Leadership Conference 2026 – School Leadership in a Time of Change

Award-winning journalist and broadcaster Steph McGovern co-hosts the The Rest Is Money with Robert Peston, exploring the economic issues that affect our everyday lives. Steph is also a regular face on the BBC fronting shows such as Have I Got News for You, and Crimewatch as well as two new programmes due to air in 2026. 

For over three years Steph hosted her own BAFTA nominated daily magazine show Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4. The show broadcast over 500 episodes, after starting in her house in lockdown. 

Working in financial journalism for over twenty years, with eight years on BBC Breakfast, Steph travelled all over the UK covering economic news and broadcasting live from over five hundred businesses. Whether speaking to factory workers or FTSE 100 CEOs, Steph’s mission was to uncover and explain the real economy. She continued that work on her Channel 4 show, with regular features such as her Small Business Market and Job Clinic. 

Steph is also the founder of the fitness business ClimbAhub in Newcastle and is the co-owner of the kids slime retailer Gootopia, which now has over ten stores nationally aswell as two in the EU. Steph also has a number of other business investments as an angel investor.  

Away from news and business, Steph launched her own CBBC show looking for the next generation of entrepreneurs, Pocket Money Pitch. On BBC Two’s Made in Great Britain she joined 21st century makers exploring the skills and industries that built the nation. She co-hosted five series of the BBC One show Shop Well For Less, and four series of the consumer rights institution Watchdog. She also joined Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to present the BBC One health show Easy Ways to Live Well. 

Before becoming an on-air correspondent, Steph was the lead producer of financial news for the BBC, working with then Business Editor Robert Peston at the forefront of the award-winning coverage of the credit crunch and banking crisis. She soon began broadcasting herself, and delivered the business news on 5Live, Radio 4 and on the Chris Evans show on Radio 2 before gaining a fulltime role on BBC Breakfast. 

Originally from Middlesbrough, Steph started as an apprentice engineer at Black & Decker where, aged nineteen, she won the title of Young Engineer for Britain before studying at University College London. 

Steph is involved in lots of community and education projects in her native North East. She launched the ‘Steph McGovern Women in Engineering Scholarships’ at Teesside University in 2026, with the science charity Enginuity, and regularly works with schools in the area. Steph is a patron of the charity Rubies, supporting disadvantaged children, and is a former champion Irish dancer. 

Amjad Ali is regarded as one of the most engaging and empowering voices in the fields of inclusive leadership and professional development. With his trademark humour, warmth and clarity, Amjad brings a rare ability to translate the complexities of teaching and educational leadership into practical strategies that challenge, inspire and stick. 

Having spent over 19 years teaching and leading in diverse and high-need schools; including seven years as a founding leadership team member of a new secondary start up school. Amjad now serves as CPD and Inclusion Lead for the Chiltern Learning Trust, supporting leaders, teachers and school communities to grow cultures of equity, ambition and sustained professional learning. 

Amjad’s delivery is grounded in lived experience. He began his career as a Play Worker and then a Teaching Assistant in Young Offender institutions before training as a teacher and later becoming an Advanced Skills Teacher in Teaching and Learning, before training as a SENDCO and senior leader. This journey has shaped a leadership philosophy rooted in equity, high expectations and transformational CPD. 

He has delivered keynotes, workshops and INSET to audiences across all phases of education, from early career teachers to CEOs working with over 650 schools and thousands of educators across the UK and internationally. Whether in front of newly qualified teachers or leading a trust-wide leadership event, Amjad’s sessions are consistently praised for being funny, thought-provoking, energising and immediately actionable. 

A sought-after leadership speaker and CPD specialist, Amjad supports schools to refine their approaches to training and inclusion so that professional development becomes embedded, evidence-informed and impactful. His mantra is simple: What will you now try, refine and ditch. 

He also co-founded The BAMEed Network, a national grassroots organisation committed to diversifying educational leadership and ensuring equity across the system — a mission that continues to shape his work in inclusive leadership today. 

