Our Executive Team

Star’s executive team is responsible for the strategic development and leadership of Star Academies. It leads and manages the Star Central workforce and oversees, supports and champions the growing family of Star schools. The team comprises established and experienced education leaders, all of whom have an outstanding track record in school leadership, education management and business. Together, they model the STAR values and promote a culture of excellence in everything the schools do. The executive team’s work with external stakeholders keeps Star at the forefront of innovation in the education sector.

Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE – Chief Executive

Sir Mufti Hamid is the Chief Executive of Star Academies. He has led the trust since its inception. He has the highest aspirations for children and young people from the most disadvantaged communities across the country. His passionately held vision guides the philosophy of the trust and informs its practice.

As a National Leader of Education, Sir Mufti Hamid is a member of several national and international strategic educational and policy forums. He currently serves as the Senior Board Member of Ofsted and is Chair of the Confederation of School Trusts. He is an Honorary Professor of Education at the University of Birmingham.

Prior to becoming CEO of Star Academies, Sir Mufti Hamid was Executive Principal of Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School (TIGHS).  Previously, he was the Director of Strategy, Change and External Relations at Bradford College, where he led one of the most ambitious change programmes in further education.

Sir Mufti Hamid is the Accounting Officer for Star Academies.

Lisa Crausby OBE – Executive Director: Education

Lisa is jointly responsible for the development of the trust’s education strategy, which seeks to secure and maintain excellence in all aspects of work across all the trust’s schools. She has responsibility for teaching and inclusion services, through which the trust supports its staff to meet pupils’ varied needs and secure excellent learning.

Lisa joined Star from a multi-academy trust where she was the Chief Education Officer responsible for transforming the education of over 12,000 pupils from areas of high deprivation. Previously, Lisa was the Inspector Adviser for Service Children’s Education with responsibility for securing high personal and academic achievements across the Ministry of Defence’s secondary and middle schools worldwide. Lisa has over ten years’ experience inspecting primary and secondary schools and is a passionate linguist.

(Hafez) Lukman Ahmed – Executive Director: Education

(Hafez) Lukman is jointly responsible for the development of the trust’s education strategy. He has trust-wide responsibility for curriculum and standards services, focusing upon the provision of a knowledge-rich curriculum that equips pupils to compete on the world stage for meaningful future careers.

(Hafez) Lukman has worked for Star since 2006 – serving as a senior leader and the Principal of Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School and Sixth Form College (TIGHS). Under his leadership, TIGHS delivered some of the best outcomes in the country, was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted three times and established a high-achieving sixth form college whose results are in the top 5% of all sixth forms nationally. (Hafez) Lukman has also supported the work of Star Academies in establishing new schools and running sponsored academies across the country.

Dr. Kathryn Chorlton, CPsychol – Executive Director: People and Projects

Kathryn has responsibility for new projects, communications and the development of the trust’s people strategy and human resources functions. She leads the delivery of trust-wide corporate programmes, change management and new business opportunities as well as overseeing and managing the establishment of new schools and academies.

Kathryn was previously a Research Fellow within the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds, where she worked on a variety of high-profile research projects. She is a Chartered Psychologist.

David Holland – Executive Director: Capital and Infrastructure

David is responsible for the operation of the trust estate and the trust’s capital programme, as well as overseeing IT and procurement. David has worked extensively in the private and public sectors delivering property, legal, public private partnerships and education projects.

David has advised and led delivery on more than 100 Free School and University Technical College projects. He was previously the Head of Property and Legal (Free Schools) at the Education Funding Agency, as well as a Project Director at Partnerships for Schools. David is a qualified solicitor who has worked for major international law practices.

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