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. 

Neal has been the Headmaster at Pinewood School since September 2020. Previously he was the Head at Mowden Hall in Northumberland for six years and has worked at Cothill House School and the Chateau de Sauveterre. Prior to entering teaching, he enjoyed a successful career in investment banking. Neal is a French and Maths Teacher and is passionate about all sports.

Steve is a chartered accountant and co-founder of a corporate finance advisory boutique serving the small- to medium-sized business market. Steve trained with EY and has been CFO in several privately owned and public companies in the healthcare and education sectors. He is also non-executive director and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at a listed technology business. Steve is married with three children – two sons who attended Abingdon School and a daughter who attends St Helen and St Katharine.

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.

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.

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.

Dave is a chartered chemical engineer and fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers with over 35 years’ experience in the oil industry working in operations, commissioning, project engineering, construction and management, Dave is now a consulting engineer. Dave’s two daughters went to St Helen and St Katharine. Dave has overseen numerous large St Helen’s construction project onsite, working closely with the Head, Bursar, Senior Management and Department heads.

Kevan spent 12 years working in Mergers and Acquisitions, latterly as a partner of one of the “Big 4” accountancy firms.  He then spent 7 years in a senior position in a UK based private equity investor.  He has spent the last 12 years acting as a non-executive director at 15 private equity backed businesses.  His daughter enjoyed 7 wonderful years at the school.

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.

An Old Girl of the School, Jackie became a teacher after leaving university. Working in London, she taught in both maintained and independent schools, becoming a Headteacher in 2000. She was Head of three different types of school and has considerable experience in all matters of education. She is an independent school inspector, specialising in compliance, leadership and management. Jackie retired to Gloucestershire in September 2018.

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 to St Helen and St Katharine in 2005 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 St Helen’s. Berni is also a governor at Haberdashers Elstree where she chairs the Education Committee.