Who We Are

Dr Katy Simmons (Chair)
Katy Simmons has been a teacher, lecturer and researcher, both in the UK and in the USA. She currently works as a lecturer in Inclusive Education at the Open University, where she researches, writes and runs courses for undergraduate and graduate students. She has also worked in the voluntary sector, where she advised and represented parents of children with special educational needs, and headed up the 'Rights at Risk' campaign that successfully worked to retain legal entitlement for children with disabilities. She is the chair of governors at a secondary school.

Rob Honeybourne (Vice-Chair)
Rob Honeybourne worked for many years for a leading multi-national pharmaceutical company, retiring as its UK Commercial Director and Country Manager for the Republic of Ireland. He became involved in education in the UK as a parent of two children, and was the Chair of their primary school PTA, and a Parent Governor of both of their secondary schools. During a time of unrest in England between the teaching profession and the then government, he founded an organisation which provided a platform in his borough for discussions between parents, teacher organisations and local and national government. He is committed to supporting the parental viewpoint in education.

Geoff Berridge (Chair of Finance Committee)
Geoff Berridge has a commercial background, having worked for a large IT company in a variety of management roles. Since 2000 he has worked independently as a consultant specialising in business development, organisational and business change, and training. This is provided for organisations and individuals, and often involves the use of technology to support the outcomes for clients. Part of his present work is to support the delivery of learning, information and advice systems and applications to schools, colleges and universities. Geoff is Chair of Governors at a large community school in Camden. He is a director and trustee of several charities in north London. These positions give him an insight into the needs of families and young people. He is also a non executive director of Brent Primary Care Trust.

Ron Glatter
Ron Glatter has admired ACE’s unique and vital work since its earliest days. He was Professor and Director of the centre for Educational Policy and Management at The Open university for many years. He was national Chair of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS), is now Honorary Vice-President and in 2007 received the Society’s Distinguished Service Award. He has been active internationally and in late 2007 was the Opening Keynote Speaker at a European Union Presidency conference in Lisbon on ‘Schools facing up to new challenges’.

Gabriela Daniels
Gabriela completed a cosmetics science and technology degree in Bulgaria. She worked in the cosmetic and affiliated industries in the UK for 10 years before joining the world of Higher Education in 1999. Currently Gabriela teaches specialist subjects in the University of the Arts London whilst maintaining active industry links. She is a member of professional associations such as the Society of Cosmetic Scientists and OU MBA Alumni Association. As a parent of two young boys, she is passionate about fair access to education for all - from the early years to university.

Alan Gottleib
Alan Gottlieb is a specialist in personal taxation. He currently works for a firm of Accountants having started his career with HM Revenue & Customs. He has a particular interest in the education of children with SEN as he has a son with ASD. He is very aware of the difficulties facing families of disabled children. Over many years he has actively campaigned for the improvement of educational facilities for such children.

Megan Griffith Gray
Megan works for the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO), the umbrella body for the voluntary and community sector in England, where she leads the Third Sector Foresight programme helping organisations to understand how the world is changing around them and use this knowledge to make better strategic decisions. She has worked at NCVO since 2003, prior to this working at the Musicians Benevolent Fund which led her into a career in the voluntary sector after obtaining a Bachelor of Music degree at Manchester University. She is a trustee of the Limes Community and Children’s Centre in Walthamstow, London. Since her own school days in Hackney, London, she has been passionate about the need for a fair access to good quality education for all.

Jane Fortin
Jane Fortin is Professor of Law at Sussex Law School, Sussex University. Before joining Sussex University she taught at King’s College London where she initiated and directed a multidisciplinary post-graduate programme for practitioners working with children. She is an academic lawyer with a strong interest in family and child law. She lectures and writes widely on legal and policy developments relating to children and their families. Her particular interest in children’s rights has led to a number of publications focusing on this aspect of child law, most notably to her book Children’s Rights and the Developing Law (3rd Ed 2009, CUP). Professor Fortin is coeditor of the Child and Family Law Quarterly.

Further information to follow.

OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Simon Hepburn MA, PGCert, MIoD, MIoF, ACQI
Simon Hepburn became ACE's first Chief Executive, at the end of November 2007. Simon joined ACE from The Children’s Society, where he was an Assistant Director and where he had worked for over twelve years in a range of operational and strategic positions. Prior to joining The Children's Society, he worked in a variety of youth, education and community development roles working with long term unemployed and disaffected groups, supporting them to gain education, employment and training.

Simon was the Founder/Director of the Adisa Foundation Organisation which specialised in developing strategies to engage disengaged young people and parents.

Simon is a member of Trustee Board member of ACEVO, the Association of Chief Executives in Voluntary Organisations and was a member of the BBC Charity Appeals Advisory Committee. He was also a visiting lecturer at the University of Greenwich on the MA in Educational Management and Professional Youth Work programmes and was the Vice Chair of Governors at his daughter's school.

OUR PATRONS

Baronness Massey of Darwen
Doreen Elizabeth Massey, Baroness Massey of Darwen is a Labour member of the House of Lords.

A former teacher and education adviser, she was the Director of the Family Planning Assoctaion. She was made a Life Peer as Baroness Massey of Darwen in 1999 and worked in the House of Lords as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Integrated and Complementary Healthcare. She is the Chair of the All Party Group on Children.

David Wolfe
David Wolfe is a public lawyer at Matrix, a Commissioner (non-executive director) at the Legal Services Commission and a Board Member of the newly-created Legal Services Board. Until July 2008, he was a part-time Chair of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

David has in the past been a governor at three primary schools and a FE College and is currently a governor at a middle school, attended by his two daughters and a high school.

David has also been a County Councillor and a member of a Local Education Authority.

As a barrister, David regularly advises and act for parents/children and NGOs on education and related matters such as admissions, exclusions, SEN, school reorganisation, disability/equality and human rights issues.

David trains lawyers and others, particularly in education and public law. He contributes regularly to general and specialist publications and radio broadcasts on legal issues.

David believes passionately that public bodies should act in a fair and open way, and that the law and lawyers have a key role in ensuring that happens.