Governors

To contact any of the Governors — please email Suzanne Turnbull and your message will be forwarded appropriately.

Chris Jones OSE, Chair
After graduating from Cambridge University, Chris spent 20 years in the advertising industry during which time he became the worldwide Chair and Chief Executive Officer of J Walter Thompson Co. He was the youngest person and first non-American to hold this position in the company’s 140-year history. In 2001, after serious illness, Chris retired from the advertising business. He left New York City in 2002 and returned to live in England. He now has a wide range of business and not-for-profit interests. Chris became a Governor in 1995 and previously held the role of Chair of the General Purposes Committee before he took on the role of Chair of Governors in 2017.

Wilf Stephenson, Vice-Chair
Wilf was educated at Worksop College and St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, where he was an Exhibitioner and rowed in the First Eight. He spent the majority of his career as a corporate treasurer and finance director in the oil industry and property companies. He was Group Treasurer and Director of Corporate Finance of Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s international property business, from 1999-03. Wilf retired from Oriel College where he was a Fellow and Treasurer in 2021. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Charities Property Fund. His son and two daughters are OSE. On the Governing Body, Wilf is Vice-Chair of the Board, Chair of the General Purposes Committee and a member of the Investment Committee.

John Adedoyin OSE
John is a former pupil of St Edward’s (Segar’s 1980-1985) and after graduating in English Literature from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in1989, he spent twenty years in marketing and consulting within financial services. John is a management consultant who acts in an advisory capacity for several multinational companies. John also has a Masters in Business Administration from Cranfield University and is a strategic advisor for the Thomas Pocklington Trust, a charity for the blind.

Sarah Ainsworth
Sarah was educated at St Anne’s College, Oxford, and has a MA and MSc from Oxford University where she also trained as a social worker. She was Head of the Disabled Children’s Services at Oxfordshire County Council, and on the Executive of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board, setting up and chairing the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Disabled Children’s Group. Sarah was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in Safeguarding and has studied and lectured internationally on safeguarding issues. She was one of the national leads for the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme which led to significant investment in services for children with additional needs and their families. In Oxfordshire she has worked closely with families and voluntary sector partners to develop a range of positive activities and services to enhance the vulnerable children’s lives and life chances. Sarah retired in December 2019 but continues to do some consultancy work for Children’s Social Care. She joined us as a Governor in 2020.  Sarah has three children, one of her daughters is a teacher and her husband and son are academics. She has worked closely with Oxfordshire schools on a range of initiatives.

Caroline Baggs
Caroline works as a Human Resources business partner for Oxfordshire County Council. She is also a lay member sitting on employment tribunals. She has close associations with Teddies as her husband taught at the school for over 20 years and their three children are all OSE. Educated at St Albans Girls’ Grammar School and Bath University, Caroline is a keen hockey player and represents England Masters. She became a Governor in 2014.

Alan Buchanan
Alan originally qualified as a Scots lawyer and holds an MA from St Andrews University and a LLB from The University of Edinburgh. He worked in private practice as a solicitor in Edinburgh, Hong Kong and London. In 1990 he joined the legal team at British Airways Plc and was appointed company secretary in 2000, a position he held for 12 years. Thereafter he worked as company secretary of BUPA,  interim legal director and company secretary of the John Lewis Partnership and legal director for Bicester Village for Value Retail PLC before taking his present role as general counsel of The Royal Parks in 2018. As senior non-executive director at Keynote Housing, he was instrumental in securing the merger that resulted in the creation of Midland Heart, one of the UK’s largest social housing companies.  As chairman of Citizens Advice North Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire, he led the three way merger that resulted in the creation of Citizens Advice West Northamptonshire and Cherwell in 2023.  Both of Alan’s children were educated at St Edward’s. Alan became a Governor in 2024, is the Chair of the Compliance & Risk Committee and sits on the GPC and Safeguarding & Wellbeing Committee.

Joe Burrows
Joe has been a Head of Department at Eton College for three years, and has been teaching languages for the last 9 years. He completed his PGCE at the University of Sheffield after reading Russian & Linguistics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. He has a particular interest in educational research and in the mental health of school pupils. He has two toddler sons and loves to spend time with the family. Outside of family and work life, his main interests are reading, music production, health and fitness. Joe became a Governor in 2020. He is the dedicated SEND Governor and serves on the Education Committee.

The Venerable Jonathan Chaffey
Jonathan is Archdeacon of Oxford and Interim Sub Dean of Christ Church Cathedral. A member of both Governing Body and Chapter of Christ Church, his broader responsibilities include support for the clergy, church officers and congregations of Oxford in their Christian service across the city. He also supports the ministry of chaplains and new congregations across the diocese, engaging also in various levels of interfaith dialogue. Following undergraduate studies and theological education at Durham University, he was ordained to a curacy in Liverpool. This was followed by 28 years as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force, during which time he served in a range of operational, training and support environments, most notably as the Senior UK Military Chaplain in Afghanistan and later as Archdeacon and Chaplain-in-Chief. A graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies, he served for six years as an Honorary Chaplain to The Queen and was appointed a Companion of the Honourable Order of the Bath in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List. Jonathan is married to Jane, herself an ordained priest, with three adult daughters.

