The following biographies are of governors who served within the last 12 months.

• Vanessa Ogden
  Former Co-opted Director of the Trust Board and Standards Committee
  Vanessa Ogden

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Director
  Committee Membership:	Trust Board and Standards Committee
  Term of office:	4 years
  Appointed by:	Appointed by the Directors of the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Vanessa Ogden is Head teacher of Mulberry School for Girls and is leading the establishment of a University Technical College in Tower Hamlets.

  Under her leadership, Mulberry has been judged 'Outstanding' in two successive Ofsted inspections. Vanessa is a designated 'National Leader in Education' and undertakes 'School to School Support'. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Education and has a doctorate specializing in Education Policy and School Improvement.

  Vanessa's teaching career covers twenty years of practice in challenging inner-city schools across London and involved work in school improvement, school effectiveness and education tailored to the needs of gender.

  Vanessa is a trustee of Teach First and Chair of the Impact Committee. She has been President of the Association of Maintained Girls Schools. She chairs the board of the Somerset Challenge and she was on the advisory group for the Centre for Social Justice. Vanessa has published both academic and professional writing on education.

  In October 2014, Vanessa was awarded the Women of the Future Mentor of the Year award for her work in promoting the importance of supporting young women to be successful leaders of business, industry and public service, spanning many years.

• Fiona Watkins
  Former Crayford Academy Elected Parent Governor
  Fiona Watkins

  Type of Governor:	Former Elected Parent Governor
  Committee Membership:	Crayford LGBC
  Appointment Start Date:	28/06/2016
  Term of office:	4 years
  Appointed by:	Elected by parents, appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Fiona was brought up in a small town in Scotland and moved to London to start her working life.

  Her background is in childcare as a nanny and she has recently begun volunteering in primary phase of Crayford Academy. Fiona has two children, both of who attend Crayford Academy.

• Vidur Gupta
  Former Independent Co-Opted Finance Committee member
  Vidur Gupta

  Type of Governor:	Former Independent Co-Opted Finance Committee member
  Committee Membership:	Finance Committee
  Appointment Start Date:	12/11/2019
  Term of office:	3 years
  Appointed by:	Elected by parents, appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Vidur has more than 14 years of corporate finance and FinTech experience to commercial real estate. Beekin uses machine learning and data engineering to increase asset value for investors and lenders in commercial real estate. The team at Beekin have advanced degrees in mathematics, spatial economics and machine learning, and work with some of the largest asset managers in Europe and the U.S.

  Prior to founding Beekin, Vidur was an executive at Future Finance (a FinTech backed by Blackstone, Goldman Sachs and QED), and a Director at H.I.G Capital, a private equity firm with $28 billion under management, where he invested in credit and real estate.  

  Vidur holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is also a visiting lecturer at Oxford University and Imperial College London. Outside of work, he is a proud father and struggling Liverpool FC fan, with interchangeable adjectives.

• Alex Edinboro
  Former Elected Staff Governor
  Alex Edinboro

  Type of Governor	Elected staff governor
  Committee Membership	Crayford Academy
  Appointment Start Date	16/12/2019
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Elected by parents appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Alexandra has just entered her second year working at Haberdashers' Aske's Crayford Academy. She is currently Subject Lead of Drama and is enjoying building the Department and forging strong relationships between home, pupil and school. Before coming to Crayford Academy, she worked as a Drama teacher and then Head of Department in another Bexley secondary school for six years. Alexandra has a degree in Combined Dance and Theatre Professional Practice and completed her PGCE in Drama at Goldsmiths University. She sits on the board as a trustee for London Drama, the Association of London Drama teachers and is a PGCE placement mentor. Following graduation, Alexandra has worked in the Performing Arts industry as a Performer and as a Stage Manager. She has a wide array of interests; animal welfare, health and fitness, nutritional education for young people and of course Culture and the Arts. Alexandra has lived for most of her life in the local area and has also lived in Toulouse and Coventry. Her hobbies include reading, MMA, dancing and swimming.

