Meet our Board of Trustees

Alison brings a wealth of experience in the finance, tax and governance sectors, having worked for leading organisations including Coopers & Lybrand, KPMG, Ernst & Young and Deloitte. She has held several senior leadership roles in that time, including her current position as Director of Tax and People at Everton Football Club. Outside of her speciality, Alison has built a diverse portfolio of Non-Executive Director and chairing roles within organisations, including Students Allowed, Citizen’s Advice Greater Manchester and Leeds University Business School’s International Advisory Board. She was previously on the governing bodies of two further education colleges and one of the largest independent schools for girls in the UK, sitting on finance, general purposes, remuneration and strategy committees.

Stephen Riley OBE

Former Chief Operating Officer, Cambridge University

An IT specialist with near four decades’ experience in the field and a long-standing background in school governance, Stephen recently retired as Chief Operating Officer of Cambridge University. He has previously held several Board-level positions, including Chief Information Officer at the Department of Work and Pensions. Alongside his work with Everton Free School and Everton in the Community, he is a Trustee at the Community Housing Therapy Charity and has previously served as the Chair of Governors at Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. Born and bred in Huyton, Stephen is an avid Everton supporter.

Professor Bill Chambers

Pro Vice-Chancellor Emeritus,
Liverpool Hope University

A former Trustee and Vice Chair of Everton in the Community, Professor Chambers recently reestablished his links with Everton Free School as part of the historic move to a Multi-Academy Trust. Given the honorary title of Professor Emeritus by Liverpool Hope University following his retirement in 2011, he had joined the university as a lecturer in 1973 and gone on to become Head of several departments and Dean of various university faculties. He was later Provost of the University’s Creative Campus, before becoming Pro Vice Chancellor of External Relations and Widening Participation. Chair of both the Catholic Association for Racial Justices (Liverpool Branch) and the Liverpool County Football Association’s Inclusion Advisory group, Professor Chambers is also a Chair of Trustees for The Brain Charity. He remains President of the Liverpool Sefton Hockey Club, having previously served as the organisation's Chair across two spells totalling 32 years.  

(Joseph) Will Chambers

Owner of EnviroSolution

Owner of Liverpool-based multidisciplinary environmental consultancy EnviroSolution, Will has more than two decades of entrepreneurial experience that includes founding and developing two other successful small businesses. Having trained as an Environmental Health Officer and worked in the public sector, he also boasts an expert understanding of compliance and has introduced Everton Free School to a wealth of local contacts. 

Away from business, Will is the founding director of two community interest companies (CICs), Love Wavertree and The Northern Space Consortium, both of which play a role in the development of the residential and business community and engage both local and national government stakeholders. An alumni of Salford University, Liverpool University, Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and Goldman Sachs’ 10k small business programme, Will has previously had volunteer and managerial roles within the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Northwest Centre, Manchester Area Pollution Advisory Council and at Liverpool Sefton Hockey Club. He is a lifelong Evertonian.

Phil Duffy

Retired Headteacher

Philip has more than 45 years of experience working in secondary education and has served as Headteacher/Principal of four schools in Wirral and Liverpool, including as Executive Principal of Everton Free School between 2014 and 2016. During his time as Headteacher at New Heys Business and Enterprise School in Allerton, Liverpool, Philip was a finalist in the Headteacher of the Year Award and received significant accolades for his vision and implementation of initiatives benefitting students and the wider community. 

As Executive Director of Everton in the Community (2016-2018), he oversaw the development of the charity’s L4 campus and instigated plans for the recently-opened People’s Place mental health and wellbeing hub. He has also held several Chair and consultancy positions and is a voluntary Board member and Secretary of the European Football Development Network (EFDN), which works with more than 180 football clubs and several FAs and Leagues, including the Premier League, to support disadvantaged communities. 

