the trust’s link director for Old Ford Primary Academy.
David is a solicitor and, prior to his retirement, he was the joint CEO at international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, where he was a member of the board and co-chaired the executive committee concentrating on the implementation of the firm’s strategy.
Prior to becoming managing partner of Herbert Smith in April 2008, he held a number of senior management positions, including leading Herbert Smith’s Asia operations (1997–2001) and Herbert Smith’s financial institutions’ group.
David joined Herbert Smith in 1981 and became a partner in 1989. Before working in Hong Kong, he advised on a series of major privatisations in the United Kingdom, including in the electricity and coal sectors. He also advised the UK government on the restructuring of British Nuclear Fuels plc and the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
David spent 8 years as a member of the Council at Queen Mary University of London and was elected a Fellow of Queen Mary in 2022; he was a member of the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority for 6 years; and is a vice-chair of the board of trustees of United Response, a learning disabilities charity, and chair of its finance and resources committee. In 2022, he was appointed by the Secretary of State to the board of the Financial Reporting Council.
David was first appointed as a director by the members on 15 January 2014 for a four year term. He has since been re-appointed, by the members, and is currently serving his third term. Under Paradigm Trust’s Articles of Association, David is a member of the Trust while he is the chair of the board of directors. David stepped down as a member in July 2022.