• Hannah Witham
  Former Elected Staff Governor
  Hannah Witham

  Type of Governor	Elected staff governor
  Committee Membership	Knights Academy LGBC
  Appointment Start Date	09/12/2014, re elected 17/12/2018
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Elected by staff and appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Hannah has worked at Haberdashers' Aske's Knights Academy for over four years. She currently works in the administration team and enjoys the close contact and good relationship she has with staff, parents, pupils and the local community. Before coming to Knights she trained as a children's nurse and worked for NHS Direct as an advisor. She is educated to degree level (BSc of Combined Health Studies) and has a diploma in Paediatric Nursing. Following graduation, Hannah spent 11 months in South East Asia where she helped look for lost orangutans after a landslide in Indonesia, and taught English to Cambodian Monks. She has a wide array of interests; chief of which is a passion for the education and well-being of children and their families and the role education and health care play in a local community. She also supports a few charities including the NSPCC and Battersea dog's home. Hannah has lived most of her life in the local area and has also lived in Scotland and Birmingham. Her hobbies include reading, going to the theatre and caring for her cat Skibba.

• Sally Reeve Edwards
  Former Parent Governor
  Sally Reeve Edwards

  17/12/2018 Term of office 4 years Appointed by Elected by staff and appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association Sally Reeve Edwards has a son at HAKA who joined Year 7 in September 2018. She has been a governor twice before, at Harris Academy in Greenwich and for 6 years at Torridon Infants School in Catford. She was Chair of Governors for 2 years at Torridon and successfully helped the school reach outstanding status in 2015. Her particular strengths are communication and parent engagement. Sally has been an actor since childhood and still works occasionally in film and TV. She also runs a successful preschool music class 'Singalong Sally' in Lewisham, Ladywell and Charlton. Both Sally's children have Autism and ADHD and therefore she has a particular interest in SEN and inclusion. She is a parent volunteer for SENDIASS, the Lewisham independent advocacy service for SEN families.

• Sarah Watkins
  Former Parent Governor
  Sarah Watkins

  Elected by parents appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association Sarah is married with two children. She has lived in Barnehurst / Crayford her whole life. She started her working life in the travel industry where she spent over 17 years working her way up the ladder from trainee to a store manager. She has since moved to working in banking.

• Pam Alldred
  Former Co-opted Governor of Hatcham Free School Primary
  Pam Alldred

• Rebekah Brown
  Former Elected Parent Governor of Hatcham College and Hatcham Free School Primary
  Rebekah Brown

  Type of Governor	Elected parent governor
  Committee Membership	Hatcham College and Hatcham Free School Primary LGB
  Appointment Start Date	21/10/2013, re-elected and appointed 14/12/2017
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Elected by parents, appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Rebekah was brought up in a suburb of Manchester and now lives in South London with her husband and four children who all attend or have attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College.

  She read Nursing and Human Sciences at The City of London University and St Bartholomew's Hospital.

  Rebekah has worked as a nurse in a number of hospitals across London and was promoted to Oncology Nurse Practitioner in 2002. Rebekah and her family moved to Durban in South Africa shortly afterwards where her husband had been asked to help start a Church on The University Campus of Kwa-Zulu-Natal (UKZN). Rebekah volunteered at a non-governmental organisation supporting and giving counselling to students and women affected by violence, crime, abuse, HIV/ Aids from all over Africa.

• Sumesh Putiyaveetil
  Former Elected Parent Governor of the Slade Green Primary LGB
  Sumesh Putiyaveetil

  Type of Governor	Elected Parent Governor
  Committee Membership	Slade Green Primary LGB
  Appointment Start Date	26/05/2021
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Sumesh is an entrepreneur currently starting up a Vision AI venture, 1stZoom. Sumesh has been in the tech industry for over 20 years and has worked in leadership roles in consulting and industry with Accenture, Gartner and Immersat and with boutique Private Equity houses. Sumesh holds boards positions at several startups in the tech industry.

  Sumesh lives in Slade Green with his wife and two children. Sumesh has a degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from London Business School.

• Stephanie Reeves
  Former Co-opted Governor of the Slade Green Primary LGB
  Stephanie Reeves

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Governor
  Committee Membership	Slade Green Primary LGB
  Appointment Start Date	28/03/2017
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Stephanie was educated at Lingfield Notre Dame before going on to study BA History followed by an MSc in Government, Policy and Politics, both at the University of London.

