Senior Executive Leadership Team
The Senior Executive Leadership Team (SELT) meets regularly and works together – and with others - on behalf of the Trust Board, to lead the running of the Trust and delivery of its strategic priorities.
Working with our headteachers*, our Central Team and other individuals and teams from within and beyond Primitas, the SELT ensures that Primitas remains an effective, sustainable and credible MAT, focused on continuous improvement and development.
* Primitas headteachers also act in the capacity of Executive School Improvement Leads for the Trust.
The Senior Executive Leadership Team comprises of:
- A full-time Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who also serves as Chief Accounting Officer
- A part-time Deputy CEO
- A full-time Chief Education Officer
- A full-time Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO)
Meet the Senior Executive Leadership Team
Mark Maydew – Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Mark began his career in education after completing his PGCE in Secondary Education at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1993. He later gained the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) and a Master’s Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management.
With more than 30 years’ experience across Staffordshire and Shropshire, Mark has built a strong reputation for school improvement and highly effective, people-centred leadership.
Early in his senior leadership career, he led the rapid improvement of a school serving one of Staffordshire’s most disadvantaged communities. Within three years, pupil progress improved from the bottom 1% nationally to the top 25%, helping the school secure its first ever Ofsted judgement of “Good”.
In 2010, Mark joined Erasmus Darwin Academy as Vice Principal, becoming Principal in 2015. Under his leadership, the academy was transformed from a DfE-designated “coasting school” into one of the region’s highest-performing and most oversubscribed schools. Alongside his role as Principal, Mark served as Chief Accounting Officer and founded the Multi-Academy Trust that would later become Primitas Learning Partnership, serving as part-time CEO until 2023.
Mark became full-time CEO of Primitas in 2023. He is driven by the belief that children only get one chance at their education and deserve the very best. He is also equally passionate about developing colleagues, seeking to maintain a Trust-wide culture in which colleagues are inspired, empowered and expected to take ownership of the contribution they make to high-quality educational provision.
Under his leadership, Primitas has grown rapidly, establishing itself as a credible and successful Trust while maintaining the highest standards of integrity and accountability.
Mark Wilkes - Deputy CEO & Headteacher of Highfields Primary Academy
Mark began his teaching career after completing a PGCE in Primary Education at the University of Wolverhampton in 1993. He later gained a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).
With more than 30 years' experience in education, Mark has built a strong reputation for school improvement, collaborative leadership and developing successful partnerships. Early in his career, he was an integral part of a senior leadership team that helped a school serving a highly disadvantaged community improve from Special Measures to Good.
Mark joined Highfields Primary Academy as Deputy Headteacher in 2006 and became Headteacher in 2012. Under his leadership, the school quickly improved from Requires Improvement to Good - and it has continued to improve and flourish and become a highly regarded and popular school.
A passionate advocate for child-centred education, Mark believes every child should develop a love of learning and have access to the wider opportunities, experiences and support which children need to truly thrive and flourish in a rounded way.
Mark’s leadership is rooted in collaboration, partnership and the belief that schools achieve more when they work together. Therefore, he played a key role in establishing the Burntwood Co-operative Learning Federation and developing a peer-to-peer school improvement model across Burntwood and Lichfield.
Mark was instrumental in the formation of Primitas Learning Partnership in 2019 and he became Deputy CEO in 2021. He remains committed to playing an instrumental role in creating the conditions in which schools, staff and pupils can flourish, ensuring that every child receives the very best education possible.
Matt Allman – Chief Education Officer (CEdO)
Matt has extensive experience in educational leadership, having worked in the sector since the mid-1990s and having been on the senior leadership teams of five schools across London and the West Midlands.
Matt has held two headships, instigating dramatic turnrounds in the fortunes of both schools. During his most recent headship, at The Friary in Lichfield, he has established the school as the highest performing secondary school in Staffordshire and placing it in the in the highest echelons of state schools nationally for pupil progress.
His career has seen him develop high-level expertise in school improvement, leadership and teaching and learning. His credibility as a transformational leader has been recognised at a range of national conferences where he has been invited to be a keynote speaker.
Matt’s leadership style has attracted high praise from OFSTED who have regularly recognised “the abundant energy and enthusiasm that characterises his leadership” and the fact that he is “highly effective in identifying the existing weaknesses… and putting in place the structures and systems that allow rapid school improvement to take place.”
Matt played a leading role in forming Greywood Multi-Schools Trust in September 2019, going on to be Chief Executive Officer and School Improvement Lead. He was also instrumental in steering this Trust into a successful merger with Primitas Learning Partnership in September 2023, where he was part-time School Improvement Lead before becoming full-time Chief Education Officer in January 2026.
Alongside his school improvement work with our academies, Matt has enjoyed outstanding success in supporting schools beyond Primitas through the DfE’s RISE programme. This success has been widely recognised, further establishing Matt as a highly credible and influential system leader with a growing reputation for delivering effective school improvement across the region and beyond.
Fiona Stephenson - Chief Finance & Operations Officer (CFOO)
Fiona brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role as Chief Finance & Operations Officer. A qualified Chartered Management Accountant since 1994, she has built an impressive career spanning more than three decades across finance and business sectors.
Before entering education, Fiona gained ten years’ experience leading Finance and IT teams within a global financial software services organisation and a further decade overseeing the Finance and IT functions of one of the region's leading advertising and public relations agencies.
And since joining the education sector in 2014, Fiona has held a range of leadership roles, including the role of Finance Director for a Single Academy Trust. During this time, she successfully led and managed financial operations whilst maintaining oversight of information technology, human resources, estates, and facilities management. Also, as a qualified PRINCE2 Project Manager, Fiona achieved incredible success in securing external funding and leading the delivery of major capital projects.
As Chief Finance & Operations Officer of Primitas, Fiona continues to ensure that the Trust's finances and business functions are managed effectively, sustainably and with probity, whilst ensuring that individual academies are supported to manage their budgets and business affairs responsibly and in accordance with ICFP principles.
What drives Fiona on is her passion for providing high-quality financial and business support that enables school leaders to focus on what matters most: delivering the very best education for children and young people.
