Benedicte is Chief Financial Officer at the River Learning Trust, a 31 school Multi Academy Trust. She has over 30 years’ experience in audit and finance. She spent the first part of her career in audit practice with KPMG in Paris and London before working as Director of International Affairs for the French Asset Management Association. In 2010, she became actively involved in setting up a multi-lingual free school near Oxford and joined the River Learning Trust in 2019. Her areas of responsibilities at RLT include finance, data and community development. Benedicte was awarded CFO of the year at the 2023 MAT excellence awards for her contribution to system leadership and innovation and received the School Resource Management of the year award for the River Learning Trust at the 2024 National Schools Awards. She has a specific interest in the design of inclusive education system and funding mechanisms to support inclusion informed by effective practices in the UK and abroad.  Benedicte is also Advocate in Residence at the Institute for Equity and a Trustee of the School Partnership Alliance.