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Elizabeth Anderson, CEO, Digital Poverty Alliance
Elizabeth Anderson, CEO of the Digital Poverty Alliance, is driving a national movement to end digital poverty in the UK through working across government, schools, communities, and the third sector. She leads the organisation to combine strategy, advocacy, grassroots delivery, and cross-sector partnerships to tackle one of the country’s most overlooked social challenges. Elizabeth has successfully aligned schools, businesses, government, and charities around practical solutions, from redistributing devices to building digital skills programmes, ensuring individuals and families can access education, healthcare, and employment opportunities.
Her approach is both strategic and people-focused: she listens, collaborates, and empowers teams and partners to deliver real impact. She has influenced national policy, strengthened industry engagement, and inspired a culture of inclusion across sectors. Elizabeth’s work has transformed lives, giving children and adults the tools to participate fully in a digital world. For her vision, leadership, and measurable impact, she is a highly deserving candidate for the BESA Person of the Year Award.
Sam Austen, Business Development Director, The Day
Sam Austen is the Business Development Director at The Day, where she leads a dynamic commercial team spanning sales and account management. Sam has worked at The Day for almost 13 years – under her leadership, The Day has grown from a small UK subscription base to a global community of more than 800 schools. She has helped shape a commercial model focused not simply on sales growth, but on long-term partnerships with schools, trusts and organisations to support reading engagement, media literacy and wellbeing.
Her passion for helping young people develop a love of reading and find their voice is central to The Day’s culture. Sam’s work is rooted in a belief that every young person should have access to reliable information about the world around them. In an era where young people are navigating an increasingly complex information landscape, Sam’s work is helping schools equip students with the skills, confidence and curiosity they need to understand the world around them. Her leadership has not only driven the growth of The Day as an organisation, but has helped thousands of educators bring meaningful conversations about current affairs into their classrooms.
Dr Esther Borrett, Founder and Developer, RESTA
Esther Borrett is recognised for her transformative contribution to educational resilience and system-wide wellbeing. As an Educational Psychologist and founder of the RESTA (Resilience Support Teaching Assistants) programme, she has translated doctoral research into a scalable, evidence-informed model that strengthens protective factors for young people experiencing adversity.
Grounded in participatory research published via the University of East London, Esther’s work challenges deficit narratives around adverse childhood experiences and instead activates strengths within individuals and systems. RESTA has demonstrated measurable improvements in resilience and wellbeing and has evolved into a whole-institution approach supported by training, supervision and a quality mark framework.
Beyond programme development, Esther contributes to sector leadership as a Trustee of P.L.O.T CIC and through her professional work at Brimstone Psychology, embedding trauma-informed and resilience-based practice across educational settings.
Her work exemplifies innovation rooted in research, collaboration and sustainable impact – advancing education not only through change, but through hope, strength and systemic transformation.
Dr Jon Chippindall, Co-Founder, Teachmate
Dr Jon Chippindall (“Chip”) is a Manchester primary school teacher turned edtech entrepreneur who co-founded Teachmate, an AI platform designed to reduce teacher workload. With a doctorate in computing education and a decade leading Computing at School and the Barefoot Computing project, he helped engage over 25,000 educators across 88% of UK schools.
Teachmate, built on Chip’s firsthand understanding of classroom pressures, reports that 94% of users experienced improved wellbeing, with most saving over ten hours a week. A partnership with Deloitte distributed 750 free licences to schools in underserved areas, and a new university programme equips trainee teachers with AI skills from day one.
Throughout his career – from voluntary pandemic science activities to partnerships with the Royal Academy of Engineering and Comic Relief – Chip has consistently prioritised equity and social responsibility. He has grown his team by ten in the past year while rebuilding the entire platform. He remains a practising primary school teacher. His guiding motto, teachers supporting teachers, sums up a career spent working in service of the profession rather than apart from it.
Dr Anita Devi, CEO and Co-Founder, TeamADL
Dr Anita Devi dr. h.c. is known for developing Leaders of Learning. Her contribution to education spans four decades plus, with teaching experience in early years through to post graduate around the world. She is the Founder and CEO of #TeamADL
Anita’s awards list includes Excellence in Education Award (2011) Influential Educational Leaders Award (2017) and National MAT Give Back Award (2023). She has authored several original publications : SEND: Early Career Teachers (2021), Journey to the Heart of SENCO Wellbeing (2022), 7 Dimensions of Highly Effective SENCOs (2024), Neuroplasticity and Neurodiversity in the Classroom (2025) and contributed to other publications. Anita’s PhD (2022) focused on the leadership on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in schools and Anita was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2025 by The University of Buckingham. Her latest project (2026) addresses the triad of SEND, Poverty and Human Trafficking / Modern Slavery. In her own time, Anita is a trained Chaplain at the local hospital supporting families on the Children’s Ward and patients in surgery.
Dr Soha Tarek, SENCO and Head of Inclusion, Eton Academy
Dr Soha Tarek is SENCO and Head of Inclusion at Eton Academy, a DfE-accredited British online school inspected by Ofsted. She has led the transformation of SEND provision by building a fully structured, evidence-based system that supports learners with diverse and complex needs across the UK and internationally.
Since establishing the SEND department from the ground up, Dr Tarek has introduced measurable frameworks that strengthen academic access, emotional regulation, and learner independence. Her work has resulted in improved engagement, attendance, and long-term progression, with several learners successfully transitioning beyond intensive support into universal provision and post-16 pathways.
Dr Tarek’s leadership extends beyond her organisation. She champions whole-school inclusion through continuous staff development, parent partnership, and cross-team collaboration. She also contributes to the wider education community by publishing weekly SEND awareness content and curating a monthly SEND events calendar to support teachers, parents, and professionals.
Following Ofsted inspection, Dr Tarek initiated and designed a CPD-accredited professional course, in partnership with Eton University, to support SENCOs across the UK in preparing for inspection with confidence and clarity. Her work has been recognised nationally through shortlisting for the nasen Awards 2025.
Through leadership, mentoring, and innovation, Dr Tarek continues to advance inclusive education.