Leadership
Dan Parkes, our Chief Executive Officer
Dan was appointed CEO of The Mercian Trust in 2019. Since his appointment the trust has grown from five to twelve schools and is now responsible for the education of more 10,000 children and young people.
Dan has a wealth of leadership experience across the education sector. Prior to his appointment as CEO Dan was the founding Principal of Walsall Studio School (14-19 academy) where his track record of successfully introducing new programmes of study for students and supporting teachers’ re-training in different specialisms proved particularly successful. Previously Dan was a senior leader in Further and Higher Education responsible for large staff teams, systems, and structures within multi-campus organisations. His organisational change experience includes mergers within FE colleges and school Trusts.
Building on a track record of embedding technology-enabled learning and digital convergence in education settings Dan chaired the Microsoft UK Education Leadership Steering Group (2022-2025).
Dan provides system leadership through his appointments on several boards including at the DFE working with ministers and officials to support education policy development and implementation (National Headteacher Reference Group 2021-current, Priority Investment Area Local Partnership Board 2022-2025 and West Midlands Advisory Board 2022-current). Working cross-sector with strategic leaders, and decision makers on place-based solutions to local and regional challenges beyond education policy, Dan is a member of the West Midlands Mayor’s Council of Experts and WMCA Jobs for Everyone taskforce (2024-current) and a member of the Sandwell Together Partnership Board (2025-current).