Rachel Jones

Headteacher

A headteacher of Kingsley St John’s CE Aided Primary School since January 2014, Rachel previously supported schools across Cheshire and West Cheshire in a range of capacities. A SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities) specialist, Rachel has been a long-term member of the panel responsible for high need additional funding decisions, while she also works within the Diocese of Chester as a member of the headteacher consultancy panel. In this role, she operates as a School Improvement Partner (SIP), guiding and advising governors, headteachers and senior leadership teams. She had also helped education leaders prepare for SIAMs (Statutory Inspection for Anglican and Methodist Schools) inspections and recently completed SIAMs inspector training.

Andrew Scott

Head of Legal Services,
Everton Football Club

An experienced solicitor, Andrew is Head of Legal Services for Everton Football Club. In this role, he is responsible for managing the staff and resource of the Club’s Legal team and has responsibility for the distribution of workflow and ensuring that legal requirements of all operational areas of the Club are met. Prior to joining Everton, Andrew spent nearly a decade in private practice, having trained and qualified at an American law firm in London, later joining an independent regional firm in Liverpool. Andrew has specialised in both employment and property law, acting for a variety of clients that include household name retailers, large property investment companies and private equity firms.

Catherine Wright

Director of Women’s Football Operations,
Everton Football Club

Catherine is a chartered accountant with 13 years post-qualification experience in finance, risk, governance and project management-related roles. Since joining Everton Football Club in 2018, she has worked closely with the Club’s leadership team to deliver strategic change projects, including All Together Now, Everton’s equity, diversity and inclusion campaign, and the development of plans for the Goodison Legacy project. Recently appointed Director of Women’s Football Operations, her current role is to provide strategic support in growing Everton Women as the wider game goes from strength to strength. Catherine was previously Director of Governance, responsible for the Club’s Safeguarding, Risk and Governance, and Health and Safety teams.

Colin Chong

Chief Real Estate & Regeneration Officer
Everton Football Club

A construction industry specialist with almost four decades of experience in the development sector, Colin was named interim Chief Executive Officer and Director of Everton Football Club in June 2023.He had previously been the Club's Chief Stadium Development Officer, a role in which he oversaw the successful delivery of the transformational new Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, a 52,888-capacity multi-purpose venue that is set to open officially in summer 2025. He has also overseen the Club's transition to new ownership and its movement towards financial stability during this time.

Before joining Everton in 2016 as Head of Estates for Goodison Park, Colin had delivered a vast range of large-scale projects and been involved at a senior-level in stadium redevelopments at Old Trafford and the Manchester Commonwealth Games stadium, as well as the build of the DW Stadium, Wigan. He also worked on behalf of Everton to deliver Goodison's Park Stand, which opened in 1994.

Going forward, Colin will continue to oversee Everton Stadium and the regeneration of its surrounding area, as well as the Club's future plans for Goodison Park.

Steven Baker OBE

Trust Lead
(Chief Executive Officer)

The Principal of Everton Free School and Football College, Steven’s journey in education has seen him lead three schools to ‘outstanding’ Ofsted status.

A former Ofsted inspector, he was made a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching in 2019 for his “significant and sustained” impact on teaching, and he has also worked with the Ministry of Justice to focus the efforts of youth and adult establishments nationwide on developing a culture of rehabilitation. Steven’s schools have won a range of national awards for their compassionate, trauma-informed approach, and the Department for Education cited them as an example of best practice in mental health due to their student and staff wellbeing focus.

Steven co-authored a critically acclaimed book about this approach (‘A School Without Sanctions’, Bloomsbury), which was published in October 2020. He currently sits on the advisory board for the Centre for Educational Leadership at Liverpool John Moores University and the Mental Health Stakeholder Forum for the Crown Prosecution Service.

A former war crimes investigator, Steven has received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in acknowledgement of his contribution to the Remembering Srebrenica Northwest Board and was awarded an OBE in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to education and tackling hatred.

In 2024, Everton Football College and Free School received an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating – the third occasion Steven’s schools have been granted the body’s highest commendation.