Professor Richard Cooper
Master of St Benet’s Hall, Oxford, from September 2018 until September 2022, Richard is Emeritus Professor of French in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford. Professor Cooper is also an Emeritus Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford and former Chairman of the Faculty Board of Modern Languages of the University of Oxford. Educated at Manchester Grammar School, introduced by Donald Adamson to foreign languages, Professor Cooper went to New College, Oxford where he read French and Italian. Professor Cooper taught French at the University of Lancaster from 1971, before returning to Oxford in 1977 as a tutor in French at Brasenose College. He was appointed Reader in 1996 and subsequently Professor in 1998. He is a member of the Académie des Sciences, Belles Lettres et Arts in Lyon and of the Institut des Sciences de l’Homme, Lyon, and his research is on France and Italy in the Renaissance. Professor Cooper was selected as a torchbearer for the 2012 Summer Olympics Torch Relay, reflecting his 40 years of service to sport at the University of Oxford, including 15 years as Chairman of the University Sports Committee. Appointed Officier dans l’ordre des Palmes Académiques in 1996 (promoted Commandeur in 2012), Professor Cooper also became Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 2003. Richard became a Governor in 2024.

Helen Cook OSE
Helen has worked in financial services for 28 years working in  global wholesale banking organisations. Latterly she was Chief Human Resources Officer and a member of the Executive Committee at NatWest Group. She has recently moved to the Fintech sector as Chief People Officer for Finastra. As a seasoned HR professional her passion lies in building skills and capability fit for the future. Alongside her executive career she has served on the Board of the Financial Services Skills Commission and is on the Advisory Board of Ivy House, as well as serving as a Mentor for FTSE 100 Mentoring Foundation. She lives near Oxford with her husband and two children. Helen was educated in Kenya before moving to St Edwards after which she attended Cambridge University where she gained a BEd and played hockey. She is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 

Georgina Dennis OSE
Among one of the first cohorts of girls in the Sixth Form at St Edward’s, Georgie went on to study at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute. She began her working life at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, the V&A, Accademia Italiana and European Academy for the Arts in curatorial and educational roles before retraining as a conservator of easel paintings. She currently works as a freelance conservator and consultant on collections management. Georgie became a Governor in 2014.

Professor Louise Fawcett-Posada
Louise was educated at Lady Eleanor Holles and Millfield Schools, and then at the Universities of London and Oxford. She is currently a Fellow and Lecturer in Politics at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where she has also served as Tutor for Admissions and Senior Tutor; her research interests are in the field of International Relations. Three of Louise’s four children were educated at St Edward’s. Louise became a Governor in 2010 and serves on the Education Committee.

Kenneth MacRitchie
Kenneth’s career as an international banking lawyer was spent as a partner in leading UK and US law firms in the City of London. Latterly, at Shearman & Sterling, he was a member of the management committee of the global firm and head of the London office. Following legal practice, he worked for some years with the UK Government establishing the UK Green Investment Bank and the companies providing support to renewable electricity generation. He now serves as a non- executive director on a listed renewables fund, provides consultancy support to a start-up business and is heavily involved with charities in the criminal justice and education sectors. He gained an LLB from Glasgow University, BD (first class honours) from Aberdeen University, MA from Manchester University and was a doctoral student at Oxford University. He lives in Oxford and became a Governor in 2007. Kenneth’s two daughters and son were all educated at St Edward’s.

Dr Clare Robertson
Clare worked as a consultant paediatrician at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, specialising in neuro-disability, allergy and child safeguarding, until her retirement in 2022. She graduated with first class honours from the University of Bristol and gained distinctions in paediatrics and surgery before undertaking higher professional training in the UK and overseas. From 2009-2020 she was the Designated Doctor for Child Safeguarding in Oxfordshire, and during this time, was a member of Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board. Clare has a particular interest in a holistic approach to physical and mental health in children and teenagers; throughout her career she facilitated closer working between the paediatric and mental health services, including establishing the first child and adolescent psychiatric liaison post at the Children’s Hospital in Oxford. Clare was an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford where she taught medical students and trained junior paediatricians. She also provided safeguarding training to GPs, paediatricians, other health professionals and social services. Clare is married and has four children, one of whom was educated at St Edward’s. Her interests include singing, playing tennis, badminton and gardening. She became a Governor in 2018, is our Safeguarding Governor and sits on the Compliance and Safeguarding Committee.

Michael Roulston MBE
Educated at Madeley College and Ulster University, Michael was Headmaster of Dulwich Prep London for ten years, from 2009 to 2019, a time of substantial expansion and outstanding achievement for the school. He previously served as Headmaster of Cranleigh Prep School in Surrey for eight years, overseeing a significant increase in scholarships and pupil numbers. Michael’s first Headship was at The Model School, Londonderry, which he established as an informally religiously ‘integrated’ school and as a result, was awarded the prestigious BP Gulbenkian Citizenship Award for Northern Ireland. From The Model School, Michael moved to The British School in Tokyo, where he was Principal, and was awarded the MBE in 2000 for his work in Japan. He became a Governor in 2010.

Philip Winston
Philip has an MA and PhD in History from Cambridge University. After teaching economic history at Durham University he went into finance, and has principally been involved in investment management. Since 1997, Philip has been an equity portfolio manager at Capital Group, where he is a partner. He became a Governor in 2021 and serves on the Education, Investment and General Purposes Committees. His daughter was a pupil at St. Edward’s.

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