Members (ID 1221)

• Mark Bell
  Mark Bell

  Career summary

  • For the last fourteen years Mark has worked for the Sovini Group, whose main purpose is to provide social housing to the Sefton area with property stock of more than 13,000 homes. Prior to working for the Sovini Group Mark had been employed in retail for 10 years and then Royal Mail whilst commencing my accountancy exams.
  • Mark’s initial role at Sovini Group was an entry level accounts payable assistant role on a short-term maternity cover basis, following this role he has held positions at all levels up to my current role as Group Head of Finance – Commercial, which he has held for the last seven years.
  • Prior to Mark’s current role he was a Management Accountant, this provided Mark with a broad range of technical knowledge and skills to assist Mark in his ACCA professional studies. Having the support of the Chief Finance Officer and dealing with the complexities of working in a large group with 800 plus employees across 11 companies ensured that Mark was able to cover a broad range of finance departments.
  • In Mark’s current role as Group Head of Finance – Commercial he is responsible for a team of 18. As part of this Mark’s main areas cover management accounts, statutory accounts, business planning, accounts payable and receivable as well as payroll.

• Dominique Gobbi
  Dominique Gobbi

  Career summary

  • Dominique has worked as a senior leader across schools in Greater Manchester since 2009.  As Associate Headteacher at BTHCC (then an Outstanding Teaching School) she led the school to school support work for over 100 schools across their network.  As Executive Headteacher for the David Ross Education Trust, she led two secondaries and one primary school, all of whom had improved progress and Ofsted inspections during her tenure.
  • As Regional Lead for Teaching at Oasis MAT, Dominique supported all five North West academies out of measures. Following her time as Principal of Oasis Oldham, she worked for PiXL as Head of 11-18, developing the curriculum and leadership training offer available to over 2000 schools in the UK and internationally.
  • Dominique joined Emmaus CAT as Secondary Director of Education in February 2023.

• Rebecca McCullough
  Rebecca McCullough

  Career summary

  Rebecca has worked in the NHS for over 20 years in various finance and leadership roles across commissioning and provider organisations and is a CIMA qualified Accountant with evidence of Continuous Professional Development.

  Rebecca’s current role is Associate Director of Finance for Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Commissioning Board (ICB) in Sefton Place.  Rebecca has worked in a Senior Leadership capacity for over 10 years being a key member of the leadership team within the organisation.

  The ICB is responsible for planning and commissioning health services for the population of Cheshire and Merseyside, working in partnership with the Local Authorities in each borough.  The Associate Director of Finance is the lead Finance role in each borough, having responsibility for all aspects of finance, financial planning, control and management, a key enabler to delivery of the organisation objectives.  

  Rebecca has held a number of roles within the organisation; Deputy Director of Finance, Head of Financial Strategy and Head of Financial reporting, all of which are foundations to my current role.

  My current role as Associate Director of Finance includes:

  • Leading and developing a financial strategy to support the key clinical and commissioning functions to enable the organisation to deliver high quality healthcare for the population of Sefton.
  • Developing financial planning, governance, reporting and monitoring processes, working closely with ICB colleagues to ensure alignment with the wider health system financial plan and strategy.
  • Supporting the ICS to build partnerships at place to enable effective integration of the place partnership with the Local Authority.
  • Leading the development of pooled budgets in partnership with Local Authority to ensure the best outcomes across Health and Social Care for the Sefton population and the wider ICS footprint.
  • Ensuring robust systems are in place to support effective financial control, management, and reporting.
  • Providing financial leadership and oversight to support the delivery of place efficiency schemes.
  • Supporting the organisation to deliver efficient and effective services which demonstrate value for money. This includes finance and business support for service developments, procurement support and investment appraisal.
  • Working closely with other business functions such as performance, contracts, and HR to deliver an integrated management support service.
  • Deliver finance training and support to all members of the organisation from Board Members to individual Budget Holders

  Previous positions in provider organisations have been in the areas of Finance Business Partnering, Lead Accountant roles and Management Accounting.

  Area of responsibility have been:

  • Financial Planning
  • Financial Management and Reporting
  • Financial Control and Governance
  • Oversight and approval of the Annual Accounts
  • Management of internal and external audit processes
  • Statutory Reporting to regulatory bodies
  • Management of Efficiency Programmes
  • Provider Contract Management

  Skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to trustee role

  • Strategic and operational financial planning to ensure optimum use of resources and best value for money.
  • Financial management and reporting including in year budget management and year end final accounts and audit.
  • Service redesign, investment appraisal, procurement, contracting and provider management.
  • Corporate governance and risk management  
  • Statutory and board level reporting
  • System level working, leadership, integration, and partnership working.
  • Implementation of Government policy and guidance
  • Analytical and technical skills
  • Knowledge and understanding of contract and procurement processes.

• Simon Penney
  Simon Penney

  Career summary

  • Simon was Headteacher at Chesterfield High School from 2011-2018. He successfully moved the school from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘good’.
  • He worked in partnership with a number of schools across the North West.
  • As a qualified Mathematician, he focussed on rapidly improving maths results across the school.
  • Prior to his career at Chesterfield, Simon occupied the position of Deputy Headteacher at Castell Alun High School in Wrexham with responsibility for data and curriculum, where he also undertook the role of Inspector for Estyn (inspects quality and standards in education and training providers in Wales).
  • Simon started his professional career in the East End in London as a Maths teacher.
  • Throughout his career, Simon has been passionate about improving the experience of education for children with SEND.

  Skills, knowledge and experience relevant to trustee role

  • School Leadership
  • School Improvement
  • Governance