Meet the Team

Carrie Herbert MBE (Chair and Founder)

Harassment and bullying consultant – Carrie Herbert Consultancy

Carrie trained as a teacher before emigrating to Australia, returned to the UK in the eighties to complete a Master’s Degree at UEA and a PhD at Cambridge.

Carrie worked as a consultant in equal opportunities before founding Red Balloon in 1996. She has written a number of books on the subject of bullying and harassment in schools and in the workplace.

Carrie Herbert was Master of the WC of Cutlers from 2020-2022.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-herbert-78316921/

Revd Professor Michael Reiss

Professor of Science Education
UCL

Michael is Professor of Science Education at UCL Institute of Education, University College London, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Priest in the Church of England and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Kiel and York and the Royal Veterinary College.

As the former Director of Education at the Royal Society, he has written extensively about curricula, pedagogy and assessment in science education and has directed a large number of research, evaluation and consultancy projects over the past twenty years.

BA, MA, PhD, PGCE Natural Sciences

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-reiss-10358216/

Ruth Loshak

After taking a mathematics degree and studying Russian for interest, Ruth first worked as a computer programmer, then as a technical translator, before becoming a teacher in mainstream.

When the government changed focus from creativity in maths to numeracy, she moved on to teacher training.

In 1996 she became Coordinator of the first Red Balloon Learner Centre, and ran the Centre in Cambridge for ten years. During that time and in the following twelve years she supported the development of new Centres and contributed to “Red Balloon Philosophy and Practice”.

Ralph Burditt

Ralph is an Electronic Engineer and holds a Master’s Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Southampton and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Leadership from Loughborough University.

He first began supporting Red Balloon in 2015 through his employer and over the past ten years has spearheaded numerous fundraising activities for RBET both at work and personally.

In his volunteer life, Ralph was the founding Chair of AFC Rushden & Diamonds, a community football club, serving from 2011 to 2022.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphburditt/

Dr Martin A. Ruehl, Professor of History, University of Cambridge

Martin teaches German history at the University of Cambridge. He has held visiting professorships at the University of California in Los Angeles and the Martin Luther University in Halle. As Chair of the Management Committee (2016-18), he launched the new joint degree in History & Modern Languages. Martin cares deeply about education and has been nominated multiple times for the Student-Led Teaching Award. In 2017, he received the Pilkington Prize for Teaching Excellence.

Find out more here.