ATL

Hank Roberts, president

Hank Roberts joined ATL in 1996. He became Brent branch secretary and in 2002 he was elected to ATL's governing Executive. He has always been involved in health and safety issues, particularly in the campaign to remove asbestos from school buildings. He has also won two national awards in this field, and organised successful national joint union health and safety conferences at Wembley Stadium.

Hank has taught in Brent, London, for over 30 years, first at Sladebrook High school (now closed) as a geography teacher, and then at Copland Community School where he became head of geography. He is a trustee of the Teacher Support Network and sits on the steering committee of the Anti Academies Alliance. He also has a keen interest in science and is a fellow of the Royal Institution.

Alison Sherratt, senior vice-president

Alison Sherratt joined ATL in 1986 and has been active in the Bradford branch committee since 1994. Alison has served on the Executive Committee since 2004 as the member for Leeds and Bradford, serving on the policy council, rules and procedures, standing orders and finance committees.

Alison has also chaired specialist task groups (STGs) on access to childcare and political fund, as well as serving on numerous others. Alison is currently a reception teacher and looks after PSHE at a primary school in Bradford.

Alice Robinson, immediate past president

Alice Robinson has been a member of ATL since beginning her teaching career in 1974. She joined the Lancashire branch committee in 1989 and became the special educational needs (SEN) behaviour working group representative and conference delegate.

Alice has been branch president on two occasions and a member of the Executive since 1998. She has served on the policy council, the president's council of AMiE – the leadership section of ATL – and the human resources, finance, SEN, education and conditions of employment committees. She has also chaired two specialist task groups (STGs) on 14-19 curriculum and leadership.

An assistant headteacher at a comprehensive school in Lancashire, Alice teaches history at GSCE and AS/2 level.

Shelagh Hirst, honorary secretary

Shelagh Hirst has been honorary secretary since joining the Executive Committee in 2000.

A regular supply teacher throughout Calderdale and Kirklees primary schools, Shelagh has also attended the TUC annual Conferences and has been active in the Women's TUC.

John Puckrin, honorary secretary

John Puckrin filled a casual vacancy for honorary secretary in 2010, having previously held the role from 1994 to 2005. He was then successfully re-elected for a further term in 2011.

John previously served on the branch committee for inner London from 1984 to 2011 in a variety of roles. From 2006 to 2011, John was the ATL Executive lead member for school funding and school administrations. John is presently a teacher in a primary school in Southwark, London.

Stephen Buck, honorary treasurer

Stephen Buck first became a member of ATL in the 1980s before working his way up through the Humberside branch to take a seat on Executive Committee in 2002, where he has been a member of Policy Council, Finance Committee, Budget Group and Rules and Procedures Committee.

Even with his national ATL commitments, Stephen remains ATL school rep and local secretary for North Lincolnshire. A physics graduate, Stephen has been a full-time teacher for more than 30 years, and will continue to teach two days a week while he fulfills his ATL roles.

Caroline Kolek, honorary treasurer

Caroline Kolek has been an ATL school based rep since 2005 and joined the Executive Committee in July 2007, serving on a number of committees. She was ATL's lead delegate at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference in 2009 and 2010; she has been a member of Conference each year since 2007.

Caroline is one of two ATL representatives on the GTCE, having been elected in 2008. She immediately joined their audit committee and in September 2009 became the chair of this committee.  Caroline has taught in both special and mainstream secondary education since 1998. Caroline is a full time secondary school inclusion manager/SENCO and works four days per week in school while fulfilling her ATL commitments both locally as a rep and nationally as honorary treasurer.

Mary Bousted, general secretary

Dr Mary Bousted is general secretary of ATL. Mary represents the interests of her members to the government, and to a wide variety of other stakeholders. As the education union, ATL leads the debate on key educational issues with strong policy positions on, for example, assessment and curriculum changes; school accountability and school structures.

Mary contributes regular articles for newspapers and education journals, and appears frequently on national media. She sits on the executive committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and is a member of the ACAS board. Mary is also an accomplished public speaker and has debated at the Oxford Union.

Mary previously worked in higher education at York University, Edge Hill University and at Kingston University where she was Head of the School of Education. Prior to this Mary was a Head of English, and English teacher in comprehensive schools in North London.

Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary

Martin was a secondary teacher for over thirty years, specialising in social studies and pupils with challenging behaviour in schools and units in Merseyside, Yorkshire, and mostly inner London. This experience was distilled in his book Failing School, Failing City. He was also a trade union activist, and became president of NASUWT in 2000.

Martin then became an education researcher at the think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). In January 2005 Martin joined the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the education union, and has been its deputy general secretary since 2007. Amongst his wide-ranging interests are curriculum; achievement, social class, and inequality; school funding; and resisting the privatisation of England's education system.

Peter Pendle, deputy general secretary

Peter Pendle was elected as chief executive and general secretary of the Association for College Management (ACM) in 2001 and re-elected in 2006. He retained the position until ACM's merger with ATL in 2011, when he became ATL's deputy general secretary. He is responsible for support and representation for members, resource management including finance, HR and IT, and membership and governance administration.

Before joining ACM Peter was director of resources for the Universities UK (formerly the Committee for Vice Chancellors and Principals (CVCP)) and before that was vice principal of Greenhill College in Harrow. He is a mentor for the Black Leadership Initiative Mentoring Scheme and a recipient of the Network of Black Managers' Award for leadership in race equality in FE.

Mark Langhammer, director of ATL Northern Ireland

Mark Langhammer is director of ATL Northern Ireland. He is responsible for the staff team, strategic direction, education policy, negotiations, recruitment and organisation. Mark was previously employed as director of the University for Industry's learndirect initiative in Northern Ireland, as CEO of the North Belfast (urban regeneration) Partnership and director of the Dunanney Centre.

Philip Dixon, director of ATL Cymru

Dr Philip Dixon is director of ATL Cymru. He is responsible for the work of the union in Wales. He directs policy in Wales and supervises caseworkers and organisers in the field.

Previously he was director of CAFOD Wales, an international aid agency, and before that special advisor to the then Leader of the Opposition at the National Assembly, Ieuan Wyn Jones (currently Deputy First Minister).

Keith Robson, national official for Scotland

Keith Robson became ATL's first national official for Scotland in August 2007. Previously, he worked as director of the National Union of Students Scotland. Keith has worked in education, health and housing. He has also served as a school governor in London and on the Scottish Higher Education Funding council.

Keith's main responsibilities include building organisational capacity, providing support to members, representing ATL with key stakeholders, and developing a distinctive ATL response to educational policy developments in Scotland.

Martin Freedman, head of pay, conditions and pensions department

Martin Freedman is head of ATL's pay, conditions and pensions department. He represents ATL on the Rewards and Incentives Group, the social partnership between employers, teacher unions and government on teachers' pay and conditions.

Martin sits on the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group, which looks at the deployment of teachers and support staff in schools, and leads negotiations for ATL in further education. He has worked in education and employment for more than 30 years.

Nansi Ellis, head of education policy and research

Nansi Ellis is ATL's head of education policy and research. She is responsible for the development and implementation of ATL's education policy.

Nansi joined ATL as a primary education advisor, having previously managed the early years team at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Before that, Nansi worked as a primary teacher, first in west Wales and then in London.