Our Associates

Discimus has been fortunate enough to engage with a number of corporate bodies, as well as individuals, who are associates of the company. This enables us to provide an expanded range of services where there is a guaranteed level of expertise in areas that Schools, and particularly Academies, will find helpful.

Individual Associates

Bethan Owen

Bethan Owen

With experience of working in schools since 1980 and a proven track record of developing staff, I am an experienced senior leader who is highly motivated and who brings positive and appropriate strategies to enhance school improvement.   Recent experiences of working in a variety of advisory roles, both at home and abroad, have enabled me to engage with many schools, Local Authorities, the DfE, Diocesan authorities and other stakeholders.

Specialities
 Academies: education set-up and management advice
Free schools: set-up
Secondary schools: leadership, vision and strategic implementation
School improvement:monitoring, support and challenge
School design for the built environment

Contact details
 bethan@joyoflearning.co.uk

David Mitchell

David Mitchell
 With over 20 years of working in operational delivery, supply chain management and business development, I am an experienced multilingual, well-rounded and commercially minded person who has worked in the private and public sectors both in the UK and throughout Europe.
 Having spent most of the last 12 years working as an Operations Director for Serco I have been fortunate to have worked across a number of diverse marketplaces such as: Science, Space, FM, M&E, ICT, Banking and Finance, and more recently, in Education. During this time, I have worked predominantly in project and programme management, business transformation & change, supply chain management and operational delivery.

Specialities
 Procurement and Supply Chain Management
Business Process Outsourcing
Program and Project Management
Change and Improvement Management
Operational Service Delivery
Leadership Coaching and Mentoring

Contact details

david.mitchell@mbmsl.co.uk

Susan Popoola

Susan Popoola

Susan is a Human Resources and Organisation Development Specialist with over 15 years cross sector experience. She also has extensive experience as a School Governor for a new School; Education Business Partnerships, the overall area of Employability and Civil Society as a whole.

A member of the CIPD with a Masters in HR Strategy & Change and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, one of her key focuses is to use her extensive knowledge and experience to support schools.

Specialisms

  • Leadership: Ensuring there is effective leadership with a clear vision and direction
  • HR Strategy & Change - Developing the strategic role of HR in alignment with overall business strategy
  • Talent Management - Developing a holistic approach to the development & deployment of staff
  • Succession Planning - Ensuring that organisations are prepared for their future staffing requirement
  • HR Process Improvement - Ensuring HR processes effectively support both HR strategy & policies
  • Systems Development - Developing HR systems to optimally support HR strategy & processes
  • Investigations: for Grievance and Disciplinary cases

Contact details:
susan@conningtowers.org