Governing Body

Lucy Williams is the Group Head of Conduct, Policy and Whistleblowing at HSBC plc. Prior to this role, Lucy was the Executive Committee member and Head of Regulatory Compliance for HSBC UK Bank, responsible for overseeing the commercial, retail, wealth and private banking operations of HSBC in the UK. She held this role from 2013. She was the first senior executive to relocate from London to Birmingham in 2015, ahead of the opening of the Bank’s new UK head office there. She still lives locally with her family and is a strong advocate for the region.  She says of this move that it taught her much about the place that banking has in a community and the role that teams play in reflecting the values of HSBC on those around them. She’s proud to lead a global team from a regional base and thinks the connectivity it gives them to our customers and colleagues improves their performance.   

Lucy joined HSBC in June 2013 from Prudential plc where she was the Director of Group Compliance. Prior to that, she was Head of Compliance at Aviva Life UK. Her earlier career included a range of roles over some years at the Financial Services Authority, in the Markets Division and Retail Supervision, and managing ABN AMRO’s Government Affairs team in Brussels.

Outside of work Lucy supports a range of globally-renowned arts organisations with a regional base – she is a Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Lucy is proud to Chair the Independent Schools Governing Body of the King Edward VI Foundation Birmingham and be a Board member of the wider Foundation. Together, the 10 schools reflect the multicultural and diverse population of the city, and are committed to excellence and accessibility. 

Lucy is married with three children, all of school age. 

Amanda Smith came to read Law at the University of Birmingham and never left! She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC with experience in the Audit & Assurance Practice and Corporate Finance followed by a career at FTSE 100 Compass Group Plc.

Amanda is the Vice Chair of Governors at an Outstanding maintained primary school in her home town of Sutton Coldfield, where she also Chairs the Finance and Resource Committee, and sits on both Teaching & Learning and Staffing.

Together with her husband she is also a supporter of the Assisted Places scheme. Outside interests include being a keen theatre supporter, being a patron of the Birmingham Hippodrome, Royal Shakespeare Company and Town Hall Symphony Hall locally as well as the Old Vic.

Obaid Choudhry was a pupil at King Edward’s School before going on to read Natural Sciences at St John’s College in Cambridge.

He is a Director at Rothschild & Co, having joined the firm in 2011, and now advises both public and private clients on a range of corporate finance matters including mergers and acquisitions. Prior to this, Obaid completed his ACA with Deloitte and is a chartered accountant.

He also sits on the Board of the Health Exchange, a community health and well-being focused charity based in Birmingham.

Philippa Eddie became a member of the Independent Schools’ Governing Body in 2023. A commercial finance specialist at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (Cabinet Office), Philippa advises Government departments on projects in the energy, transport, water and digital sectors. She has worked in infrastructure finance for 30 years, as an adviser, lender and principal, with previous roles at HM Treasury, EY, Deutsche Bank/Morgan Grenfell and Morgan Stanley.  

As a strong supporter of developing talent, Philippa has been mentoring for 25 years and coaching for five years, and is an ILM Level 7 qualified Executive Coach and Mentor. Her areas of expertise for coaching are financial services, professional services, the civil service and non-executive directors, and she also has a special interest in coaching people who are neurodivergent. 

Philippa is a non-executive director on two boards: Regen SW and the EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council).  

She has an MA in Engineering and Economics from the University of Cambridge and an MAEd in Applied Linguistics from the Open University. Philippa is also studying part-time for a PhD at Oxford Brookes Business School.

Chris Hosty was educated at KEHS Edgbaston before obtaining a degree in Mathematics from York University. After completing her PGCE at Nottingham University, Chris taught in Bristol and at Edgbaston High School. Chris joined the Maths department at KEHS in September 1987 and retired in July 2018. She was appointed to the ISGB in March 2020.

Barnaby Lenon taught at Eton for 12 years, was Deputy Head of Highgate School, Headmaster of Trinity School Croydon and Head of Harrow (12 years). He has been a Governor of 22 schools.

