Zoe is employed as the Chief Executive Officer of WISE Academies Multi-Academy Trust in the North East of England. She has held this position since 2013. The Trust works predominantly in areas of high deprivation across three Local Authority Areas and currently consists of 12 academies who serve primary age pupils, one of which is a specialist provision for pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. She has gained insight into all aspects of academy performance, accountability and operation through her role as CEO.
She qualified as a primary school teacher in 1995 and went on to become an Advanced Skills Teacher in 2002. This position afforded her the opportunity to demonstrate excellent teaching across the Local Authority in which she was employed. The last 16 years has been spent in school leadership. She gained NLE status in 2016 and was honoured in the 2018 New Year’s Honours list, where she received an OBE for Services to Education.
She has been an elected member of the Regional School Commissioner’s Head Teacher Board (HTB) for the North since 2014, serving two terms of office. She qualified as an Ofsted Inspector in 2017 and continues to serve in this role.