To mark Trustees’ Week, we’re celebrating the Court governors who give their time to guide the John Whitgift Foundation. Juliet Jukes joined the Court just over a year ago, bringing a career in people management and HR, along with a personal connection to Croydon, education, and care.
A happy coincidence
Juliet responded to a call for trustees with experience in people management and HR, which is her professional background. But several personal links made the opportunity feel right.
“I saw a LinkedIn advert, and it was a very bizarre coincidence: education, where I spent a lot of my career; care homes, because my family’s business when I was a child growing up was running a care home in Croydon; and Croydon itself, which is my hometown. And then there was HR.”
Juliet wasn’t looking for a trustee role at all. “It really connected on a number of different levels, and I thought, well, maybe I’ve got something to offer. I went through an interview process and really liked the people that I met.”
A front-row seat
Juliet joined at a significant moment. “It’s been a really exciting time to be part of the Foundation’s discussions and deliberations,” she says, “particularly the once-in-a-lifetime decision to release the freehold of the Whitgift Centre. To see the amount of rigour that has been applied to these commercial decisions has been really impressive, because there’s so much trust invested in the Foundation.”
That sense of trust is something Juliet feels personally. “We’ve had our own children go through private education, and it’s no small decision to enter four- or five-year-olds into a system. Recently, my dad moved into Whitgift Care for respite on a temporary basis. You realise how much trust is invested in the Foundation to look after elderly people. It’s their home.”
Learning from the inside
Juliet says the role has stretched her well beyond her own discipline. She describes sitting alongside colleagues on the Court with “phenomenal knowledge about the endowment and the investment management”, and the scale of the Foundation’s responsibilities has been an education in itself.
“I’ve never worked across an organisation at this level, with the resources and the responsibility that the Foundation has. So that for me has been an absolute education, and I’ve been expanding my own skill set.”
Making it work
Juliet volunteers as a governor alongside a busy HR career, which would be all the more challenging without the Foundation team that supports the Court. “It’s made really easy,” she says. “The directory where all the board papers are is well maintained. They share all the meeting dates in advance, and there’s a really nice mix of social things too. I’ve been to school concerts and open days at the care home.”
“Finding documents, reading them and voting on decisions, it’s all very well curated and managed. If it was chaotic, I imagine that would be irksome for volunteers, but it’s the opposite. It’s very, very well planned.”
Back in familiar places
Being a governor has taken Juliet back to places she knows well. “My brother went to Whitgift, and I used to go and play netball at Trinity. So, to go back into what are very familiar spaces, but with a very different purpose now, has been a real insight.”
The Court’s historic meeting rooms have made an impression too. “My rider now is if it hasn’t got an open fire or Tudor black panelling, I’m not coming,” she jokes.
“I practically grew up in a care home, so it’s really nice to be back in an environment I feel very much at home with. But now as an ambassador, as a representative of the Foundation, I’m primed to answer questions, and to ask and listen. I’m in the Whitgift care homes quite a lot now, and it’s interesting to see the experience of residents and family members first-hand.”
Thank you for your advice and energy, Juliet.
