Cheryl Giovannoni
Chief Executive

Cheryl Giovannoni joined the Girls’ Day School Trust as CEO in 2016. Born and brought up in South Africa, Cheryl’s first career saw her leading some of the world’s largest companies in the advertising and creative industries in the WPP Group. She was CEO of boutique design agency Coley Porter Bell, European President of global brand consulting firm Landor Associates, and UK CEO of advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather London.

Cheryl has spent much of her career supporting women in the workplace, helping them thrive and push the boundaries, often in male dominated industries. Over many years, she has dedicated time to mentoring people from all walks of life, in the GDST family and through the WACL mentoring  programme.

She is passionate about the power of education to solve the world’s most intractable problems, and the role women play in creating an equal and better world for all.

Joining GDST – an organisation dedicated to educating girls – was a dream role for Cheryl. As Chief Executive of one of the UK’s largest charities, Cheryl is responsible for 26 schools and nearly 20,000 students across the UK, leading a talented workforce of 4,000 teachers and support staff, all committed to the mission of helping girls learn without limits.

With the GDST having surpassed it’s 150th anniversary in 2022, Cheryl’s ambition is to continue to build on the organisation’s powerful legacy as the global leader in girls’ education, pioneers in and shapers of the future for the next 150 years and beyond.

A yoga devotee and eternal optimist, Cheryl lives in London and has two daughters; one who has recently entered the teaching profession, and the other who has just graduated and is beginning her own journey into the world of work.

Simon Haywood
Chief Financial Officer

Simon is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales with over 25 years of hands on financial, accounting and management experience with most of his time spent in Private Equity backed businesses.

Simon joined the GDST in June 2024, having gained extensive experience in K-12 school positions, which included several roles in the Cognita Schools group and Affinitas Education. His commercial and management experience will support the ongoing development of the GDST strategy, as we continue to extend our reach and increase the number of students within our schools ‘where girls learn without limits’.

Simon has a keen interest in technology, automation and stakeholder engagement, which will ensure the GDST continues to realise efficiencies as the tech and AI landscape evolves.

Rosalind Simpson
People Director

Ros joined the GDST as Director of People in August 2023, although her involvement with the GDST began some time earlier when she was a pupil (and Deputy Head Girl) at Nottingham Girls’ High School.

Ros worked within the Higher Education Sector for several years, most recently as Director of Human Resources and a member of the Senior Leadership Team at the University of Lincoln. Prior to this, Ros’s career in HR and Organisational Development was in financial services, with Capital One Bank in Nottingham, and prior to that at the John Lewis Partnership.

She is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, a Mental Health First Aider and holds an MSc in Personal, Executive and Corporate Coaching.

Ros lives in the East Midlands, is very proud of her GDST roots and wants to help empower our girls to have fulfilling careers and lives.

Marianne Clarke
Director of Marketing & Engagement

Marianne is a former broadcast journalist who has worked at the BBC in on-air and leadership roles. She was the editorial lead on numerous radio, TV and online outlets and has served on the senior leadership teams of BBC News and BBC England.

Marianne led the ‘Women in Leadership’ programme for BBC News and delivered groundbreaking work to accelerate the career progression of women across the whole organisation. The results were presented at the World Economic Forum. She has worked extensively with partner organisations to realise the opportunities of collaborative working.

Marianne is a passionate advocate for all-girls’ education rooted in her own experiences. This led her to the position of Director of Engagement & Development at one of the country’s leading girls’ schools before joining the GDST in June 2024.

Cathryn Buckle
Chief Transformation Officer

Cathryn is a qualified architect who has experience in a number of programme management and educational estates leadership roles across both the private and public sector.

David Boyd
Director of Legal and Risk Assurance

David is a solicitor who specialised in charity law at Berwin Leighton Paisner, and was a senior lawyer at the Charity Commission, before becoming the GDST’s Head of Legal in March 2011, and then Director of Legal in March 2018. David has been Director of Legal and Risk Assurance since July 2021.

Vicky Tuck
Chair
Vicky Tuck has extensive experience of school leadership and governance in national and international contexts.

In 2017 she completed a six year mandate as Director General of The International School of Geneva, the largest (4500 students) and oldest international school and the birthplace of the International Baccalaureate.

Vicky was previously Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, a position she held from 1996 to 2011. She was President of the Girls’ Schools Association in 2008 and Vice Chair of the Independent Schools Council, chairing its Education Committee prior to her departure to Switzerland.

Earlier in her career, Vicky worked at the Institute of Education, now part of UCL, training modern languages teachers. Having been a modern languages teacher for many years, Vicky speaks fluent French, respectable Italian and hesitant Spanish. Having begun her career as a teacher at Putney High School, followed by five years at Bromley High School, Vicky is delighted to serve on the GDST Council.

