Michael Cowland

I am privileged to have held the post of Chief Executive Officer of the Diocese of Coventry Multi Academy Trust (DMAT) since 2019. DMAT has a total of 19 academies in Warwickshire and Coventry, including one secondary school and one infant school with fewer than 40 children, so I have a true insight into the difficulties faced by small schools and mixed MATs.
I have been working in multi academy trusts since 2011 having made a successful transition from local government.  This started with a large secondary academy run by United Learning, and continued with the Diocese of Peterborough, where I was part of the senior leadership team who established the Peterborough Diocese Education Trust (PDET) in 2014. We grew PDET from just an idea, some sponsor capacity funding and a central team of two people armed with Excel, to a strong trust of thirty academies and an exceptionally effective academy improvement offer.
My ten years of practical trust experience is supported by theoretical expertise. I gained my Executive MBA from Cranfield School of Management in 2020, and am a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute having passed my level 7 Senior Leader Masters Degree with a Distinction in 2021.