I was born and bred in Shrewsbury Shropshire and have been married to my wife Alwyn for close to 57 years. We have 2 children and 5 grandchildren. 

I attended local Schools and after passing O and A levels went straight in to the world of Accountancy qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1968.

I initially worked in a small Practice in Shrewsbury and quickly became a Partner there and grew the Practice considerably by a series of mergers and acquisitions. When other Partners retired I eventually merged with with Dyke Yaxley in 1994 and became a Director and Shareholder in that Company, we now employ 120 people.

A few years ago I partly retired and sold my shares in the company and now act as a consultant with Dyke Yaxley on a part time basis.. I advise clients on strategy and business development and am involved with acquisitions, disposals and share valuations. 

Over the years I have been involved with many organisations starting with British Junior Chamber where I became a local and Regional Chairman and served on the National Board. I was also an active member in both Round Table and Rotary 

Since 2008 I have been on the Board of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and served as President for a 3 year term. I am still an active Director and heads up the Finance Board . 

I have served as a School Governor and Chaired that for a few years before I resigned. I am active in my local Church and have roles as Treasurer and assistant Church Warden. 

 My outside interests are the gym, walking, Bridge and Shrewsbury u3a although the first two are somewhat curtailed as I await a new hip having done to many Marathons and half Marathons.

Paul joined the Trust in October 2020 with almost forty years senior leadership experience gained in an Executive career in the transport sector and six and a half years as a Non Executive Director and Vice Chair of the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Paul’s other Non Executive experience has been on the board of a number of small digital start up businesses and as an external advisor to the University of Wolverhampton.

Paul’s Executive career has seen him undertake senior leadership roles in the transport sector in the UK and overseas, initially in commercial and business development roles which led to Chief Executive and Managing Director positions in major UK transport businesses. The financial and operational transformation of customer focused and highly regulated organisations have been common themes in his achievements in the sector.

As Chief Executive Paul led the iconic National Express coach business and drove the wider Groups sales and marketing strategy. In the rail industry as Managing Director he led the financial and operational turnaround of a failing high speed rail franchise. His commercial and business development experience was used at Stagecoach to design, develop and mobilise the megabus.com value travel brand and to rebalance and significantly improve the commercial profile of a major regional rail business, part of the First Group of companies.

During his time based in Paris, Paul was a co founder of the innovative mobility start up Ouibus, part of the SNCF State transport group, and now the biggest operation of its kind in France and one of the biggest in Europe.

Watching football, cricket and live music, playing golf and walking the dogs fill Paul’s leisure time.

Lichfield is one of the 42 Dioceses which make up the Church of England. Within this family of Dioceses, Lichfield can claim to be one of the most ancient with its roots in the Diocese of Mercia, founded in 656 AD and St Chad, who became the first Bishop of Lichfield in 669 AD. The Diocese now covers most of the County of Staffordshire, the northern part of the County of Shropshire and a substantial part of the former Metropolitan County of the West Midlands. The Diocese envelops all or part of 7 Local Authorities and has 206 Church Schools and academies in its remit.

The principle focus of the work of the Board of Education is on its Church Schools, which have approximately 45,000 pupils in them. This presents enormous opportunities to the Diocese, its schools and parishes to promote the Christian message and values among so many children and young people – the greater part of whom will have no links with their local church.

The Board provides excellent support services for its church schools through the Service Level Agreement. This provides the means for schools and academies to access advice, information and professional support on Collective Worship, Spiritual Care, Religious Education and the development of a school’s distinctive character as a Church of England school.

The Board works in partnership with the seven Local Authorities in the Diocese (Sandwell, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall and Wolverhampton) and also with the Department for Education and a number of Academy Trusts. The Board also works alongside higher and further education providers.

The Board ensures that headteachers, teachers and governors have the intellectual and spiritual resources to promote the distinctive Christian character of our schools. The Board also supports the collaboration between clergy, parishes, church and community schools.