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Traditionally, there has always been a final decision maker at the top of an organisation - to set the direction, make the tough calls and take ultimate accountability. 

However, two high-profile proposed mergers between multi-academy trusts - Ebor and Nexus, and the Compass Partnership of Schools and Eko Trust - have suggested taking a different approach, with the possibility of the two CEOs in each merger being retained in a co-CEO structure.

Writing for Tes about their proposed merger, Eko CEO Rebekah Iiyambo and Compass CEO John Camp said their plan to lead together would allow for “continuity and shared ownership across the trust”.

Meanwhile, Rachel Potts, chair of trustees at Nexus, said that while any decision on leadership structure will be extensively consulted on, the CEOs of the two trusts are “really skilled, really experienced [people]. They’ve done fantastic jobs within both organisations, and we wouldn’t want to lose either of them”.

Both proposals have had a mixed reaction in the sector: some see co-CEOs as a progressive and positive move; others are less sure, citing financial concerns.

So, how does it tend to play out in practice when the model is adopted? 

Two CEOs leading one trust

At Abbey Multi Academy Trust, an eight-school church MAT in Leeds, Helen Pratten and Catherine Garrett have served as co-CEOs since January 2020.

The decision to operate like this was made in 2019. After the previous CEO stepped down, the trustees agreed to an interim co-CEO model of Pratten and Garrett, who already served as executive principal and director of education, respectively.

The plan was for this to operate for a term before a longer-term decision was made. However, Garrett says an early indication to the board of the benefits of this model came when the trust had to carry out restructuring work in some secondary schools.

“Helen’s operational background and finance knowledge and my experience of secondaries and leadership structures worked really well to lead us through that change. [It showed] our complementary skill sets,” Garrett says.

Having a balance of skills is the fundamental requirement to make this approach work, Abbey’s co-CEOs agree.

Different areas of influence

“What’s key is that we have really defined areas of influence,” explains Garrett. “I look after education and standards and Helen oversees operations, like HR, IT, finance, compliance and so on.”

“If I have a meeting with a headteacher and budgets come up, for example, that is a conversation for Helen. But if it’s about educational outcomes, that sits with me.”

Pratten concurs that this division is key - including for oversight.

“It’s really important when setting up this model that trustees have looked at how roles and responsibilities are clearly defined,” she says. “Without that, it would not work at all.”

Right time for joint leadership?

Another trust that took this approach was Pioneer Educational Trust, in Berkshire, which, from 2020 to 2024, had Eddie Neighbour and Antonia Spinks serving as co-CEOs - which Spinks says was the right move for the trust at the time.

“In the early stages of our trust’s development, the board of trustees adopted a co-CEO leadership structure, reflecting the leadership strengths at that time,” she explains.

Spinks claims this was key to the trust making “significant progress” in areas including “raising educational standards, embedding a shared culture and ethos, strengthening financial health and building a collaborative approach to professional development”.

However, she says that as the trust “matured and roles evolved”, the board decided to move to a sole CEO.

“This was part of a natural progression in our governance and leadership structure, and the trust continues to grow and thrive within this framework,” says Spinks, who is now Pioneer’s chief executive.

There are, of course, wellbeing and flexible working benefits to splitting the CEO role. 

“We recently presented about this way of working and made a point about how we support each other and it’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off and troubleshoot with,” says Garrett.

Pratten adds it is also helpful to have capacity if one of them is unexpectedly unavailable for a short period of time. “We have backfill and can cover for one another,” she says.

Sam Henson, deputy chief executive at the National Governance Association (NGA), acknowledges that this dual model opens up “more flexible-working opportunities at leadership level”.

“The NGA welcomes innovative approaches to leadership - trustees, as the employer, have a duty to ensure executive structures not only meet the trust’s strategic needs but also promote sustainable, inclusive working practices,” he says.

‘A cop-out’

However, despite the suggested benefits of this model, most trust mergers still result in a MAT that is led by a single CEO.

For example, King’s Group Academies took on the five schools in Gosport and Fareham Multi-Academy Trust last year, with the interim CEO of the latter, Geoff Walls, becoming the deputy at King’s.

Nick Cross, chief executive at King’s, says a co-CEO model was not considered.

“We wanted a clear separation of roles for all colleagues, governors and trustees,” he explains.

Another who is not sold on the dual leadership model is Dave Baker, who is currently CEO of Olympus Academy Trust but who, having secured approval for the trust to merge with Futura Learning Partnership, will be stepping down to allow Futura’s Gary Schlick to lead the new trust.

Baker thinks the idea of a co-CEO approach is “a cop-out”, and says he will be surprised if the two mergers proposing this win approval.

“I think it’ll be a disgrace if the Department for Education allows it to happen, because it is just ducking the issue about leadership within the trust [sector],” he tells Tes.

“[Given] the scrutiny we’ve been under from the [DfE] regions group about the cost of central structures, I can’t see how on earth they would say that a trust could [have co-CEOs] if they’re supposed to be creating leaner structures by creating a larger organisation.”

‘It’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off and troubleshoot with’

Indeed, the fact that there is, as far as Tes can uncover, only one current co-CEO model in the system could be partly because those overseeing mergers in the past were sceptical of this set-up, as Sir David Carter, former regional school’s commissioner, relates.

“There were lots of proposals for the CEO to be shared - usually because the board didn’t want to upset person A by giving the job to person B,” he tells Tes.

“I was clear that the accountability had to be very visible, and therefore before I would take a proposal to a HTB [headteacher board] or to a minister, they had to decide who was going to be in charge.”

Sir David adds that the fact that the trust would be spending double on a role usually done by one person would also raise questions: “You would have ended up with a combined cost that was likely to be way in excess of what a single CEO would be paid.”

“I would have asked the board and the chair to explain why they thought this was a realistic use of taxpayer funds when they were clearly avoiding making a decision about which person had the best skill set to do the role,” he says.

Three for the price of two?

At Abbey, financial documents show that both the CEOs are paid £140,880 - which, when combined, means the trust is among some of the highest payers for the CEO role.

Garrett and Pratten point out, though, that as well as serving as co-CEOs, they have each retained their prior jobs - Garrett as director of education and Pratten as director of operations.

“People could think that it’s not a financially sustainable model but actually the trust gets three roles from two people,” says Pratten.

Garrett concurs: “It’s actually more cost-effective than the original model because we have retained our substantive posts and serve as co-CEOs.”

At Pioneer, both Spinks and Neighbour were paid broadly similar amounts over the four years they served together: accounts for 2023 show pay of £105,000-£110,000 and £115,000-120,000 for each, respectively.

Tes understands, however, that during this time they, like Garrett and Pratten, also took on other responsibilities, with Neighbour as chief operating officer and Spinks as director of education - so their salaries were also covering roles not staffed by others.

Even with this rationale, though, Henson at NGA acknowledges that questions will be raised when accounts show two people doing one job.

‘It is just ducking the issue about leadership within the sector’

Boards, therefore, must be across the details to justify this approach.

“Boards must have a clear line of accountability, understand how responsibilities are split and ensure the model represents good value for public money,” he says.

“Co-leadership can work well, but it has to be a deliberate, well-thought-out choice that achieves a specific, predetermined rationale.”

Tes contacted the Department for Education to ask if and how proposals for co-CEOs would be considered within merger applications, but had received no reply at the time of publication.

They will need a clear line on it as soon as possible: with two mergers considering this approach, and those that have adopted this model singing its praises, it could become a more common request.

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