Ann Ewing

Ann is a senior executive leader with broad experience in general management, change management, and strategic HR. She has worked in the commercial and not for profit sectors, specialising since 2010 in education. After completing her PGCE and PhD at Trinity College, Cambridge, she worked as an Assistant Lecturer in the University of London in the early 1980s, later joining BP where she worked in various positions until 2006.

Ann took up the position of Head of Learning and Development at HSBC Bank in 2006, a post she held for four years. She later worked with Ark, the children’s education charity.

Ann currently teaches on postgraduate programmes with the Open University Business School, and is Vice Chair of Council, Royal Holloway College University of London.  She is founding chair of governors at Ark Soane Academy, a start-up secondary school in Acton, west London.

Pete Oliver

Peter Oliver is the Chief Marketing Officer for DAZN Group, the world’s leading sports entertainment platform.

DAZN is the market leader in Italy, Germany, Spain and Japan. It is also the global broadcaster for the UEFA Women’s Champions League driving rapid growth of women’s football by streaming the tournament in over 200 countries worldwide.

He was previously a Managing Director at BT where he led diverse teams across multiple brands including EE, BT, Plusnet and BT Sport.

At BT, he was heavily involved in BT’s digital literacy programme, sponsoring programmes with partners such as UNICEF to work with schools to help over 1 million children in the UK make the most of the internet while staying safe online.

Peter graduated with a law degree and later studied a masters degree in Business Telecommunications management.

Poppy is the appointed Safeguarding Trustee on the Board. She has extensive knowledge in this area having been on the Tri-borough Local Safeguarding Children’s Board for seven years and currently an active member of the Hammersmith and Fulham Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Forum and Partnership Group. She is used to taking the strategic view across provision and has unique access to deep-dives into current safeguarding policy.

Over the last 15 years Poppy has built up a wealth of experience across the entire schools sector clearly validating her dedication to the youth and outstanding education:  founder of Little Owls Nursery School, literacy link Governor of Oxford Gardens primary school; Trustee of Addison Youth Club and Fundraising Working Group member of London Youth.

Until recently Poppy was also an elected member of the Gloucestershire Schools Forum overseeing the allocation and distribution of funding in the Dedicated Schools Grant. She is currently Chair of Churchdown School Academy, a large secondary school in Gloucester.

Having attended an all-girls school, Poppy greatly appreciates the determination and ambition that a single sex education has given her.

Stuart Ross

Stuart is a Chartered Accountant and he is a non-executive director of businesses in the finance sector.

Stuart has held CFO roles in large UK businesses in the energy and telecommunications sectors and, more recently, in international media and technology businesses backed by private equity.

These roles have typically been in businesses which have undergone significant change as a result of market developments and have required changes to their business models and operational capabilities. He also has extensive experience of corporate treasury and financing, and mergers and acquisitions.

Carolyn has had an extensive career in finance, most recently as a Managing Director and Head of Structured Product at The Blackstone Group, and previously as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and DLJ. Her experience includes sitting on Investment and Risk Committees for these organisations. She brings strategic commercial experience, a legal background and track record of building new businesses and containing risk during growth.

Carolyn currently sits as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of Northern Trust Investor Services and chairs the Risk, Audit and Compensation Committees. She is also a Board and Audit, Finance and Risk Committee Member of a leading social investment firm.

Carolyn is a member of the Edinburgh University Investment Committee and a former Board member and Chair of the Audit Committee at the University of Law, the UK’s longest-established specialist provider of legal education with 9 campuses and over 13,000 students.

Seda Yalçinkaya

Seda Yalçınkaya is Partner and General Counsel – International at Apollo Global Management, leading teams across London, Luxembourg and Singapore. With over two decades of experience in M&A transactions and private capital, her previous roles include EMEA General Counsel at Silver Lake, Deputy General Counsel at Citi Capital Advisors and Deputy Head of M&A Legal for Citigroup. Seda serves on the boards of various industry associations and holds non-executive director roles in regulated financial services companies.

Seda is passionate about girls’ education and recruiting and promoting women in financial services businesses. Both through her professional associations and in her personal life, she has supported, led and participated in networks and charitable organisations furthering these goals, including most recently Women in Leadership Global.

Seda holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School.

Giselle is a Managing Director with over two decades of experience in strategy and finance, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financing. She has spent the last fifteen years at HSBC, most recently leading the investment banking Telecommunications Infrastructure and Education teams globally; covering clients across nurseries, K-12, higher education, corporate training, languages, testing and certification, tutoring, fostering, special needs and education technology. Prior to HSBC, she worked in Techint Group in business development and e-commerce.

