Governors

I am a qualified chartered accountant and lawyer. Having worked in private practice for over 25 years, in recent years I have held various board positions in a variety of industries, including security, marketing, online fast fashion, professional sport and recruitment.

I have 3 adult children, 2 of whom attended RGS. I am a passionate – some would say obsessive – cricket fan, sit on the board of Durham County Cricket Club and still turn out regularly for my local village cricket team. I have also been a Newcastle United season ticket holder for over 20 years.

I have been on the board of Governors since 2018, having previously been a governor of another local independent school, and became chair in 2021.

I am a retired Headteacher and care passionately about young people and their education. I have sat on the Schools Northeast Advisory Board and have worked as a National Leader in school improvement as well as being an Ofsted Inspector.

I am a mother of two children and live and work on a farm. I love training my dogs both to work and compete and am passionate about sport - both playing and watching - and I am presently Chair of the Northumberland County Cricket Board.

Currently I Chair the management committee of The Woodlands School which is the Durham County Council Provision for permanently excluded pupils, those identified as close to permanent exclusion, and the Educational Health Care Needs team.

I have been on the RGS board of Governors since 2020. I currently chair the Education Committee and serve as the School's Safeguarding Governor.

I’m a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist - I’ve worked as a doctor in the NHS since 2007, moving across Scotland and the northeast of England throughout my career. I’ve also had the chance to work as an educator in a parent run early years setting in New Zealand. I am passionate about children’s mental health and wellbeing.

In my spare time you can find me looking after my newly acquired allotment - which is turning into a near full time job in itself!

I have been on the RGS board of Governors since 2024 and I am the School's Governor for SEND.

I qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in Newcastle in the early nineties. I later joined Reg Vardy plc and went on to spend the next 30 years in the motor industry in senior positions such as  MD of Benfield Motors and COO of Lookers plc. I’m currently COO of a national fleet management and vehicle leasing company based in Glasgow.

My charitable activities have included a spell on the NE committee for Prince’s Trust as well as active fundraising for 353 (a small charity supporting the families of members of the armed forces who suffer from PTSD) and Children in Need.

I’m Chair of the RGS Bursary Campaign and Trustee of the RGS Educational Trust where we raise funds to support bursary students within RGS as well as the partnership activity carried out with local state schools. I also sit on the F&GP and the Education Committees.

I was a student at the RGS in the 1970s and a huge amount of my subsequent life experience has been formed by what I learnt and experienced at the school, in and out of the classroom.  The many friendships that I forged fifty years ago have endured and grown, which I consider a massive testament to the institution.

My career was in Business.  I spent the majority of my working life at Sony PlayStation, joining the year before the launch of the very first PlayStation console in 1994, working my way through the ranks to become Global CEO and President between 2019 and 2024, a period which included launching PS5 during the worst moments of the COVID pandemic.  Quite the character-forming experience!

I retired in 2024.  My working life had been one of relentless travel with a patient family in North London.  Since retiring it's been great to spend a decent amount of time back in the North East, and one of the highlights of that has been joining the Governing Board of the RGS.  In many ways, lots has changed since the 1970s, but equally in many ways very little has changed. It's extremely fulfilling to be able to play just a small role in protecting and enhancing the heritage of something that was so instrumental in my personal development.

After an education at local schools in Northumberland, I read Geography at Nottingham University. My first employment was with the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street in London, where I worked mainly as a researcher in the Overseas department, drafting economic reports, briefing IMF directors and looking after foreign visitors.

In 1986, my wife and I left London and converted Embleton Hall in Longframlington to a Country House Hotel, which I ran for 28 years.

In my retirement, I am the Manager of a small country inn, The Percy Arms in Chatton.

In local politics, I was elected as District Councillor for Longframlington and Brinkburn in 1991 until its demise in 2008. In 1993, I was elected as a councillor for the Shilbottle area on Northumberland County Council where my main interests are, and remain, education and planning. I am currently chairman of the North Northumberland Planning Committee and Vice Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee.

My interests are food and drink, travel, tennis and the garden.