Our People

Our Team

John Whitgift Foundation has a wide pool of talent across the foundation. Our people work in a variety of roles, caring for and assisting thousands of people in Croydon on a daily basis. John Whitgift Foundation’s staff are based in our schools, care homes, Carers’ Information Service or in the Foundation’s head office in central Croydon.

Foundation head office

Martin Corney – Chief Executive
Michael Webb – Chief Finance Officer
Helen Gough – Director of Property
Emily Boynton – Director of Human Resources
Catherine Shirley – Head of Marketing and Communications

School head teachers

Jane Burton – Head, Old Palace of John Whitgift School
Alasdair Kennedy – Headmaster, Trinity School
Chris Ramsey – Headmaster, Whitgift School

Whitgift Care

Melody Akena – Care Manager, Whitgift House
Deborah Pearson – Care Manager, Wilhelmina House
Tanya Fitzgerald – Carers’ Information Service

Our governors

Our Court governors come from a range of educational, care and business backgrounds. They oversee the day-to-day management of the charity, led by Chief Executive Martin Corney. The Court of Governors meets four times a year to make key decisions and discuss the Foundation. Governors also sit on subcommittees that meet three times a year relating to aspects of the Foundation’s work.

Christopher Houlding - Chairman

Christopher was appointed as Chairman of the Court of Governors on 25 March 2015. He was educated at Trinity School before embarking on a career in financial services, initially joining stockbroker W Greenwell & Co. Christopher built his early career as a fixed income specialist and held senior positions at several leading investment banks. He was a Managing Director in the Wealth Management division of UBS AG in London from 2003 to 2019, before retiring from banking to run his own consulting business. Christopher is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. He joined the Court of Governors in 2001 and served as a Trinity School Governor from November 2000 to March 2015.

David Seymour CB

David was educated at Trinity School and studied history and then law at The Queen’s College, Oxford. He worked for a firm of lawyers in Los Angeles for a year before taking a postgraduate LL.B degree at Cambridge University and qualifying as a barrister in 1975. He has spent his career in Whitehall. He was Director General of the Attorney General’s Office from 1997-2000 and was Legal Adviser and Director General at the Home Office from 2000 until his retirement in 2012. He was elected a Bencher of Gray’s Inn in 2001 and elected to the Management Committee of the Inn in 2011. He received a CB in the New Year’s Honours List in 2005. He has been Chairman of Reigate Squash Club and is also currently Chairman of the Remuneration Committee at The Queen’s College, Oxford. In 2013 he was appointed by the Secretary of State to be the Independent Reviewer of police operations under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007. In 2015 he was appointed Chairman of the Trinity School Committee and a member of the Court of John Whitgift Foundation.

Anand Mehta FRCP

Dr Anand Mehta has a long association with Croydon since 1994, initially as a trainee senior registrar and then as a Consultant Physician in Geriatric Medicine at Croydon University Hospital and private practice based at BMI Shirley Oaks Hospital, Croydon. He trained in Geriatric Medicine and Gastroenterology in Liverpool, Hammersmith Hospital and St George’s Hospital in London. His clinical practice includes the holistic management of older people with multiple complex chronic medical conditions and has a special interest in Parkinson’s disease, Dementia and Gastroenterology. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London. Since 2004 he has worked part-time as Associate Dean at Health Education England where he is responsible for ensuring high quality training of postgraduate doctors in South London. Anand is Chairman of the Whitgift Care Committee.

Asif Patel, ACA, MSc

Asif trained with Arthur Andersen and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2001. Since then he was worked in the banking sector as an Internal Auditor. Since 2003, he has worked in Group Internal Audit at UBS AG and has held various roles in both the UK and Switzerland. Asif is Chairman of the Governance & External Relations Committee.

The Revd Canon Dr Andrew Bishop, Chaplain to the Foundation

Andrew took up his appointment as Incumbent of Croydon in September 2018. He was previously a Residentiary Canon of Guildford Cathedral and Chaplain to the University of Surrey. Andrew has extensive parish experience in London and Winchester Dioceses as Vicar and Area Dean. Andrew is part of the Church of England’s Strategic Leadership Development Programme. Prior to ordination Andrew studied History and Religious Studies and spent a year living and working in Bangladesh at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Dhaka. Andrew has pursued further studies in theology, completing a Master of Theology degree at Heythrop College, London and a Doctorate in Theology and Ministry at Kings College, London. Andrew is author of two books, Eucharist Shaping: Hebert’s Liturgy and Society(2013) and Theosomnia: A Christian Theology of Sleep (2018).

Diana Payne

Diana was educated at Old Palace of John Whitgift School. She studied Law at Durham University subsequently qualifying as a solicitor in 1990. Diana is a senior partner in leading law firm Blackfords LLP.

