Catherine Charnock

Chief Operating Officer

Catherine's career began in the Co-operative movement, joining the Co-op as a Graduate Trainee in Rochdale – the birthplace of the modern Co-operative movement. Starting her career in an organisation built on shared values, community and collaboration shaped the way she leads today. Along the way she gained experience across logistics, marketing, procurement and data-driven strategy, developing a strong commercial foundation that she still draws on today.

Since then, Catherine has worked across primary, secondary, specialist and hospital education, leading teams in Finance, IT, HR, Operations and Estates. As a former CFO and now COO, she enjoys bringing people, strategy and finance together to make things happen. Whether it's improving services, managing risk or planning for the future, her focus is on creating organisations that are sustainable, efficient and able to deliver the very best for children and young people.

A career highlight has been working in Hospital Education alongside two NHS Trusts in Greater Manchester, supporting some of the most vulnerable learners. Working within complex NHS environments, including managing services across PFI hospital sites, gave Catherine a deep understanding of partnership working, governance and delivering education in challenging settings. It strengthened her belief that every decision should have a positive, measurable impact on learners and their families.

Developing people is just as important to Catherine as developing organisations. She is passionate about coaching, mentoring and creating opportunities for colleagues to grow in confidence and fulfil their potential. She also leads on wellbeing and coaching as part of the Altus Education Partnership people strategy, helping to develop the next generation of leaders.

Catherine believes that good leadership starts with strong relationships, clear values and good data. She isn't afraid to challenge the way things have always been done if it means achieving better outcomes. Every investment, every process and every strategic decision should make a real difference. For Catherine, success isn't measured by the systems you put in place -it's measured by the difference they make to staff, learners and their families.