Andy has 3 children, Will (who recently moved up to Doha College), George, Y6 and Oli in Reception. He approached the prospect of being a governor from an “interested parent” perspective, aside from his responsibilities as Treasurer at the time. His wife Louise, has always been an active class mum and Andy was also keen to give his own time to the school and bring some of his commercial experience to the table. He believes DESS is a great school with a strong sense of community and a unique culture. He feels that having aspirations to be an “international beacon of excellence” takes time, commitment and leadership across all areas of the school. This also includes the parents and he therefore wanted to help as much as possible.
The school has made important steps towards this vision over the last 4 years and hasseen some really positive achievements. He regularly gets asked questions by parents who either contact him directly or just corner him at parties and events when they find out that he is a Governor! Andy feels that it’s good to be able to answer concerns or give a different perspective on the real progress being made – sometimes as Parents it is easy to miss this altogether. Andy thinks that it is really important that stakeholders in the school have access and a voice over the development of the school itself. He believes that it is clear that we should leave teaching to the experts, but be there to support the Leadership Team in it's endeavours to develop the school even further and provide the best possible education to the people that count – the children.
Stephen Anderson – Partner, PricewaterhouseCooper
Stephen leads pwc’s Advisory Practice in Qatar, is Relationship Partner to our key Qatar clients and a member of the pwc MENA Leadership Board.
He is a specialist in Advisory services to Sovereign Wealth Funds, Global Financial Services Institutions, Real Estate and Private Equity Investors advising them on deals, transformational and post transaction projects in the UK, Europe, US, Asia and the MENA region.
Prior to his current role, Stephen was a Partner in our London Advisory practice where over a 15 year period he led large scale and complex Transformation and Post Deal Integration programmes with Financial Services Clients.
He is a Chartered Accountant (UK FCA) and a regular conference speaker. He lives in Doha with his wife and three children. His two daughters Erin and Evie both attend Doha English Speaking School.
Jonathan is Chief Administrative Officer of Georgetown University – School for Foreign Service, Qatar where he is responsible for several of the business support departments for the University’s first overseas branch campus. Georgetown University is regarded as one of the leading research universities in the United States of America. The prestigious Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service is recognized as the world’s leading provider of degree programmes in International Relations.
He has previously worked in senior managerial roles across several business sectors including FMCG, leisure, telecoms and logistics. He has a BA from the University of Durham and an MBA from Macquarie University, Graduate School of Management.
Jonathan spent the first six years of his career working for Blue Circle Industries and Unilever where he undertook a number of factory based managerial roles.
In 1991 he joined the Rank Organization and over seven years served as the Head of Human Resources for its European Video Duplication business and its European Casino business. In addition to these strong operational roles he undertook a period of secondment to Corporate Head office in London where as Director of Employee Relations he developed the Group’s response to a number of pan European human resource initiatives.
In 1998 moved to Australia to take up a senior human resources role with Telstra Corporation. He was heavily involved in several of the organizations key change management initiatives during a period of very significant change for the Australian telecommunications industry. This role was followed by an Asia–Pacific wide HR Director’s role for the Financial Services Division of Computer Sciences Corporation.
In 2004 Jonathan and his family moved to Middle East in order to serve as the regional head of human resources for FedEx Corporation. He joined Georgetown in late 2006.
Nick is part of the Executive Management team of the Qtel Group. Nick has been in Qatar for 10 years. He has played multiple roles in Qtel. Nick was responsible for Qtel’s international expansion and in the last few years has been responsible for Qtel Operations in Qatar. Nick has served on multiple Boards throughout the region and was Chairman of Starlink for 3 years.
Prior to Qtel Nick was at McKinsey + Company and worked extensively in the region and London. Nick has 2 children, one of whom has just started at DESS. Many years ago Nick worked as a teaching assistant in Australia for 9 months and several members of his family are teachers. Nick has a Masters in Economics from Edinburgh University
Mark is Director of Operations and Special Projects for Qinvest, Qatar’s largest Islamic Investment Bank. He has previously worked for a number of Financial institutions within the City of London covering, Asset Management, Private Banking and Investment Banking. Mark graduated with a BSc (Hons) from Southampton University in 1995 and is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments. Currently he is completing his Executive MBA at Imperial College London.
Mark came to Qatar in 2008 with his wife and two children both of whom attend DESS currently in Years 3 and 2. He has been a board member since 2009. He contributes to the growth and continued development of the school. Ensuring future children of the British Expatriate community could benefit from the unique environment DESS offers.
Stephanie Hunter is mother to three children, all of whom are at DESS in Reception, Year 4 and Year 5. Prior to moving to Qatar she worked as a book editor, first in academic history and then for trade publications. After her editorial career she became a researcher, writer and eventually trainer for conferences in various industry sectors. She is currently working for the Qatar Olympic Committee.
She became a governor because she has a long-term interest in the evolution of the school, and has a great deal of admiration for the improvements and high standards that have been achieved to date. Also she felt it important to be a representative for parents in the playground and become, she hopes, a useful access point to the Board.
Trish and her family have lived in Qatar since 2006. Her son left DESS at the end of Year 6 in 2010 and her daughter is currently in Year 5. She feels both gained so much from their time at DESS with the school playing a huge role in shaping their futures.
She worked at DESS from 2006 to 2010 and was closely involved with the Board during that time. As a parent and a member of the Board of Governors she is committed to the Vision of the school and in assisting in the development of the school’s strategy and future direction.
Amanda is the British Embassy Representative. She has worked at the British Embassy for the past two years, first as EA DHM & HR Manager and currently as Corporate Service Manager. Amanda came to Doha in 2005 with her family. A past member of the PTA, she was chairperson from 2006 – 2007 and was also a classroom assistant for a Year 1 class where she left for a role within recruitment prior to joining the Embassy. Before arriving in Doha Amanda served 12 years in the Royal Navy.
Amanda has a daughter in year 4 and a daughter attending Doha College.
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