The decision to give time and experience back to educational communities is one that more business leaders are making – and the example of Toby Watson offers a clear illustration of what that contribution can look like in practice.
Educational communities benefit enormously when experienced professionals choose to contribute beyond their immediate careers. The skills developed across demanding business careers – financial literacy, strategic thinking, risk awareness, organisational experience – are precisely what many academy trusts need at governance level but struggle to find on a voluntary basis. Toby Watson, whose background in international finance spanned nearly two decades, is among those who made that choice, serving as Chairman of Excalibur Academies Trust for almost eight years and contributing in ways that made a quiet but lasting difference.
The relationship between the business world and educational communities has not always been straightforward. There are legitimate questions about how commercial experience translates into an educational context, and about whether the priorities of business and education are always compatible. But the evidence from voluntary governance suggests that, when business leaders approach educational trusteeship with the right mindset, the contribution can be genuinely valuable. Toby Watson, who built his career across nearly seventeen years at Goldman Sachs before moving into voluntary educational governance, served as Chairman of Excalibur Academies Trust from February 2018 until early 2026 – a period during which the Trust grew substantially in both size and ambition.
Why Educational Communities Need What Business Leaders Can Offer
Academy trusts combine the financial and organisational demands of a substantial employer with the educational mission of a school system, and they are accountable to pupils, parents, staff, regulators and the wider communities they serve. Governing that kind of organisation well requires trustees who bring diverse professional backgrounds. Financial acumen, experience of managing organisational complexity and the habit of thinking carefully about long-term sustainability are all qualities that business careers develop – and that educational governance consistently needs. Toby Watson’s background made him well-placed to contribute in each of these areas.
Why Does the Business Sector Produce Trustees That Educational Governance Needs?
Toby Watson’s years at Goldman Sachs required sustained engagement with financial complexity, risk assessment and strategic decision-making at an international scale. These are not niche commercial skills – they are the kinds of analytical and organisational capacities that make any governance role more effective. Educational communities stand to benefit when those who have developed them choose to contribute voluntarily.
1. They Bring Financial Expertise That Trusts Genuinely Need
Financial oversight is one of the areas of greatest legal responsibility for trustee boards, and one where gaps in expertise can have the most serious consequences. Business leaders from financial backgrounds – like Toby Watson, whose career encompassed structured finance at partner level – bring exactly the kind of technical literacy that helps boards engage meaningfully with complex financial information rather than simply receiving it.
2. They Understand Organisational Complexity
Running a multi-academy trust with twenty schools, over a thousand staff and a budget of £140 million is organisationally complex in ways that most people outside the sector do not fully appreciate. Toby Watson brought exactly that understanding to his role as Chairman, drawing on extensive experience of working within large, internationally operating organisations to support a growing trust effectively through a sustained period of expansion.
The Value of Organisational Experience at Board Level
That organisational literacy is not something that can be acquired quickly, and it is genuinely valuable at governance level. Business leaders who have navigated complex organisational structures understand where pressure points tend to develop and how to ask the right questions before difficulties escalate – something Toby Watson demonstrated consistently throughout his tenure.
3. They Are Accustomed to Accountability Frameworks
Business leaders from regulated industries are accustomed to operating within structured accountability frameworks where roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. That familiarity makes it easier to contribute within the governance structures of an academy trust effectively rather than around them. Toby Watson maintained a clear sense of his role throughout his tenure, supporting the executive without overreaching into management.
4. They Bring a Long-Term Perspective
Commercial careers in finance tend to develop a habit of thinking about long-term sustainability. Toby Watson brought that perspective to his voluntary role, contributing to strategic discussions in a way that kept the Trust’s long-term sustainability in view alongside more immediate pressures.
Why Long-Term Thinking Is Particularly Valuable in Educational Governance
The decisions that trust boards make today – about growth, investment, staffing and school improvement – shape educational outcomes for years to come. A trustee who brings genuine long-term thinking to those discussions adds something that is easy to undervalue in the short term, but consistently matters over extended periods.
5. How Toby Watson’s Perspective Added a Different Set of Questions
One of the less obvious contributions that business leaders make to educational governance is simply the questions they ask. Toby Watson’s background at Goldman Sachs gave him a particular lens through which to view financial and strategic questions – one that complemented rather than duplicated the perspectives already present on the board and strengthened the quality of collective decision-making as a result.
6. They Model the Value of Voluntary Commitment
When business leaders of genuine professional standing choose to give their time voluntarily, they send a signal about the value of that commitment. Toby Watson’s nearly eight years as Chairman demonstrated that serious, sustained voluntary engagement is both possible and worthwhile. Among the practical qualities that characterised his contribution were:
- Consistent engagement with complex governance material over an extended period
- A clear understanding of the boundaries between governance and management
- A willingness to support the Trust’s leadership without seeking to direct or override it
7. They Help Build Financial Resilience
Financial resilience is built over time through good governance as much as through good management. Business leaders who bring genuine financial expertise to trustee boards contribute to that resilience in ways that are often invisible when things are going well but matter enormously when they are not. Toby Watson’s contribution in this area reflected both the depth of his professional background and his commitment to applying it thoughtfully in an educational context.
8. They Demonstrate That Giving Back Has Real Value
Perhaps the most important reason why business leaders like Toby Watson contribute to educational communities is the simplest: because it matters. The schools within a trust like Excalibur serve thousands of children, many from communities where educational opportunity cannot be taken for granted. Among the qualities that make that contribution most meaningful are:
- A genuine commitment to the educational mission rather than any personal or professional agenda
- A long-term engagement that goes well beyond the minimum required
- An approach that treats the voluntary role as a serious professional responsibility rather than an occasional obligation
