Chair
Dame Christine Gilbert
Dame Christine Gilbert DBE was the Head of Ofsted, also known as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills between October 2006 and 30 June 2011.
Education Endowment Foundation:Hanneke Smits
Hanneke Smits
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Hanneke Smits is the CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management. She is also Chair of Impetus and Global Chair of 30% Club.
Hanneke was previously CEO of Newton Investment Management. She also served as a member of the Executive Committee at private equity firm Adams Street Partners from 2001 to 2014, and was its Chief Investment Officer from 2008 to 2014. She joined Adams Street in 1997 to successfully launch its presence in Europe and Asia, and to build out its global investment capabilities.
In addition, she was an investment manager at Pantheon Ventures, and worked for Philips China Hong Kong Group. Hanneke is a member of the Investment Association’s board; she serves as Chair of Impetus. Hanneke is co-founder, and former Chair, of Level 20, a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2015 to inspire women to join and succeed in the private equity industry.
Originally from the Netherlands, she has a BBA from Nijenrode University and a MBA from the London Business School.
Naomi Eisenstadt
Naomi is Deputy Chair of the Poverty and Inequality Commission for Scotland and has had recent fellowships at the University of Oxford and LSE.
Sir Peter Gershon
Sir Peter is a former Chair of National Grid, a non-executive Chairman of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance Management Board and a Trustee of The Sutton Trust.
Lucy Heller
Lucy is Chief Executive of Ark. Lucy joined Ark in 2004 from TSL Education, a subsidiary of News International, where she was joint Managing Director.
Professor Sir Kevan Collins
Kevan is a member of the Cognita Board. He was Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) from 2011 to 2019.
Hanneke Smits
Hanneke Smits is the CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management. She is also Chair of Impetus and Global Chair of 30% Club.
Sonia Thompson
Sonia Thompson is the Headteacher at St Matthew’s C.E. Primary School and the Director of St Matthew’s Research School in Nechells Birmingham.
Sarah Breeden
Sarah Breeden is Executive Director for Financial Stability Strategy and Risk, and a member of the Financial Policy Committee at the Bank of England – the body tasked by Parliament with ensuring the UK financial system is resilient.
Graham Elton
Graham is a Partner at Bain & Company where he ran the Private Equity practice in EMEA from 2005 to mid-2018 and is now Chair. He has 15 years of experience on the firm’s Investment Committee and was also a leader in the Media practice.
Zoe Lewis CBE
Zoe became Middlesbrough College’s first female Principal in 2013 and has since developed the college substantially in skills priority areas such as engineering, green energy, construction, health and digital sectors.