Meet our Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors have a wide portfolio of expertise and knowledge in children's services and commercial and financial disciplines. The Board provides support and challenge on the direction and strategy of Together for Children.
Simon Marshall
Director of Children's Services and Chief Executive, Together for Children
Simon Marshall became Chief Executive and Director of Children's Services in September 2024, having been Sunderland's Director of Education since 2017. Simon has 26 years' experience working in education across the North East of England, teaching in a range of schools across the region.
Having spent twelve years as a headteacher, Simon specialised in leading schools in challenging circumstances. This included being head at Sunderland's Highfield Primary School where he was recognised nationally for developing innovative school-based mental health services to support children and families. In 2014 he was named School Leader of the year in the National Wellbeing School Awards.
Tammy Banks
Chair of the Together for Children Board
Co-founder and Director of Taye Training | Founder of Training 4 Influence
With over 20 years of experience working across criminal justice, social care and the third sector, Tammy has always been a champion for change and is passionate about learning from lived experience to improve. Throughout Tammy's career she has taken on operational and management roles in statutory and charitable homelessness services, delivered group interventions to people in prison and taken the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in a charity working to prevent sexual abuse.
Tammy is Co-founder and Director of Taye Training, a company specialising in tailored training and development programmes in areas including safeguarding, multiple disadvantages, governance, risk management and organisational change. She is a lay member of Parliament, and part of the Committee on Standards where she assesses and adjudicates complaints about MPs. Tammy also holds the role of Director of the Association of Child Protection Professionals. Tammy is also a mum of two, a published author and celebrated conference speaker, often sharing her story of a complex childhood and homelessness through her work.
As Chair of the Together for Children Board, Tammy has responsibility for leading the Board of Directors, and continuing to develop established partnerships between TfC, Sunderland City Council and other key partners and stakeholders.
In her role as Co-founder for Taye Training, Tammy applied her personal history, academic achievements and work experience to develop - alongside partner Faye Fox - a training company that supports operational experts to become trainers and deliver training that is effective, affordable and values-based. Her delivery style is very engaging and person-centred.
Tammy believes that professionals working in criminal justice, social care and charities are perfectly positioned to change lives and that effective values-based training has an important role in empowering them to do just that and she is passionate about preventing abuse and enabling change. Find out more about Taye Training here.
Patrick Houghton
Together for Children Board member
Governance Law Specialist for Sunderland City Council
Patrick is a qualified solicitor with over 20 years of experience in the law, primarily working in local government. Patrick worked for five years in private practice and then subsequently as commercial lawyer in both Gateshead MBC and Sunderland City Council. He has also spent two years working as a senior solicitor in Higher Education, at the University of Sunderland.
Patrick's current post is as a Governance Law Specialist for Sunderland City Council, and he regularly advises elected members and officers on all elements of local government law and decision making. He has also recently acted as trustee and Chair of his local running club, and helped the club modernise its governance arrangements and achieve charitable status.
As a Council appointed Non-Executive Director on the Together for Children Board, Patrick provides an important link between the Council and Together for Children, and is able to offer advice and guidance on the governance arrangements and the relationship between the Council, Together for Children and other key partners.
