Central Team - Avanti Schools Trust

Nitesh Gor OBE

Chief Executive Officer

Nitesh Gor is Chief Executive of Avanti Schools Trust. His previous experience encompasses CEO and director roles across the exploration and investment banking industries and a broad business strategy background gained as a result of working for two leading management consultancies. He is a published author. Nitesh has an MBA from London Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of London. He is a Deputy Lieutenant with the Greater London Lieutenancy and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2018 for Services to Education.

Mike Ion

Education Director

Mike Ion is a former secondary headteacher and was Deputy National Director for School Improvement with the Department for Education/National Strategies between 2008 and 2011 when he had responsibility for the National Challenge programme. In April 2011, Mike went to work full time for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation where he helped to establish the Face to Faith schools programme for 12-17-year-olds, which is now active in 19 countries and growing. In May 2014 Mike returned to work for the Department for Education as an Education Adviser where he supported the formation of new academy trusts, assessed free school applications and visited open academies that were underperforming.

Kirit Patel

Finance Director

Kirit Patel is the Finance Director of the Trust. Kirit is a chartered accountant and also a qualified teacher. He started his teaching career at Waltham Forest College where he spent four years teaching IT and Law. Thereafter, a career move took him into accounting and finance. He joined PwC where he gained extensive financial consulting and audit experience across various sectors and industries. His experience includes establishing corporate finance functions and serving as Head of Finance.

Rebecca Underwood

School Improvement Lead

Rebecca has been a passionate teacher, Assistant Head Teacher and Co-Head Teacher since qualifying in 2000. She has taught children across the primary phase and has particular interest in the Early Years. Over recent years, she has enjoyed roles such as Lead Associate across a SW Multi- Academy Trust, Central team Hub Teacher and Advisor, SAT Moderator for Bristol, INSET facilitator across the SW and South Wales and passionate educational online enthusiast. Rebecca joined Avanti Schools Trust in 2021 as Assistant Principal at Avanti Gardens, then achieved her role as Head of Professional Learning soon after.

Gopinath Bloch

Organisational Culture Lead

Gopinath has a Master’s Degree in Organisation Development from American University and a degree in Corporate Communication. In the past 10 years, Gopinath has been involved with a range of projects, initiatives, and organisations – from consulting to community and education organisations to working for the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Gopinath is passionate about supporting people through creating engaging spaces for meaningful dialogue. Gopinath’s role will be focussed on helping us all reflect, explore, and grow our personal engagement and collective culture with the Avanti Way.

Sahil Agarwal

Head of Business Services

Sahil is the Head of Business Services for the Trust. Sahil graduated in Management from Cass Business School with first class honours. He has been with Avanti Schools Trust since 2016 and his role now oversees how Central Services support our schools. He oversees IT, Compliance, Estates, Marketing, Revenue Generation and the Trust’s PMO.

Bhavini Budhdev

Head of Finance

Description coming soon

Lekha Sharma

School Improvement Lead

Lekha is a former Primary Head and Deputy Head and has led on Curriculum Design and Development and more broadly Quality of Education in a range of contexts. She is the author of ‘Curriculum to Classroom’ (John Catt 2020) and ‘Building Culture’ (John Catt 2023) and is a passionate advocate of making evidence-informed practice accessible to teachers and leaders, in service of great outcomes and educational experiences for pupils. Lekha has previously worked for the Teacher Development Trust in authoring the National Professional Qualifications and works closely with a number of sector- wide organisations including the Confederation of School Trusts and the Chartered College of Teaching, with a focus on both leadership and curriculum development both at trust and school level.

Aurora Reid

School Improvement Lead

Aurora has been a SENDCo and DSL on a number of leadership teams in schools in areas of high deprivation. She is passionate about supporting schools to become inclusive and emotionally healthy places and has even written a book on the subject entitled Leading Mindfully for Healthy and Successful Schools (Routledge 2022). Aurora holds an MA in Leadership from the IOE and has previously worked as a consultant for a number of Schools and Trust’s including Ark. She is also an associate for OpenMind.Ed charity, an organisation supporting reflective practice and wellbeing in schools.

Salina Ventress

School Improvement Lead

Salina is an experienced senior leader and has held a number of leadership roles in large secondary schools and trusts. She has experience across all phases and a strong track record in leading improvement, with a particular focus on learning and teaching, curriculum, behaviour and post 16 provision. Salina has been a school governor and was previously a Trustee for Avanti Schools Trust. Salina has a particular interest in ensuring the Education sector works flexibly to support recruitment and retention, particularly of women into leadership.

Nitesh Gor OBE

Mike Ion

Kirit Patel

Rebecca Underwood

Gopinath Bloch

Sahil Agarwal

Bhavini Budhdev

Lekha Sharma

Aurora Reid

Salina Ventress

avantischoolstrust