Nominations for the Executive Committee
Stephen Silver - Principal
Branch and time in school
London and Berkshire: joined 1974
Occupation and qualifications
Retired IT Project Manager and Consultant.
Current responsibilities in School
Principal; Berkshire Branch Leader; philosophy tutor.
Relevant background in School
At least 40 years philosophy tutoring; Gita Study group and residential leader; member of Fellowship since (about) 1990; elected Principal in 2019.
Chris Rees - Treasurer
Chris Rees joined the school in New York in 1971. He has been a tutor in the St Albans branch for many years. He is currently tutor of an online Part 2 course. He co-led a series of courses in London entitled Philosophy in Business, which led to the publication of a book, “From Principles to Profit”. Now retired after a 50-year career in the IT industry, he held senior management positions in Logica, Deloitte Consulting, and Charteris plc, which he co-founded. He was President of the British Computer Society in 2018-2019 and a trustee of the charity from 2017-2020. He was elected to the Fellowship in 2007 and joined the Executive Committee in 2020. He was elected Treasurer of the Fellowship in 2020.
The Fellowship must also elect seven members to the Executive Committee. The following are nominated:
Julian Ansell
Julian became a student at the School in London in the mid 1970’s and became a member of the Fellowship in 2017. His working life, from which he retired in 2017, began as a bank clerk and then a carpenter/joiner which led to him creating over 30 years a multi-million pound manufacturing business supplying the construction industry. He was instrumental in writing the Report to the Executive which resulted in the refurbishment of Nanpantan Hall. He has served the School in many roles and is currently Bursar/Building Manager of 96 Sedlescombe Road and the five St Oswald’s Studios which are now run on a commercial and profitable basis whilst still conforming to the principles of the School.
Anthea Douglas
Anthea retired from teaching after 42 years, half of which was at St James School, London. She began studying Philosophy in the London School in 1977 and has tutored groups at all levels, from Introductory through to Senior School. She has studied Sanskrit for many years and developed the material for the 3-year Online Introductory Sanskrit Course. More recently, she has been enjoying the study of Economics. Anthea joined the Fellowship in 2013 and has served on the Executive for 5 years. She is currently General Secretary to the Fellowship with particular responsibility for Nanpantan Hall.
Elina Grigoriou
Elina is a member of the M Stream, having joined the School more than a decade ago, and has been a member of the Fellowship for five years. She has served as a First Year tutor for five years and is now part of the online tutoring team. Elina has successfully hosted webinars such as the Annual Language Lecture, Teachers Day and Beginning of the Year Lecture. She is a key figure in the organisation of the ‘Wisdom of Women’ event, now in its third year and, at the beginning of lockdown, was the instigator of Awareness Live sessions on Facebook. She runs her own interior design and sustainability consultancy business and champions systemic change in commercial and residential markets.
Yolande Hesse
Originally from Australia, Yolande joined the School in London and shortly afterwards transferred to Guildford. She is a prominent member of the Guildford Branch where she tutors Plato and Philosophy as well as arranging many of the Branch activities. Since Covid she has also been tutoring the national online course.
Yolande has been a Fellowship member for over 20 years. She also has some Executive experience having been co-opted by Ian Mason for a period. Currently she serves on the Property Working Group and many people will know Yolande from many years organising the catering at Art in Action. She has recently retired from her successful residential house design business.
Richard Ibbett
Richard Ibbett has been a member of the School in London for 40 years, and part of the Fellowship for 20 years, serving as Chair of the Membership Committee for 6 years. He has been a philosophy tutor for 30 years, tutoring in both the early parts, the senior school and in the branches. As an architect he has been principal of Ibbett Associates for 25 years and has been on the RIBA register of conservation architects. He has professional experience of working with clients in the charity sector including the SPES and the IEA.
Matthew McNeill
Matt joined the School in London in 1995. He is a Senior Business Director in the high-tech sector, focusing on Cloud Computing, Application Development, Data Analytics and AI. He is currently a tutor in the introductory and first year Philosophy department. He has over twenty years experience tutoring philosophy and assisting with study groups, and developing courses in the Horizons Programme and Advanced Economics. Matt has been a member of the Fellowship since (about) 2004.
Sherry Moran
Sherry’s career has evolved from large corporate to serial entrepreneur. Her current business is a pharma tech company. She completed the Goldman Sachs business bootcamp in 2014 which is equal to an MBA Business Degree.
In the 40 years with SPES she has tutored parts 1-12, written and directed the 10-minute History of the School video, and run the Ceramics section of the Art in Action festival. On its closure, Sherry put together a team to launch the 3-day summer festival, Celebrating Ceramics at Waterperry Gardens.
She has been a member of the Fellowship since 2007, the Executive since 2020 and the Strategy Working Group, the purpose of which is to lay the groundwork for the changes needed to meet the challenges currently facing the school.
Paul Moss
Paul has been a member of the School in London since 1975 and a Fellowship member for 20 years. He has tutored First Year groups for many years and is now a tutor with the M Stream.
His career in education encompassed such roles as Headmaster of Thomas’s Preparatory School 1982 - 1992, Headmaster of St James Primary School, London 1993-2009, Chairman of the Independent Schools Assoc. 2003-2005, Vice President of ISA 2016-2019, Director of Development St James Schools worldwide 2009-2016.
He has variously acted as a Governor for four schools and developed courses in governance and leadership. Currently he is working for the Education Renaissance Trust developing and running courses worldwide including the ERT Lucca International Teachers' Conference.
Edward Saunders
Edward has been a student of the School in London for over 30 years. Originally a music graduate, for several years he took part in some of the School's music productions and was a member of Discantus. He studied law and economics in the School for many years and qualified as a barrister before becoming a solicitor in 1997. He has spent over 24 years in private practice in London and has been a partner since 2000.
Edward has tutored economics in the School for over 15 years and teaches the introductory Economics with Justice courses. He is married with three sons and enjoys playing sport (particularly tennis), walking up mountains and immersing himself in cold mountain streams.
Edward was co-opted onto the Executive Committee upon John Meltzer stepping down in 2014. He became an elected member in 2018. He looks after a wide variety of the School’s internal and external legal affairs.