Helen Rowland is a former CEO of Focus-Trust, an award-winning multi-academy trust serving fifteen primary schools across the North-West of England and West Yorkshire and is now Founder and Director of Helen Rowland Ignite (IGNITE), where she works with schools, trusts and education organisations on leadership, collaboration, culture and organisational development.

With thirty-six years’ experience in education, Helen has worked as a teacher, headteacher, school improvement partner and executive leader, including eleven and a half years as a CEO. Throughout her career, she has led improvement across schools and communities facing a wide range of challenges and has remained passionate about the difference that strong leadership, professional generosity and collaboration can make when underpinned by a well-embedded culture of collective efficacy.

Collaboration has been a defining feature of Helen’s leadership. She believes that colleagues, schools and trusts achieve more when they work together than when they work in isolation, and has built strong partnerships across schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and the wider education sector. She is particularly passionate about MAT-to-MAT collaboration, creating opportunities for trusts to share expertise, learn from one another and collectively strengthen the education system for the benefit of children, colleagues and communities.

Helen is also the author of Juggling the Five Balls of School, Family, Health, Friends and Integrity: An Educator's Guide to Finding Purpose, Balance, and Fulfilment in School and Life, due to be published by Routledge in early 2027. Drawing on her own leadership experience and featuring case studies from fifteen educators, the book explores the challenge of balancing work, family, health, friendships and integrity, and encourages leaders to consider not simply what they achieve, but how they live and lead along the way.

Helen remains committed to ensuring that every child, regardless of background or circumstance, has access to a great education. She believes that strong professional relationships, meaningful collaboration and a willingness to learn from one another are among the most powerful drivers of sustainable improvement.