Barnaby is Chair of Governors and joint founder of the London Academy of Excellence school in Newham, East London, one of the most successful state schools in England. He is Professor of Education at the University of Buckingham, Chair of the Independent Schools’ Council, a Trustee of the Yellow Submarine charity, and a consultant to the Robertson Foundation which sponsors schools in New York and South Africa (amongst other things). He is a member of the Ofqual standards advisory group.

He has recently published two books, Much Promise: successful schools in England and Other People’s Children: what happens to the academically least successful 50%? 

George Marsh was educated at King Edward’s School and the University of Sheffield (civil and structural engineering).

He spent most of his career with construction company Galliford, including 10 years as Chief Executive. He has since been involved as non-executive Chair of a number of construction companies, including leading MBOs and PFI Projects, and has been actively involved in industry affairs for 40 years. A former Chair of Governors and Pro-Chancellor of Coventry University, George has recently served as a trustee of the Engineering Council.

George served in the TA Royal Engineers for 30 years, ultimately commanding the RE Specialist TA as a Colonel and working on projects on the worldwide military estate and is currently a Board Member of the West Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association.

An active Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands, George previously served as Vice-Lord Lieutenant and acting Lord-Lieutenant.

Ian Metcalfe, a qualified solicitor, retired as managing partner of international law firm Wragge & Co in 2014 after eight years in post. Prior to managing the business, Ian was a corporate partner at the firm for 14 years, acting for several substantial public and private companies and private equity houses on a wide range of transactions.

Ian now pursues a “portfolio” career, with a range of non-executive appointments, combining his interests in sport and business. Ian is Chair of Commonwealth Games England and a non-executive director of the global waste management and environmental services group TRRG Holdings Ltd, a joint venture between the Dutch Terberg Group and the Spanish Ros Roca Group.

In the public company world, Ian is the senior independent Non-executive Director and Chairman of Remco at Mercia Technologies plc and a Non-executive Director and Chairman of Remco of Arena Events Group plc.

A double rugby blue, Ian represents Cambridge University RUFC on the Council of the Rugby Football Union, having previously served nine years on the Board of the RFU, chaired the Professional Game Board and sat on the Board of ER 2015 Limited, the organising body for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Gayatri Sehdev is an alumna of King Edward VI High School for Girls. She studied Law at Downing College, Cambridge and completed her MBA (graduating as a Palmer Scholar) at The Wharton School, Philadelphia.

Gayatri currently works for Refinitiv, a Blackstone-backed financial services business, where she is both Assistant General Counsel and Company Secretary. Prior to serving on the ISGB, Gayatri served as a board observer for CARIE (a charity in Philadelphia that advocates for the rights of the elderly) and a governor of a federation of schools in London.

Neil Shastri-Hurst is an Old Edwardian of King Edward’s School, who is dual qualified in Medicine and Law. After graduating from the University of Nottingham, he spent a number of years as a Medical Officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps before specialising in trauma. His most recent medical appointment was as an Honorary Consultant Trauma Co-ordinator for the Major Trauma Service at University Hospitals Birmingham. In addition to his clinical work, Neil was appointed a Medical Member of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal in 2016. 

Since 2019, Neil has been a member of No5 Barristers’ Chambers, specialising in healthcare, coronial, and personal injury law. He is a qualified mediator and a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Appeals Committee. 

Outside of work, Neil maintains a keen interest in veterans’ affairs. He was appointed a member of the West Midlands Veterans Advisory and Pension Committee by the Minister for Defence People and Veterans in 2021. 

Hywel Thomas is Chair of the Foundation Board. He is Emeritus Professor of the Economics of Education, University of Birmingham and was the Director of the Centre for Research in Medical and Dental Education at the University. He was Head of the School of Education for 10 years, from 1993-2003.

His research and writing included studies on resource management in schools (DFE/OECD), the school workforce (DfES), smoking prevention strategies (EU), the career paths of graduates (HEFCE), designing a curriculum for training medical general practitioners (RCGP) and evaluating selection processes for medical speciality training (DH).

Hywel has undertaken work for The World Bank, UNESCO, the British Council and the Department for International Development (DfID). He has been Education Adviser to the British Council and specialist adviser to the OECD.