Governor Profiles
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Governors have voting rights on the Full Governing Body and the Committees on which they serve. All Governors serve for a four year term of office unless otherwise indicated.
Below are profiles of each of our Governors, including details of which committees they serve on. |
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Richard Sax
Position Chairman, Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed August 2014 Committees Ex-officio member of all committees Profile Richard Sax was educated at Tonbridge School and St John's College, Oxford and served as an officer during his National Service. He recently retired as a family law solicitor in the City and a family judge (19 years). He was a governor of The Skinners' Company's School for Girls in Hackney for 10 years. He is a liveryman of The Skinners’ Company. |
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Lynda Myers
Position Vice Chairman, Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed August 2012 Committees Education Committee, Staffing and Pay Committee (Chairman) and Community and Development Committee (Chairman) Profile Lynda Myers is a Member of the Skinners' Company, Vice Chairman of Governors at the Skinners' School, and a governor of her local primary school. Having lived in the Tunbridge Wells area all her life, and as a mother of three children, she is very aware of what the The Skinners' Kent Academy needs to bring to the community. Lynda is " proud to be actively involved in this exciting journey of transformation in the lives of the students." |
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Marianne Amos
Position Parent Governor (elected by parents) Appointed May 2013 Committees Education Committee and Community and Development Committee, Safeguarding Governor Profile Marianne was educated at Hilden Oaks School in Tonbridge, then onto The Weguelin School of Russian Ballet for her secondary education. Marianne is the Founder and Principal of The Dance Studio based in Kent and running classes in many local towns and villages over the past 30 years. Having been a Governor at Claremont Primary School for 8 years she was elected parent Governor at SKA earlier in 2013. Marianne has 3 girls, 1 currently attending SKA and 1 who left in 2015. |
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Samantha Axtell
Position Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed June 2015 Committees Profile Samantha Axtell was educated St Mary's School, Calne and Oxford University. She has had a wide ranging career and works for the global business consultancy Bain & Company. She lives in Chichester. |
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Annabelle Baird
Position Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Chairman of Skinners' Kent Primary School Governing Body Appointed August 2015 Committees Profile Annabelle Baird read law at Cambridge University and was a solicitor in a large City practice until leaving to bring up her two children. She returned to education by attending art school in London as a mature student at that time. She was a governor of the Judd school for 17 years, and is now chairman of the Skinners Kent Primary School local governing body. She lives in London and is a member of the livery and the court of the Skinners Company. |
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James Blake
Position Staff Governor (elected by the staff) Appointed October 2015 Committees Education Committee and Community and Development Committee Profile James has taught at The Skinners’ Kent Academy since the start of his NQT year in 2011. Since then he says he has been privileged to see the Academy grow and go from strength to strength. "I believe the Academy offers something truly unique to citizens of the Tunbridge Wells area, and as staff governor, my aim is to ensure that staff and students collaborate and excel together in a safe, inspiring and prosperous environment." |
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Sian Carr
Position Executive Principal, The Skinners’ Kent Academy and Skinners' Kent Primary School (appointed by The Skinners' Company as Governor by virtue of role) Committees Ex-officio member of all committees Profile Sian Carr has a long and distinguished career in education and currently works to a local, national and international education agenda. Passionate about making a difference to the lives of young people, Sian believes that strong, positive and focused leadership at all levels in a school is essential to its success and improvement. In addition to being Executive Principal, Mrs Sian Carr, is a member of the International Baccalaureate Board of Governors and will be Vice President of The Association of Schools and College Leaders (ASCL) in September 2015 a post which she will hold for a year, before becoming President in 2016. Prior to 2009 when Sian Carr first became involved with The Skinners’ Kent Academy she was Operational Director, Stakeholders & Networks, at the National College for School Leadership in Nottingham. Her role involved developing a leadership network for all school leaders which enabled the voice of practice to be heard and shared. Before this she was Director of the Eastern Leadership Centre based in Cambridge, a charitable partnership company which promoted excellent leadership development opportunities across the East of England. She had previously been Head of the Sandon School in Chelmsford in Essex, for seven years. Sandon School was an 11-18 mixed comprehensive. Sian’s earlier teaching career was spent in four London schools. Sian is also a Governor at Sevenoaks School. |
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Lord Jonathan Evans of Weardale KCB DL
Position Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed January 2014 Committees Profile Jonathan Evans was educated at Sevenoaks School and Bristol University. He worked in the Security Service for many years and was Director General of the Service until his retirement in 2013. He is a Crossbench Peer, an Honorary Professor at St Andrews University, a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent and a Liveryman of the Skinners' Company. |
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David Fitzsimmons