  She began her career working in Westminster for the Shadow Education Minister before going on to work for Brunswick Group, specialising in corporate communications.

  She is now Government Relations Director for Red Bull UK and is also involved with her family business, independent furniture retailer House of Reeves.

  She is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers and until recently served as Vice-Chair for Breast Cancer UK. She lives in London and is currently studying for an MBA.

• Chris Hardie
  Former Chair of Crayford Academy LGB
  Chris Hardie

  Type of Governor	Chair
  Committee Membership	Crayford Academy LGB
  Appointment Start Date	03/10/2017
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Members in accordance with the Articles of Association

  A Corporate Financier with over thirty years' experience in the Corporate Finance Departments of two major UK integrated securities firms.

  Due to start shortly at a small corporate finance/securities business focused on the UK after 13 years at Arden partners. Mr Hardie has relevant experience as a governor at Monmouth Schools where he chaired Finance and Estates and Audit committees. A Chartered Accountant he has experience in all matters of Corporate Finance across a broad range of sectors and is able to contribute to financial self-evaluation and efficiency drives

• Katie Scott
  Former Co-Opted Governor of Borough Academy LGB
  Katie Scott

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Local Governor
  Committee Membership	Borough Academy Local Board
  Term of office	1 year
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Katie Scott has been the Headteacher at LPGS for 3 years. During that time results and student recruitment has improved year on year. The budget has been brought into line and is now sustainable and all the key indicators suggest that Ofsted would judge LPGS 'Outstanding'.

  Prior to LPGS, Katie was the Head of Portslade Aldridge Community Academy (PACA) in Brighton. PACA was a school on the verge of special measures, with a financial notice to improve and a falling roll. Within three years, the financial notice to improve had been removed and the results were transformed (FFT5). Oftsed had judged it to be a 'Good' school, and recruitment opf students tripled (with first choices doubling). Katie was nominated for 'Headteacher of the Year' in 2017, and PACA was awarded 'Most Improved School of the Year' in 2017.

  Katie is a graduate of Sussex University in Contemporary History with Italian, and has been a senior leader since 2005. Prior to that, she was an Assistant Headteacher in Lewisham and then a Deputy Headteacher for 6 years, in West Sussex.

  Katie a committee member of the Association of State Girls' Schools; an Expert Leader for the SSAT and is a mentor for the Courageous Leader Programme, that supports LGBTQ+ leaders in developing middle and senior leadership skills.

  Having worked full time and been a single parent throughout her career, Katie strives to make the workplace as flexible and supportive as is possible, whilst championing the progress of young people in the classroom and beyond.

• Nicola Trott
  Co-opted
  Nicola Trott

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Governor
  Committee Membership	Trust Board, Standards Committee
  Appointment Start Date	26/06/2018
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Directors of the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Dr Nicola Trott is a Senior Tutor / Academic Registrar at Balliol College, Oxford. As Senior Tutor, Dr Trott has responsibility for academic planning and is in overall charge of academic administration. She is also the Disability Lead. Prior to joining Balliol College, Dr Trott was a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of English Literature at the University of Glasgow. She read English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford (St Catherine's College) and went on to specialise in 18th and 19th century literature and to teach and research in Oxford, London, and Glasgow.

• Sheridan Swallow
  Co-opted
  Sheridan Swallow

  Type of Governor	Nominated Director
  Committee Membership	Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee, member of the Finance Committee, Trust Board and Strategy Committee
  Appointment Start Date	03/10/2016 as a co-opted governor and then appointed as a Nominated Director on 18/12/2018
  Term of office;	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Members in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Sheridan is the Chair of the Audit Committee and a Chartered Accountant who has made his career in the commercial sector.

  He has served as Finance Director or Group Finance Director on a number of boards, including those of public companies, across a wide range of industry sectors.

  Previously a Governor of the Haberdashers' Aske's Schools at Elstree and the Haberdashers' Monmouth Schools, where he was Chairman, he has more than twenty five years' experience as a school governor. He has been a member of the Court of Assistants of the Haberdashers Company since 1992 where has served on all the major committees and has been the Master of the Company. A graduate of Magdalene College, Cambridge he is married with two grown up children.

