Ali is Chair of the Finance & Funding Committee and DESS’ Treasurer, with one child at the school. He is currently Director of M&A at QNB Capital, and moved to Doha from London in 2013 having previously worked in Healthcare Investment Banking at Barclays and Deutsche Bank. He holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London obtained under Shell’s sponsorship, is an Associate of the City & Guilds Institute and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. Ali also serves on the Board of one of the largest technology groups in the region.

Mohammed is a Parent Governor and is currently a Member of the Board of Directors of Ariane Real Estate.  Mohammed previously worked for Commercial Bank, holding various roles including Vice President - Commercial Bank Private, Acting EGM – Consumer Banking and finally AGM – Head of Private Banking.  During his tenure at Commercial Bank Mohammed sat on the Board of Directors of Massoun, a Commercial Bank JV partnership with Qatar Insurance Group.
Mohammed graduated from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport in Alexandria, Egypt with a Bachelors in Business Administration.
Mohammed has 2 children in DESS and is keen to contribute to the ongoing development and growth of the school.

Laila is the Programme Leader for the Undergraduate Accountancy & Finance Programme at AFG College with the University of Aberdeen. She has an undergraduate degree in Accounting & Finance with a major in Economics from the University of Toronto and a Masters degree from the University of Waterloo.
Laila is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy and is currently a 4th year PhD student with her research focusing on the impact of technological advancements on the accounting profession. 
Prior to her career in education, Laila had over five years of work experience in public accounting in Canada, starting off her career in banking. She worked as a Manager at KPMG LLP & Ernst & Young LLP, where her practice focused on global compliance & reporting, advising real-estate clients on structuring cross-border acquisitions, divestitures, corporate reorganizations and financing transactions.

Jennifer is an Associate Director with AECOM in Qatar, having transitioned from the AECOM UK business in 2013.  She is a Chartered Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), a Grade A registered Engineer with MME Qatar, a PMP and Prince 2 Qualified Project Manager and holds a Masters in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering from the University of Cambridge. Jennifer previously sat on the Qatar-UK Alumni Association Board, and is the current President of the Cambridge Society of Qatar and the Country Representative and Chair of the ICE Qatar Committee.
Jennifer is committed to ensuring the maintenance and development of the DESS school premises for the benefit of staff, students and parents in line with international best practice.

Kate Ling is a non-parent governor.  She joins the Board bringing two decades of Human Resources management experience from the corporate world.  She graduated from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in Economics & Politics and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She is currently Vice President Outstation Services at Qatar Airways having moved to Doha in October 2021, after eighteen months with Qatar Airways in London.  Previous to this Kate held the role of Head of International HR at British Airways.
Kate looks forward to using her commercial and HR experience to contribute to the ongoing success of the school. Kate is married and has two boys both of whom are currently at Uppingham School in the UK.

Catherine is a US-qualified lawyer. She grew up in the US and moved to London after graduating from law school in 2012. In 2018, Catherine relocated to Doha and has since worked at the Commercial Bank as a member of its in-house corporate legal team. Prior to joining the Commercial Bank, Catherine worked as a senior associate at an international law firm in London.
Catherine is keen to support the school system in Doha as she has a two year old daughter. As a member of the Board and the HR Sub-Committee, Catherine seeks to make a positive contribution to the DESS community and looks forward to facilitating its educational and strategic objectives. 

Tanya Kane is a Parent Governor with twins at DESS who has lived in Doha for the past 13 years. She brings to the board two decades of teaching experience spanning primary, intermediate and tertiary education. Tanya is an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine at the University of Qatar where she has established the Social and Behavioural Sciences Curriculum. She holds a PhD and MSc in Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, an MA from McMaster University, a BEd from the University of Toronto, and a BA from Queen’s University (Canada). Tanya has held posts at Northwestern University in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. A former primary school teacher, she is qualified to teach in Canada, Scotland and England.
Tanya is committed to the culture, values and ethos of DESS and looks forward to contributing in a meaningful way to the school’s continued development and improvement for all its stakeholders.

Basma is a founding fellow of the chartered college of teaching (UK) and has been a proactive contributor to education sector for the past 30 years since qualifying with a PGCE in secondary education from UCL Institute of Education, University of London. She holds a BA in comparative religions as well as two Masters in Islamic Studies & Translation from SOAS, University of London,  Islamic Education from Warwick University and a PGDTT from Birmingham.
She has undertaken a range of executive level roles in the UK and internationally such as Project Manager at Blue Ocean Research  and Senior Research at Inmedia Training.
Since 1999, Basma has served on 5 other governing bodies and held multiple SLT roles in addition to her involvement in the design and delivery of Initial Teacher Training programmes in the UK. She chairs both the Brent SACRE and the Agreed Syllabus Conference- bodies impacting the content and quality of RE provision in Europe’s most diverse borough; and served as Academic Advisor to the Curriculum for Cohesion.
Basma is intimately familiar with both the British and Qatari education systems - with Sherborne Qatar and Qatar Foundation being two of her most recent employers; and was nominated by the MOEHE as one of two Athar programme leads in 2022/23.
Basma has successfully delivered 100+ accredited parent coaching courses and her  work on curriculum in the UK was selected as the basis for an award winning doctoral thesis at KCL.
The proud aunt of 3 wonderful DESS students, Basma feels a personal as well as a professional connection to the school. She resolves to draw on her experiences to support DESS leadership, colleagues, parents and pupils; and to work with everyone in helping the entire school community grow from strength to strength.