Jackie is currently a Divisional Director at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust. She has a Masters in Organisational Change and Management Development, and Nye Bevan NHS Leadership Academy Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership.

Thus she brings experience of business, specifically around HR and financial best value to the Board of Extol. She is passionate about improving the life chances of young people in the Wear and Tees Valley areas and champions school improvement. This is reflected in a number of years experience serving as a school governor within both primary and secondary school settings.

Jackie has recently completed Confederation Of Schools Trust Chairs Leadership Programme and is driving the strategic governance of Extol.

Caroline is passionate about entrepreneurship, ethical business and gender equality, she is a successful serial Founder, who boasts a CBE for her services to business in the North East.

Caroline is co-founder and chair of FIRST Face to Face Ltd he successor to Bridge Club Ltd, which she established in 2000 to connect early stage growth entrepreneurs to money, management and new markets.

Caroline is a passionate advocate of gender equality and responsible/ethical business and a founding director of The North East Initiative on Business Ethics (NIBE). She is  also the chair of the Advisory Board at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University and an associate of Teesside University Business School.

International interests are covered through her role as Trustee of Newcastles of the World and honorary consul for Sweden and chair of the North East Chapter of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce.

We are delighted Caroline joined Extol Trust as we know she brings a breadth of knowledge and skills to our community.

Sean is married to an ex-teacher and has two grown up daughters and lives in Teesside.  With an engineering and commercial background Sean has worked on large infrastructure projects across the UK whilst always being based in Teesside.  Originally working for consultant engineers White Young in Billingham and for Stockton Borough Council as an Engineer, he went on to join Northumbrian Water as a Project and Programme Manager. 

He has now worked for international commercial consultant Faithful+Gould for over 15 years based out of the Stockton office and has been a Board Director for the last 10 years.  He has managed a wide range of projects and most notably worked on Hinkley Point C, the £25bn new nuclear power station, where his final role was as Supply Chain Director. 

He has provided strategic advice to HS2 and is also supporting the development and regeneration of Teesworks.  Sean is passionate about ensuring that all children have the best possible start in life and believes that skills and education provides the platform on which great things can be built.

Rakesh is a retired GP with over 35 years of experience within the health service. He has experience not only at a practice level but at a local, and national level within the NHS driving forward service development and clinical standards. He has served on a number of NHS strategic and operational groups including the Chief Medical Officers Group on Health Inequalities. He was awarded an OBE for services to Primary Care in Northumberland. He is currently a GP Appraiser for General Practitioners in the North East.

Rakesh believes strongly in the fundamental role that education plays in not only the academic but physical, psychological, and social wellbeing of children and their future opportunities. This is why he has served as a Trustee of the North East Autism Society for over 10 years. The Society provides education and care for children and young adults with Autism and Neurodiversity issues in the North East.