• Antonia Quentin-Lewis
  Former Elected Parent Governor, Borough Academy
  Antonia Quentin-Lewis

  Type of Governor	Elected Parent Governor
  Committee Membership	Borough Academy Local Board
  Appointment Start Date	16/12/2019
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  After graduating with a combined honours degree in sculptural millinery, Antonia then spent a number of years working as a press officer for Local Government. Relocating to Southwark 23 years ago, she then moved into the fashion industry. She now works on a project-led basis whilst raising her four children.

• Anuja Dhir QC
  Former Co-opted Governor, Borough Academy
  Anuja Dhir QC

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Local Governor
  Committee Membership	Borough Academy Local Board
  Appointment Start Date	01/01/2019
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Anuja was born in Scotland in 1968, she attended at state school and in 1984 she started studying Law at Dundee University. Having graduated in 1988, with an honours degree in English and Scottish Law she sat the Bar exams. Anuja was called to the Bar in 1989. She practised at the Bar for 23 years, mainly in crime and from 2007 onwards as a special advocate in national security cases. Anuja has been involved in advocacy training in the UK and abroad for over 20 years. in 2010, Anuja was appointed as a Queen's Counsel.

  Anuja was appointed as an Old Bailey Judge in 2017 and a Circuit Judge in 2012. She was made a Recorder in 2010. She is the first non- white judge at The Old Bailey.

  In 2015 Anuja was appointed as a Tutor Judge for the Judicial College.

  In 2017 she was made a governor of the City Academy Hackney.

  2018 Anuja was authorised to sit in the CACD (Court of Appeal, Criminal Division) and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law by Dundee University.

  Anuja is married with 3 children.

• Karen Carter
  Former Co-opted governor of the Crayford Primary LGB
  Karen Carter

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Governor
  Committee Membership	Crayford Primary LGB
  Appointment Start Date	01/09/2021
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Karen has been actively working in the public sector since the age of 16, attaining a 10-year position as Disciplinary Manager at John Lewis.

  She now holds dual roles of Safeguarding Officer for St Paulinus Church, alongside Parochial Church Councillor, here in Crayford. Through these roles, Karen has acquired positive and productive knowledge with experience in holding workshops and lectures for all age groups and vulnerabilities.

• Rebekah Brown
  Former Elected Parent Governor of the Hatcham Free School LGB
  Rebekah Brown

  Type of Governor	Elected parent governor
  Committee Membership	Hatcham College and Hatcham Temple Grove Free School LGBC
  Appointment Start Date	21/10/2013, re-elected and appointed 14/12/2017
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Elected by parentsappointed, by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Rebekah was brought up in a suburb of Manchester and now lives in South London with her husband and four children who all attend or have attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College.

  She read Nursing and Human Sciences at The City of London University and St Bartholomew's Hospital.

  Rebekah has worked as a nurse in a number of hospitals across London and was promoted to Oncology Nurse Practitioner in 2002. Rebekah and her family moved to Durban in South Africa shortly afterwards where her husband had been asked to help start a Church on The University Campus of Kwa-Zulu-Natal (UKZN). Rebekah volunteered at a non-governmental organisation supporting and giving counselling to students and women affected by violence, crime, abuse, HIV/ Aids from all over Africa.

• Bernard Charles
  Former Co-opted Governor to the Slade Green Primary LGB
  Bernard Charles

  Type of Governor	Co-opted Governor
  Committee Membership	Slade Green Primary LGB
  Appointment Start Date	01/09/2018
  Term of office	4 years
  Appointed by	Appointed by the Trust Board in accordance with the Articles of Association

  Bernard (Bernie) Charles is Chief Human Resources Officer for Handelsbanken plc, the Swedish Bank, in the UK, and has responsibility for all Human Resources issues and initiatives in the UK including resourcing, mobility, development, succession planning and retention.

  Prior to his current role, Bernie was Head of Human Resources and Risk at Heartwood Wealth Management Limited, a wealth and investment management company, which Handelsbanken acquired in 2013. His previous experience in Human Resources includes senior positions at Standard Bank and Jardine Lloyd Thompson.

  Bernie has a Bachelor in Business Studies from the University of Limerick, Ireland and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD).