Our Governors

Alex Russell OBE has an MA (Hons) in History from the University of Edinburgh. He gained his teaching qualification from University College London (Institute of Education).

Following two successful headships, Alex established Bourne Education Trust in 2013 to work with schools in challenging circumstances. As CEO, he has grown the Trust from 2 to 26 schools over the last 8 years. It now covers all school phases and includes primary, secondary and special schools as well as those providing alternative provision for pupils outside of mainstream education.

Alex is a National Leader of Education, Chair of the Surrey Teaching Hub and leads Surrey County Council’s inclusion roundtable. In 2021, Alex was awarded an OBE for services to education.

Karen Thomas is an Orthopaedic Surgeon at St George’s NHS Healthcare Trust. She has set up a clinical network providing specialist children’s services to south-west London, Surrey and West Sussex. She is Chair of the Children’s Surgery Group at St George’s and Associate Medical Director.

Karen is committed to surgical education with particular focus on the reduction of premature mortality in surgical patients. Karen is also Director of Professional Affairs (South London) for the Royal College of Surgeons and, as such, has an oversight of the delivery and development of surgical services in that area.

Andrew Pianca, educated at Epsom College from 1964-1969, was Chief Executive and then Chairman of Crowe Clark Whitehill the largest specialist accountancy team in the UK, specialising in the charity and independent school sector.

Andrew was a member of the UK Charity Commission SORP committee that drafted the legislation for reporting by all charities and instrumental in producing guidance on reporting for the independent school sector. He has authored books on charity accounting, reporting and governance, is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences on charity management, governance and reporting and a Trustee of the ICAEW (Chartered Accountants’) charities.

Educated at Epsom between 2001-2003, Sarah studied Geography at University College London before obtaining a first-class law degree at BPP in London. After training, qualifying and practising as an energy lawyer at City law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP, Sarah is now a senior lawyer for an oil major, advising on corporate and commercial matters, and is a mother of young twin daughters.

John was educated at Epsom College from 1969-1974 and went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Christ Church, Oxford.

After initially working in management consulting for Arthur Andersen, John changed to pursue a career in commercial real estate, qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 1986. Specialising in corporate real estate since then, John worked for Richard Ellis (now CBRE), Credit Suisse and Barclays Capital, advising on and managing occupational and data centre real estate requirements, being based at various times in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. John is now with State Street Bank & Trust Co in London where he leads its EMEA real estate team, responsible for the Bank’s occupational property portfolio across the region.

Married to Gill, a Registered General Nurse in primary care, John has three sons. His interests include sport, music, film and art.

Tania Botting is Headmistress of Greenfield School, a co-educational preparatory school in Woking. Tania has worked in a variety of different schools, both within the independent and maintained sectors during her 30-year career.

Tania was educated at Nonsuch High School before completing her Bachelor of Education at the University of Winchester. Tania completed a Masters in Educational Leadership in 2015.

Tania is an active member of IAPS (the Independent Association of Prep Schools) and was the Vice Chairman from 2017 to 2018. Tania is also an ISI inspector.

Executive Head of Guildford High School from September 2022, Fiona was Headmistress between 2002- 2022 and Deputy Head for five years previously.
 
Currently a Member of the Learning Partners Academy Trust and a member of the governing body of St Ives Prep School and Epsom College. She is an Associate Director of the University of Cumbria in addition to being part of the Ofqual Advisory Group and the Pearson Advisory Group.
 
Fiona held the HMC Chair role for 2019-20 and was an Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Education (2019-2021). Fiona is on the Advisory Board of a new charity, School Partnerships Alliance (SPA), which will focus on promoting the best partnership practice across both state and independent education sectors. Fiona was awarded an OBE for services in education in 2023.

Vivianne graduated from Warwick University with an LLB (Hons) in Law and subsequently qualified as a solicitor with Lovell White Durrant (now Hogan Lovells) specialising in technology, data protection and telecommunications law.

Having moved back to the UK after living and working in Singapore, Malaysia and Germany for over 20 years, Vivianne is now the Group Chief Compliance Officer of SAP SE, leading a team that promotes ethical and sustainable business practices, addressing the risks posed by corruption and bribery.

Vivianne has three sons, two of whom have studied at Epsom College.

The Very Revd Dianna Gwilliams read Physics and Chemistry at university in the US before moving to the UK to work as a sound engineer. She stayed in the industry for 12 years before training for ordination.

She has more than 15 years’ experience of youth ministry and more than 25 years’ experience as a school governor in the maintained sector. Dianna has also been involved in local regeneration, community provision of education and healthcare and actively supports a number of charities. Currently, she is Chair of Inclusive Church, an organisation committed to working for a church that is welcoming and open to all.

