We are delighted to announce the appointment of our next Chair of Trustees, Susanna Eastham. Susie has been a Challenge Partners trustee since May 2020 and will step into the chair when Chris Davison’s term ends in April.
Susie is the Global Knowledge Management Excellence and Innovation Leader at EY with responsibility for enterprise content, community management, knowledge culture and innovation. She has worked in knowledge management for more than 20 years and has extensive experience managing large-scale knowledge transformation and digital programmes. Her expertise has been invaluable as we have sought to strengthen digital knowledge exchange and collaboration across our nationwide partnership of schools and trusts.
Speaking of her delight at being appointed, Susie said:
"It’s a privilege to take on the role of Chair of Trustees after a rewarding four years serving as a trustee. During this time, I’ve learned how a practitioner-led approach combined with a culture of continuous improvement can deliver positive outcomes for the children we’re all committed to supporting.
“Challenge Partners’ mission to reduce educational inequality and improve outcomes for all children resonates deeply with me. I’m excited to serve as Chair and help realise CP’s ambition to support even more children in the coming years. I look forward to working with you all and fostering continued strong collaboration between the central team, schools and trusts in our partnership, and board.”
As he comes to the end of nine years as a Challenge Partners trustee, including nearly four as Chair, Chris Davison said:
“I am delighted to be handing over to Susie, who has been a real asset to Challenge Partners in recent years and will bring even more value as Chair.
“As I noted in our recent Impact Report, it is testament to what a remarkable place this is that the time has gone by without my noticing. I don’t feel ready for a moment to leave it behind.
“When I first joined the Trustees in 2016, there were around 320 schools in the partnership. Today we are pushing toward 600. The impact of our various programmes, refined and refocused during that time, has intensified from year to year. The level of engagement from practitioners has grown ever deeper to the benefit of the partnership as a whole. The drive and energy to innovate has remained undimmed. And all this during a period that can hardly be described as benign and was very often unprecedented.”
Challenge Partners’ Founding Chair, Honorary President, and member of the appointment panel Sir Jon Coles reflected:
“It is in many ways a sad moment that Chris Davison has reached the end of his period of chairing Challenge Partners. The growth and innovation of the organisation during his time as Chair and its confidence and sure-footedness in negotiating the post-covid period owes a lot to his commitment, support and leadership of the Board. He leaves a strong legacy of success and a charity which has continued to strengthen and develop to meet new challenges. It is great that he will continue to be involved in supporting Challenge Partners in the future.
“I am, though, delighted that Susie Eastham will take over from Chris. Susie has been a strong and active trustee ever since she joined the Board and I have no doubt she will continue Chris’s excellent work. Challenge Partners has never stood still – while retaining its core sense of purpose and values, it continues to innovate and adapt to meet new challenges and changing times. Susie’s experience and track record in innovation and organisational development, alongside her existing commitment to the charity, make her the ideal person to take on the leadership of the Board as Challenge Partners moves into a new and exciting phase.”
These sentiments were echoed by trustee and Chair of the Nominations Committee, Alison Beane OBE. Alison was a Senior Partner for Challenge Partners for more than five years and set up our Portsmouth Hub. She is one of the five trustees elected by schools and trusts in the partnership. Alison said:
“The nominations committee of the Board of Trustees fully recommends Susie Eastham to take on the role of chair when Chris retires in April. The board considered the skills, knowledge and experience that were needed from our chair and followed a rigorous recruitment process. Susie has been a member of the board for 4 years and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the Challenge Partners mission, strongly believing in our power to change lives. Susie has extensive director level experience in the business sector leading knowledge and digital transformation projects and this balances well with the strong education perspectives that are represented on the board and throughout Challenge Partners. We are delighted with Susie’s appointment and look forward to working with her.”
Challenge Partners’ CEO, Dr Kate Chhatwal OBE, spoke of her excitement at Susie’s appointment:
“I first met Susie in 2019 when she was part of an EY team, secured through the Social Business Trust, helping us to improve our approach to digital knowledge exchange. Moving knowledge of excellent practice efficiently around the system is core to what we do at Challenge Partners and Susie’s expertise - as well as her belief in our mission - stood out during that project, and I was delighted when she agreed to join the board.
“Five years later, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Susie as Chair of Trustees as we continue to implement our ambitious strategy to enhance our impact and grow our partnership so that we benefit 500,000 pupils a year by 2027, with an ever-greater focus on addressing the needs of disadvantaged students and communities.
“As Chris steps out of the chair role, I offer my deepest gratitude for his wisdom, insight and thoughtful questioning, which have stretched and benefited me and CP immensely. I couldn’t have asked for a better critical friend or leader of the board as we navigated the challenges of the post-pandemic period. I am delighted Chris will continue to support our work in other ways.”