Nick Edwards

Nick is the Chief Operating Office of Audley Group, the UK’s leading Developer and Operator of Retirement Villages. Nick joined Audley in December 2019 and before this was Chief Financial Officer of Moorfield Group, a UK focused Real Estate Private Equity Fund Manager. He was at Moorfield from 2008 to 2019 and was a member of the Board and the Investment Committee, on which he continues to sit following his move to Audley.

Mark Long

Mark was educated at Trinity School before graduating with a law degree at University College, Oxford. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse before spending his career in investment banking with firms such as Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and HSBC. At HSBC, he was a Managing Director and Global Head of its Transport, Shipping, Services and Offshore business before spending three years in Hong Kong where he served as Co-Head of Infrastructure and Real Estate in Asia before retiring from banking in 2018. Mark is Chairman of the Finance and Administration Committee.

Jo MacKenzie

Recently retired, Jo has over 30 years working in the education sector, beginning her career in the Girls’ Day School Trust. Most of her experience has been in teaching in girls’ school (three GDST schools) but was one of the first female Heads of Department at Alleyns School, Dulwich. In her last headship Jo was asked to merge the two largest girls’ school in Bedford to form Bedford Girls’ School, now one of the largest and very successful girls’ school in East Anglia.

Jo was educated in Australia and has much experience of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, and introduced to Bedford Girls’ School the IB’s Primary Years Programme whilst she was Head. She was Chair of the GSA Sports Committee for five years, an ISI inspector, and has recently become a member ECB London and East Regional Advisory Board to support women and girls’ cricket. Jo also works as an advisory Head for RSAcademics, a company that offers specialist services for the search and selection, coaching and development of school leaders and senior staff.

Jo has a Masters in Education and Leadership (Dist) and has been asked to mentor many Heads as they start their careers in these senior positions. Two of her Senior Leadership Team she appointed went onto Headships and many of her Heads of Dept have moved onto Senior Leadership roles.

The Rt Revd Dr Rosemarie Mallett

The Right Revd Dr Rosemarie Mallett was born in Barbados but has lived much of her life in the UK. She has worked in West and East Africa as well as back in the Caribbean as an academic and researcher. She returned to the UK to study for her PhD. After working as an academic sociologist for twelve years, she trained for ordained ministry. Since 2005, she has served in various roles in the Diocese of Southwark, based in south London and East Surrey, as parish priest, diocesan director, and archdeacon, and now serves as the bishop of Croydon.

Rosemarie is Chair of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education, and a Trustee of several other diocesan and national para-church organisations, including Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI). From 2010 to 2021, she served on the General Synod of the Church of England, was one of the Synod Chairs for 5 years, and on several Archbishop’s Council committees, including the Women in the Episcopate Steering Committee and the Pastoral Advisory Group. Rosemarie is a Fellow of the Westminster Abbey Institute and a Visiting Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge.

Warwick Jones

Warwick was educated at Trinity School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. After qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1976 he spent most of his career in financial services and banking. He was finance director of a number of commercial organisations until 2006, when he was appointed Finance Director of the Bank of England, a position he held until he retired in 2013. He is the Treasurer of the charity Family Lives, a national charity supporting parents and the wider family, and a member of the Council of the Trinity Midwhitgiftian Association, the school’s former pupils’ association. Warwick has been a member of the Audit Committee of Surrey County Cricket Club for a number of years, and is currently Interim Treasurer.

Sarah Fisher

Sarah Fisher became a registered nurse in 1987 and following a 12 year career in clinical and senior clinical roles was appointed Chief Nursing Officer at HCA Healthcare. She was subsequently appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of its Harley Street Clinic and Cancer Services before her appointment as Chief Executive at HCA Joint Ventures and then Wellington Hospital. Sarah is an experienced chief executive and board member with a proven record and experience of providing clear leadership in complex organisations within both the public and private sectors. Sarah is a member of the Whitgift Care Committee and is chair of the Strategy Subcommittee.

Peter Cornforth

Peter has spent over 30 years in the real estate investment and development industry and currently holds a range of business appointments, including Senior Adviser to global investment house PineBridge Benson Elliot. Most recently he was a Director at European private equity property fund Benson Elliot. He is a Chartered Valuation Surveyor, holds a BSc in Land Management and is a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts.

Peter is currently a Trustee and finance committee member at Ormiston Trust, a 52 school/32,000 pupil national provider, and has previously held non-executive/audit committee roles at 2 London social housing providers, has chaired an NHS mental health Trust, and been vice-chair of the National Autistic Society, having joined as a volunteer parent member. He also sits on the Investment Advisory Group for Transport for London’s £2bn wholly owned property subsidiary, TTLP.

Ann Wright

Ann was admitted as a solicitor in 1983. For 20 years Ann was a partner of a large London commercial law firm.

Retirement from legal practice in 2010 led to a new career as a regulator and from 2010 to 2017 Ann was the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Regulation Board which regulates patent and trade mark attorneys.

Ann is currently a Board member of the Regulatory Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Ann went to school at Bexley Grammar School Welling and studied law at St Hugh’s College Oxford. Ann was the first in her family to go to University.