Ark Curriculum Plus Programme board

Scott Brown is an experienced CFO of both public and private companies. His hands-on operational approach has been successful in both small and large multinational organisations. He has worked in Europe, the US and Asia across multiple sectors.

Currently Scott is CFO of London Square, a residential property development company with a development pipeline worth over £1.3 billion.

Scott has extensive experience at assessing, preparing and successfully implementing business investment and turnaround cases at the highest levels for a variety of projects from major systems implementations to complete company reorganisations, acquisitions and disposals.

Michael Clark is the Deputy Chief Executive of Ark and Director of Ark Ventures

Michael joined Ark in January 2012. He was previously a Junior Partner at McKinsey & Company and co-led their education practice in the UK. During his time at McKinsey, he worked for government departments, regulators, inspectors and non-profit organisations in England and America. Michael obtained an MA in Economics at Cambridge University and has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

Michael has served on several non-profit boards, including as a founding trustee of Pause, Whatever It Takes, Now Teach and Ada – the National College of Digital Skills.

Neil Cosgrove spent 22 years in the financial services industry in London and New York. More than 20 of those years were spent at D.E. Shaw, a global alternative asset manager. Neil opened and built D.E. Shaw’s London office and led several strategy teams covering equity, debt and derivative products, managing multi-billions of dollars of investments. He was CEO and chairman of the London entity, with associated responsibility for maintaining relationships with counterparties, investors and regulators.

Since taking steps away from finance, Neil has been teaching and tutoring maths to underprivileged students and getting more involved with various education related charities. He is a trustee of The Access Project and a mentor with The Prince’s Trust. Neil is an active investor in fintech businesses combining profit with social purpose. He read mathematics at Cambridge University.

Sian Parry is a financial services professional, having worked in insurance, banking and asset management. The majority of her career has been with Fidelity International, where she has held various positions during her 32-year tenure, including roles in strategic planning, systems development, product development, oversight and general business management.

From 2012 to 2019, Sian was Head of Fidelity International Foundations, a grant-making organisation supporting arts/culture, health, education and community development charities in countries where Fidelity International has a business presence. She now acts in a part-time advisory role for Fidelity.

Sian is also a Trustee of the charity Jamie’s Farm, which works with disadvantaged young people who are at risk of social or academic exclusion, to help them thrive, improve their behaviour and engage more fully in education.

Dale Bassett is Director of International and Curriculum Strategy at AQA, the UK’s largest awarding organisation. He leads the organisation’s teams of subject experts supporting teaching, learning and assessment, and chairs the board of Oxford International AQA Examinations, its joint venture with Oxford University Press. He was previously Head of Product Reform, responsible for the development of reformed GCSEs and A-levels, and Director of Public Policy, using AQA’s research and assessment expertise to inform education policy.

Prior to joining AQA, Dale was Research Director at the think tank Reform, where he led on research into public service reform, specialising in education policy. On secondment to the Cabinet Office, he served as adviser to the review of barriers to choice in public services.

He is a director of the Education and Leadership Trust, a multi-academy trust in central Manchester, and was founding chair of governors of Compass School Southwark, a free school that opened in 2013. He is also a founding trustee of the National Baccalaureate Trust.

Hywel Benbow is Vice President Global Data & Analytics at GEMS Education based in Dubai. He joined GEMS Education in 2017 where he oversees the organisation’s data and analytics capabilities across both the commercial and education spheres. His role includes working closely with colleagues from across the business supporting the delivery of key priorities by developing insightful and analytical solutions that provide the right people with the right information at the right time.

Prior to joining GEMS, Hywel worked in the Civil Service for Ofsted and has over 10 years of experience working in data and analytics in both public and private sectors. Hywel also brings experience in policy and strategy development, performance management and research.

Venessa Willms is Education Director at Ark Schools. She was the founding principal of Ark's King Solomon Academy (Primary). Before joining King Solomon Academy, she worked in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as a senior leader in a primary school and led science teaching and learning programme across several secondary schools. 

Prior to that, she worked for GlaxoSmithKline. In the 2016 Honours List for services to education, Venessa was awarded an OBE. 

Venessa is also a Non-executive Director on the Ofsted Board and the Chair of Governors at Ark Boulton and Ark Start. 

Lainey is an educator and business leader with over 20 years of sales and marketing experience across multiple sectors and geographies.

In 2013, Lainey shifted her focus to digital transformation in education. Since then, she has been a classroom teacher, school governor, Head of Digital Learning and General Manager of an educational foundation. Lainey is currently VP of Partnerships for Book Creator, an EdTech company enabling millions of students and teachers around the world to create digital books.

Lainey has a Computer Science degree from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD and a PGCE from Canterbury Christ Church.