John Hay was educated in Glasgow and moved to London to pursue a career in journalism. He spent 15 years working on newspapers and business magazines before making the move into PR and advertising with two of the UK’s ‘Top 20’ agencies.

He subsequently set up a full-service marketing communications consultancy, running it for 10 years before retiring in 2018. Both his son and his daughter attended Epsom College.

Ashley Head’s 30-year corporate career has seen him occupy the roles of senior vice president at Chase Manhattan Bank; and senior vice-president at Mastercard International. He has also built and sold four companies, including Datacash – a top 50 AIM company – which he sold to Mastercard in 2010.

Ashley also supports many charities and is a Trustee of The National Emergencies Trust and an Ambassador to The Childrens Trust.

Dej became a Governor in 2016, having previously been a Member of Council. He’s a proud OE, a former Head of School and a Cambridge law graduate who was called to the Bar of England and Wales as a Harmsworth Award winner. He is a founding director of All Our Business Ltd (AOB), a legal and business consultancy in music and entertainment. Through AOB, Dej became a founding director of the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships and a founding director of Young Voices International.

Previously, Dej was a VP at Sony Music. During that time, he was a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster, a contributing author of Digitisation and the Music Industry and became a Member of the Mayor’s Creative Commission for London. He is on the Governing Board of the BRIT School of the Performing Arts. In 2018, Dej was seconded to the Senior Management Team at Warner Chappell Music and in 2020, he was appointed as the first Non-Executive Chairman of West One Music Group.

Julian held the position of Managing Director, Alliance Healthcare UK, the UK’s largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, from 2017-2022. Leading a team of more than 5,500 employees across 11 business units, distributing pharmaceuticals and medical services to community pharmacies, hospitals and homes across the UK.

Raised in Nigeria, Julian returned to the UK to study Electrical & Electronic Engineering before embarking on a career in Global healthcare management. A seasoned industry expert, with experience domestically and across five continents, Julian has worked in healthcare, supply chain and bio-tech businesses. His roles have included European Vice President and European Leadership Team member at Pfizer, and International Vice President at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. In his most recent role, Julian was responsible for the UK roll-out of the COVID vaccination program delivering over 45 million doses. 

Anish joined the Board of Governors in March 2023. He is an OE (Robinson House 1998-2003) with an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Having started his career at L.E.K. Consulting and Barclays, Anish is now a private investor and advisor to private-equity-backed companies. Anish is passionate about the transformative potential of technology in education, and sits on the Board of multiple education-related organisations, including as Chair of a MAT secondary school.

George Pincus MBE left Epsom College in 1961 and pursued a career in advertising for 25 years, building his own agency, which subsequently became part of the Omnicom Group. In 1991, he started a second career in recruitment and was Head of Recruiting for an international management consultancy until his retirement in 2017.

George has pursued his passion for influencing the lives of young people by serving as a long-term Member of the Council of the Royal Medical Foundation of Epsom College and Chair of Governors of Epsom College from 2002-2008. He is also a Governor of the Bishop David Brown School in Woking and was awarded an MBE in 2013 for services to education. He has two sons, both of whom attended Epsom College.

Educated at Epsom College from 2006-2011, Alex studied Management at the University of Nottingham before starting accountancy at KPMG, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2019.

Alex worked at KPMG for over seven years, initially as a member of the Technology, Media and Telecoms audit team before joining the Energy Deal Advisory team. Alex is now working at investment banking firm Moelis & Company advising on transactions across a broad range of industries and products including M&A, restructuring, capital markets and financial institutions advisory.

Alex is also a governor and chairs the Finance and Resources Committee at Esher Church of England High School.

Educated at Epsom College from 1974-1979, Clive Watson ACA MA, read History at Reading before starting accountancy at Price Waterhouse, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1986.

Clive spent time in the City before going into commerce in 1990 and over the last 25 years has had roles as Finance Director and Chief Executive of various listed pub and brewery companies. He is currently Chairman of The City Pub Company and holds various non-executive roles.

Dr Alastair Wells MB BS DRCOG MRCGP was educated at Epsom College from 1973-1978 and went on to read medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, graduating in 1983.

He has worked as a GP in Merstham, Surrey from 1987- 2020 in a six-partner practice. He was PEC Chair for East Surrey PCT from 2002-2006 and also as Medical Adviser to First Community, a Social Enterprise company providing Community Services in East Surrey until his retirement. He was a Tutor of fifth year Medical students at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School for 10 years.

Alastair has been a Governor of Epsom College and a Council member of the Royal Medical Foundation of Epsom College since 2004. He was Chairman of the Royal Medical Foundation of Epsom College since 2013-23 and Chair of the Board of Governors 2016-23. He is a Past President of the Old Epsomian Club and was Honorary Secretary of the Old Epsomian Golf Society.