Giselle is an active promoter of diversity and inclusion. Throughout her career she led a number of talent acquisition, development, retention and global mobility programmes. She is a Master in Industrial Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires, where she became assistant professor of Investment Projects.  She also holds a Masters in Business Administration from London Business School.

Giselle is currently serving as a non-executive director to other companies in Education. Giselle speaks fluent Spanish and Italian, and conversational French.

Fraser Montgomery
Trustee

Fraser is the Chief Financial Officer at LGH Hotels Limited, with a portfolio of 60 UK Hotels carrying the Hilton, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Best Western brands.

Previously Fraser was Commercial Director of Merlin Entertainments plc, Europe’s largest entertainments company, and best known for the LEGOLAND, Madame Tussaud’s, and London Eye brands.

As Merlin’s Commercial Director, Fraser had strategic responsibility for customer experiences, partner promotions, food and beverage, retail, hotels, and photography across 130 sites worldwide.

An ACA qualified accountant, Fraser has over 20 years’ experience in the leisure and hospitality industry. Before joining Merlin, Fraser worked for Marks & Spencer. He also serves on the Boards of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

Kate Smith is an alumna of Croydon High School with a thirty-plus year career in the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. Her most recent overseas role was as HM Ambassador in Athens, where a core part of her work was the promotion of UK university education.

Earlier in her career, Kate worked at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York, the British Embassy in Tehran and in London, Director Americas. More recently she was seconded as Director in the Cabinet Office COVID Task Force in 2021-22, dealing with vaccine and therapeutics deployment and international aspects of the pandemic response.

Kate also has private sector experience, first at Shell as Head of UK Government Relations from 2008-2012 and recently in the defence industry, as Campaign Director, Emerging Markets at Babcock International.

Kate is a fluent Greek speaker and Trustee and Council member at the British School at Athens, one of the British Academy-funded International Research Institutes; and the Anglo-Hellenic League, an organisation founded in 1913 to promote friendship and understanding between Britons and Greeks.

Jeremy is CEO and Founder of Attest, a fast-scaling technology business based in London and New York. Attest makes high-quality consumer research easy and fast for anyone, so you can show or ask with real consumers all over the world.

He previously worked at McKinsey & Company across more than 25 countries, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, also studied at MIT, and was originally a scientist focusing on biology, genetics and ecology (with a particular interest in mathematical modelling of reef fish behaviour).

Jeremy’s other board roles include Chair at REAch2 Academy Trust, and Trustee at Nesta. REAch2 is the largest state primary schools trust in the U.K., currently supporting 60 primary schools and more than 19,000 children. Nesta is the UK’s innovation agency for social good; a £450m endowed charity which designs, tests and scales new solutions to society’s biggest problems.

Misan Nwokorie
Trustee

Misan Nwokorie is an accomplished portfolio Non-Executive Director, Vice Chair, Committee Chair, and Trustee with extensive leadership experience.

As Vice Chair of the Arts University Bournemouth board, Misan provides strategic oversight, ensuring regulatory compliance and alignment with the institution’s 10-year strategic plan. She chairs the Project Control Group and serves on the Governance, Remuneration, and Finance & Resource Committees.

Misan is a Board Member of the Milton Keynes Development Partnership, where she oversees strategy and business planning to optimise performance and real estate assets. She also contributes on the Audit, Risk, and Nomination Committees.

As a committee advisor to the African Science Academy, Ghana, an A-Level STEM school for academically gifted girls with outstanding maths and science potential, Misan continues to provide her expertise and champion meaningful causes.

With over two decades of executive experience in UK real estate, Misan has worked across design, construction, and property development. She has held roles in major UK organisations and has been responsible for leading numerous high-profile capital projects and infrastructure projects in the built environment. She has a robust background in managing large-scale, complex projects, undertaking notable projects such as the Athletes Village for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Her professional qualifications include an MSc Project Management module from the University of Reading, RIBA Part III from the University of Westminster, a Diploma in Architecture from Kingston University, and a BA (Hons) in Architecture from the University of Manchester.

Emily Whitelock

Emily is a qualified solicitor with over a decade of experience advising the pensions and retirement savings industry. She guides trustees on all legal aspects of managing occupational pension schemes, from investments and risk transfer to disputes and contracts. She has a particular interest in effective governance and risk management.

Her professional qualifications include a MA in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge.

An alumna of Sheffield High School (where she started in Y4), Emily is thrilled to draw on her experience as a GDST girl, as well as her professional skills, as a member of Council.