Governance

Lizzie works for JPMorgan Chase & Company, and her career to date spans the private, public and social sectors. She has been passionate about education ever since she was the youngest member of her senior school council at the age of 11. She is a lifelong south-west Londoner, having grown up in Richmond and lived in SW12 for nearly a decade. She and her husband and young children rotate around the area's excellent playgrounds on repeat. Lizzie holds an MBA from Harvard and a Bachelor's Degree in History from Oxford. 

James has lived in Battersea since 2009 and has been heavily involved in the local community since then. A former barrister, James now works as a corporate communications consultant and lobbyist specialising in advising major global businesses on public relations, government affairs and corporate responsibility. Having grown up in nearby Richmond, James knows the area well and is also a supporter of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Support UK and the Disabled Children’s Partnership.

A commercial executive with a professional financial background who has worked for over 20 years in digital publishing for both secondary and higher education sectors.  A track record of executive and non-executive experience providing strong oversight and governance with a deep commitment to inclusion and equality of access to education as the foundation for a healthy, flourishing society.  A mother of five children who have attended different state secondary schools in the South London area, (two at Bolingbroke Academy) using my knowledge of a variety of educational settings and my collaborative and mentoring skills for positive impact. 

Sameer is a qualified chartered accountant and entrepreneur with over 20 years of commercial, financial and business experience. Sameer has served on the boards of a number of SME companies, advised blue chip organisations , and local governments on finance, strategy and innovation. In the last decade, Sameer has worked with NGO’s, start-ups & community forums shaping and influencing their strategy and growth. Sameer has two children at Ark Bolingbroke Academy.

Aled is a councillor on Wandsworth Borough Council, representing Northcote ward which takes in Ark Bolingbroke Academy. As a local councillor, he has seen Ark Bolingbroke Academy grow into an outstanding local state school and, having been educated in state primary and secondary schools himself, joined the Governing Board to support the school's continued growth and success. Prior to becoming a governor, Aled lead Oxbridge mock interviews for the school. He has previous experience as a governor of a local Wandsworth primary school for 7 years. 

Aled studied Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and postgraduate law at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oxford. He qualified as a barrister in 2016 and has since practised in intellectual property and commercial law.

Emel Rizwani is a self-employed marketing consultant, working with growing businesses in the tech space. She is particularly interested in the changing demands of education to better reflect the future world of work. Emel is also personally invested in the support and understanding of, and provision for neurodiverse students, especially in empowering them to advocate for themselves in the workplace of the future.

Karen Robinson is the Career and Development Leader at Bolingbroke academy, responsible for the careers provision and library . She started her career in public libraries and has worked in a number of schools supporting literacy development with parents and toddlers to sixth formers. She is a founding member of the staff team at Bolingbroke and has been a staff governor since the academy opened.

Having grown up and been schooled in numerous different countries, Iandra came to the UK to finish her studies at Oxford. After nearly ten years as a solicitor in the City, Iandra moved to Moscow where she set up and has been actively engaged over the past 11 years in an education consultancy that aims to mentor students to find the right educational outcome for them. She has also chaired a charity committee that was involved with over 20 different charities. A firm believer that a solid education combined with strong support for mental health and wellbeing are the key to most children's success, Iandra has been involved with school mentoring and has an advisory role in the reform of a school in Mexico City.