Claire Delaney is Managing Director of Place Group, a specialist consultancy with more than two decades of experience delivering large-scale education transformation programmes across England. Her work spans multi-academy trusts, local authorities and central government, with a focus on sustainable growth, system reform and organisational resilience.

Over ten years ago, Claire founded Schools’ Buying Club to help support commercial leadership in schools and trusts. The organisation has since saved schools over £75 million through deploying compliance, tendering and value for money strategies. Claire also led the establishment and operation of a regional Schools’ Buying Hub on behalf of the Department for Education and continues to contribute to national improvement initiatives.

Claire founded and now chairs Bellevue Place Education Trust, a multi-academy trust established to combine strong governance, disciplined operations and educational ambition. The Trust started seven new schools and today operates 13 primary schools.

She works closely with trust boards and executive teams on MAT mergers and acquisitions, post-merger integration, governance reform, operating model redesign, estates strategy, capital deployment and net zero planning. She brings a rare combination of strategic sector insight and direct MAT leadership, helping trusts grow with clarity, control and confidence in a fast-changing policy environment.