Our people

Chair of Governors

Anne is a highly experienced Early Years childcare professional and was the Manager of the Ide Hill Pre-School for some 14 years.

She joined Ide Hill C E Primary School as a Governor in October 2009 with the key focus on Early Years and Transitions. She was appointed Chair of Governors in 2012.

Three of her children attended Caterham School and during that time she was the Chair of the Parents’ Association for three years. Anne is a longstanding member of the Caterham School Foundation and Copthorne Education Committee.

Anne can be contacted via email: chairofgovs@copthorneprep.co.uk

Member of the Copthorne Board of Governors and the Finance & General Purposes Committee

In his Executive career, Phil Clarke spent over 30 years in Finance and developed experience across Strategy Development and Execution, managing high growth businesses and as a leader of I.T., Logistics and Supply Chain, Procurement, Property and Procurement. He held Board level roles of CFO at Selfridges, CFO at Ann Summers and Chief Operating Officer at The White Company.
His Non-Executive and Business advisory experience includes as a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of Riverford Organic Vegetables, Non-Executive Director at The Institute of Physics Publishing and Co-opted Trustee at De Montford University. Phil has also worked as Business advisor to several businesses in Retail and Recruitment.

Member of the Copthorne Board of Governors, Child Protection and Safeguarding Committee and Chair of the Finance & General Purposes Committee

Deborah was brought up in Northern Ireland and was educated in Dungannon High School for Girls Grammar and is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries. Deborah studied English Literature and Philosophy (B.A. Hons) and undertook a conversation law degree and solicitors finals at Christleton Hall Law School. After qualifying in 1987, Deborah has worked as a lawyer mostly in international industry roles, but also in private practice in London. She is currently General Counsel and Company Secretary to the Board of Ceres Power, a UK – based engineering and technology solutions provider, developing clean energy to address climate change and improve air quality.

Member of the Copthorne Board of Governors, and Chair of the Welfare, Child Protection and Safeguarding Committee

Oliver is an Old Caterhamian and a practising solicitor. After leaving Caterham he studied Politics (B.A. Hons) at the University of Warwick and undertook his legal studies at Nottingham Law School. After qualifying in 2007, he worked for a number of years for various City law firms before moving to in-house legal roles.

He is currently General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Trident Energy, an exploration and production company with a focus on emerging markets.

Member of Copthorne Board of the Governors and the Finance and General Purposes Committee

Preya studied Business & Computing (BSc) at Aston University and then went on to pursue a career in the Financial Services sector with her graduate position starting out at Accenture as a Management Consultant and supported a number of clients primarily within the Insurance space. Preya had a varied and successful 17 year tenure at Accenture before moving over to Baringa where Preya continues to build on her relationships in the Financial Services sector.

Clerk to the Governors