You can co-opt a staff member as a governor
Academies You can appoint an employee as a co-opted trustee under article 58 of the model articles of association unless the number of trustees who are employees of the Academy Trust would exceed one third of the total number of trustees. Check with your own articles of association in case they're different. While you can appoint employees to be trustees, the Department for Education (DfE)'s "strong preference" is for no employees other than the principal/CEO