Position Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed August 2015 Committees Finance and General Purposes Committee (Chairman), Staffing and Pay Committee and Community and Development Committee Profile David was educated at Shrewsbury School, Magdalene College, Cambridge and Stanford University. He had a wide-ranging career at BP from 1978 to 2004, followed by four years as CEO of Novera Energy, a UK renewable energy company. He is currently a director of Dana Petroleum, Permasense Limited and Photonomi Limited. He is also Chairman of Locate in Kent, the county's inward investment agency and a Trustee of the charity Dig Deep, which helps communities in Kenya improve their access to clean water and sanitation. He lives at Tunbridge Wells. |
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Judith Heald
Position Community Governor (Associate Governor appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed August 2015 Committees Finance and General Purposes Committee Profile Judith was educated at Laurence Jackson School and Prior Pursglove sixth form college in Guisborough and subsequently read mathematics at Oxford University. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Price Waterhouse (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers) and, having spent 10 years there, then worked for 8 years at HSBC latterly as the Group Financial Controller of HSBC UK Bank. She joined AXAPPP healthcare in 2001 and is currently Development Director. She has two grown up children and lives in Speldhurst. |
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Julian Metcalf
Position Associate Governor (appointed by The Skinners' School Foundation) Appointed August 2013 Committees SEND Governor, Education Committee Profile Julian is the Deputy Headteacher at The Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells. Prior to this appointment, he was the UK Manager for the International Baccalaureate Organisation, supporting the four IB schools' programmes (PYP, MYP, DP and IBCP). Julian is Chair of the GSHA Deputies' Network, has worked as Programme Lead for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust where he first worked with the Skinners' Kent Academy, and was previously Assistant Headteacher at Dartford Grammar School. He has a B.A. in History and an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Leeds, completed his P.G.C.E. at King's College, London, and has completed his National Professional Qualification for Headteachers (NPQH) through the Institute of Education. |
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Neil Pegrum
Position Associate Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed August 2015 Committees Profile Neil was educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton and Lincoln College, Oxford. He also has an Executive MBA from The London Business School. Neil has worked in fund management for the last 30 years, and is currently Head of Soros UK. In addition, he is a co-opted governor at Broadwater Down Primary School and a committee member of the charity The October Club. He lives in Tunbridge Wells. |
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Hugo Pound
Position Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed July 2016 Committees Community and Development Committee Profile Hugo is a chartered occupational psychologist who works globally with organisations going through mergers, acquisitions or large transformation projects. At the start of his career, he was a qualified social worker in N. London specialising in adolescent child care and mental health. He has lived in Tunbridge Wells since 1992 and is a liveryman of The Skinners’ Company. He was a Parent Governor and latterly a Foundation Governor at The Judd School for ten years, for six years as Chair of the Education Committee. |
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James Rigby
Position Parent Governor (elected by parents) Appointed August 2014 Committees Community and Development Committee Profile James Rigby was educated at St Ignatius College in North London and has spent most of his career in technology in financial services. He runs his own consultancy company advising companies on Cyber Security. He lives in Tunbridge Wells with his partner Louise and they have six children between them aged between two and eighteen. Two of the children currently attend Skinners' Kent Academy in years 7 and 9. He takes a very keen interest in all education and child welfare matters and had previously been a governor at a state primary school in Essex. |
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Jeremy Stanyard
Position Associate Governor (appointed by The Skinners' Company) Appointed December 2013 Committees Finance and General Purposes Committee, Staffing and Pay Committee Profile Jeremy Stanyard qualified as a civil engineer before embarking on a 30 year career with PA Consulting, in which he specialised in project management in the finance and government sectors. Educated at Whitgift School, Nottingham University and Imperial College, he is now undertaking a number of pro bono roles in education and sport. |
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Matthew Tompkins
Position Principal, The Skinners' Kent Academy (appointed by The Skinners' Company by virtue of role) Committees Ex-officio member of all committees Profile Matthew Tompkins is totally committed to making a positive difference to young people’s lives. Matthew was schooled in Tenterden, Kent and successfully completed his teaching degree at Brighton University before, later in his career, completing a Master’s Degree in Leadership and Management of Schools at Canterbury Christchurch University. Before becoming the Principal at Skinners’ Kent Academy Matthew gained leadership experience through a variety of roles in a number of Kent Schools. Matthew has been an Advanced Skills Teacher, Assistant Head and Vice Principal and has greatly enjoyed aiding the development of the communities he has served. Matthew is motivated by the progress of the young people in his care and is focussed on supporting every young person to be the best they can be. |
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Ed Wesson
Position Foundation Governor (appointed by The Skinners' School Foundation) Appointed August 2013 Committees Education Committee (Chairman) Profile Ed Wesson has been Headmaster at The Skinners’ School since September 2013, having previously been Head of King’s School, Tynemouth. He is a teacher of History and French, and heavily involved in coaching rugby and cricket at all schools he has worked at. Ed lives in Speldhurst with his wife Susie and two daughters, Molly and Ella. |
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