Emma Campbell is an author, speaker and podcast host, known to her 66,000 followers on Instagram as Limitless Em. She shares her experience of rebuilding life after adversity and is passionate about helping others recognise what’s possible for them, even in the most challenging seasons. 

Emma is known for her honesty, vulnerability and open-hearted approach to life. She speaks and writes about resilience, reinvention and learning to live fully in the face of uncertainty. She believes deeply in our capacity to adapt, grow and create meaning from even the hardest experiences. Having completed the London Marathon three times, Emma celebrates a body that has been through so much, while continuing to navigate life on long-term cancer treatment. 

Emma’s first book, All That Followed: A Story of Cancer, Kids and the Fear of Leaving Too Soon, was published in 2018. Her second book, Running, Still, will be published by Bloomsbury in January 2027. 

Floyd Woodrow is Managing Director and founder of Chrysalis Worldwide a world leading values-based organisation and owner of Quantum group recently winning an innovation award for 2018 in the Fintech sector. 

Floyd has an excellent track record of success as a Military Leader, Director, Non- Executive Director, Consultant and Negotiator. Floyd is challenging, supportive and totally committed to developing elite teams and individuals as well as offering practical and commercial value in strategic planning and execution. 

Floyd has established an international reputation for designing and running leadership and elite performance training in sports, business, government, police, not for profit organisations and education. 

Floyd’s early career was as a soldier in the Parachute Regiment. He spent four years with the 1st Battalion before joining the Special Air Service at the age of 22. During this time he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his work in Iraq and an MBE for his work in Afghanistan. During his time in the military Floyd studied law and psychology and wrote his first book “Learning to Learn”. 

Since leaving the military Floyd established his consultancy business alongside his commercial business ventures and became a director of a number of companies in the oil and gas industry, technology and finance. 

Floyd regularly lectures on leadership all over the world, recently winning a prestigious award as a high performing speaker. Floyd wrote his second book Elite “the secret to Elite Leadership and Performance in 2012 which reached the final of the people’s book prize. His third book has just been published and is called The Warrior, The Strategist and You and outlines the “Compass for Life model for leadership and life”. 

Social media handles: 

 Twitter @floydwoodrow 

Instagram @floydwoodrow 

LinkedIn@Floyd Woodrow 

Natalie is an Independent Education Consultant, specialising in SEND and school improvement. She develops and delivers a wide range of training and support, including SEND reviews, to schools and multi-academy trusts. She works closely with several trusts to support their strategic development of SEND and, until recently, was a trustee of Learn-AT in Leicestershire. She is an associate for national organisations nasen, Whole Education, Forum Strategy and Leadership Matters. Natalie is the author of The Perfect SENCO and The Teacher’s Guide to SEN and co-author of Beyond Boundaries: Leading Great SEND Provision across a Trust.

E mail: n.packer174@btinternet.com Website: www.nataliepacker.co.uk Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-packer-23779847

Andy Wolfe is the Interim Chief Executive of the National Society for Education (Church of England & Church in Wales) and Chief Education Officer for the Church of England, overseeing its national work in education through its three core priorities: Developing Leaders, Shaping Policy and Growing Faith. In addition, he oversees the Church of England’s SIAMS inspections, and in all of this, works closely in partnership with Dioceses, MATs, school leaders.  

Andy also has strategic oversight for the Church of England’s work in Further and Higher Education, and a wider range of international partnerships. He works closely with senior stakeholders both across the education system and with senior leaders and clergy throughout the wider Church of England. 

He has authored many of the Church of England’s educational leadership resources, including pioneering the ‘Called, Connected, Committed’ leadership framework (2020) and ‘Flourishing Together: A Christian Vision for Students, Educators and Schools’ (2022) with Dr Lynn Swaner. In 2024, he wrote ‘Flourishing Together: A Collective Vision for the Education System’ in partnership with Catholic Education Service and Confederation of School Trusts.