Ark announces new CEOs: Katie Oliver and Patrick Wall

Katie Oliver is Ark’s current Director of Ventures and Managing Director of Ark Start. Katie has been part of Ark for 20 years, holding various leadership roles including Operations Director, responsible for growing the schools network and central services. Most recently she established Ark Start – Ark’s growing group of successful nurseries – which sets out a new model for early years education. As CEO she will continue to oversee Ark Start, as well as Ark’s national curriculum and teacher training partnerships, the charity’s sector-wide work through EdCity, and innovation projects focused on addressing some of the most pressing issues facing education.

Patrick Wall is the co-founder of the Centre for Education Systems (CES), an international organisation supporting education policy making. CES has worked closely with the Department for Education on a variety of issues, most recently on SEND. Patrick is a former Sutton Trust Fellow and he also established Target Schools, the University of Oxford’s first access programme in 1982. He has had a long association with Ark, serving as Chair of Governors at Ark Academy for fourteen years. Patrick will combine his education experience with strong financial, operational and technical knowledge – gained through a successful career as founder and CEO of a large, international software company.