Governors

An Old Girl of St Helen’s, Sara is a barrister and mediator who specialises in resolving property-related disputes. Aside from work and family, she loves all sorts of musical and sporting pursuits, ranging from singing and choral conducting to lacrosse umpiring via bands (French Horn and Alto Sax), rowing and real tennis. A long-suffering fan of West Ham United, Sara brings eternal optimism tempered by life experience to the governing body.

Timi is a former Old Girl who left St Helen and St Katherine in 2016 to pursue a career in law. After studying Law at the University of Bristol, Timi is now a qualified solicitor at a leading global law firm and her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, equity capital markets and general corporate matters. Timi lives in London and in her spare time enjoys spending time with friends, going to the theatre and attending various live music concerts. 

Pauline’s first career in financial, operational and change management was in global multinational companies such as Unilever, GSK and Dun & Bradstreet, where she progressed to senior leadership roles. She applied the same skills in small independent and venture-backed businesses in a variety of sectors including pharmaceuticals, IT, retail and services, achieving challenging turnaround goals both as Finance and Managing Director. She now runs an independent consulting business.

Sharon is currently the Chief Digital Officer at The Economist Group and has been leading technology teams, managing modernisation and digital transformation for over 15 years. Her daughter is an alumna of St Helen and St Katherine. She is a Trustee of a small medical charity and a non-executive director for two other publishing organisations.

Zoe is a Strategic HR Business Partner at UK Research and Innovation, with a wealth of experience in staff management and employment matters. Prior to this, she spent many years at St Helen’s as HR Manager until April 2022, developing a strong understanding of school regulatory compliance and the operational realities of an educational environment. She is also a former St Helen’s parent, with both of her daughters thriving during their time at the School, giving her a valuable perspective on the community.

After 17 years as a partner leading the corporate finance team for a Thames Valley chartered accountancy practice, David runs his own corporate and strategy advisory business which he established 12 years ago, providing merger and acquisition services. He is currently the vice-chair of Governors at Pinewood School and has a lead role in their medium- to long-term strategic planning.

Jill has over 30 years’ experience in strategic marketing, having started her career working in consumer goods for Unilever. She now runs her own consulting business, having previously been Managing Director at Accenture and a board member at Brand Learning. Jill has been a parent at St Helen’s since 2015, and a particularly keen supporter of music and drama events. Jill herself is an enthusiastic performer, performing in “That 70s Choir” at Edinburgh Festival for the last three years.

Kathryn is an Old Girl of St Helen and St Katharine and a chartered accountant who has worked for a global professional services firm since graduating from the University of Southampton with a BSc in Economics. During her career, she has worked across multiple industries providing technology risk consulting advice across a broad range of projects and clients.

A modern and classical linguist, Anne’s career has spanned 32 years in the independent sector as a teacher of French, Deputy Head (Academic) and Principal.
Her niece is an alumna of St Helen and St Katharine and her family lives in Abingdon.
In addition to her Governorships in the UK, Anne is a trustee of a French educational charity based in the Auvergne. In her spare time, Anne enjoys travel, theatre and is currently learning Welsh.

Jane has a child who attends St Helen and St Katharine.  She is a chartered accountant and a tax partner at Crowe U.K. LLP, a national accounting, tax and advisory firm. Through her work, she has a good understanding of tax issues that affect schools as well as charity accounts and SORP reporting. Jane is a passionate advocate for diversity in finance – and generally – and supports girls’ education as one way to achieve this.

Jenny is the Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Thoracic Surgery at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Jenny qualified from Queen Margaret, Edinburgh and has over 25 years’ experience in cardiothoracic nursing. One of Jenny’s children is a former student at St Helen’s.

Louise is the head of a co-educational independent school. Currently in her third headship, she started her headship journey at Bromley High School, working alongside Becky Dougall as she began her headship at Bath. Louise’s career has spanned seven schools, at home and abroad and she has amassed a wealth of experience in the classroom and in school leadership. An environmental scientist, Louise trained as a biology teacher and is passionate about character education.

Berni’s teaching career began in Inner London, she worked in three maintained sector schools before moving in 2005 to SHSK as Deputy Head Academic, then Deputy Head from 2011 until retirement in 2021. Berni’s responsibilities beyond academic leadership included SENCO, Investors in People and teacher training. Her daughter enjoyed nine happy years at SHSK. Berni was a governor at Haberdashers Elstree from 2018-2025 where she chaired the Education Committee.