Chris was educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys and Loughborough University where he read Economics and Finance. He was appointed to the governing body in 2017.
Chris was educated at Dover Grammar School for Boys and Loughborough University where he read Economics and Finance. He was appointed to the governing body in 2017.
Chris spent much of his career in banking at HSBC, primarily in risk management, in London and New York. In 2011, he helped lead the management buyout of InfraRed Capital Partners, an investment management business specialising in infrastructure and real estate. In 2020, he also helped lead the sale of InfraRed to Sun Life Financial of Canada. As Deputy Chief Executive from 2008 to 2023, Chris oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the business and the investment process for its various funds and now chairs the InfraRed investment committees. His three sons were all pupils at Sevenoaks School.
Charlotte Houghteling joined the governing body in 2023. Charlotte is a Lecturer in Law at Oxford Brookes University, where she teaches contract law and works with students in their co-curricular opportunities and career pathways. Charlotte was educated at Harvard University (BA), the University of Cambridge (MPhil), Columbia University School of Law (JD), the London School of Economics (LLM) and the University of Buckingham (PhD).
Charlotte began her career as a lawyer in New York City where she was a founding partner at a boutique litigation firm and was named a New York Super Lawyer Rising Star. She then moved back to the UK and co-founded A-List Education UK, an educational services firm offering guidance on the US university process. Charlotte worked with thousands of students and numerous independent schools, and she helped establish a programme to send pupils in the ARK Schools network to the US on scholarships. She is active in the non-profit community in Boston, where she is from, and has volunteered with Year Up, an organisation specialising in career development, for nearly two decades.
Kirsteen Allen joined the governing body in 2019. A graduate of Leeds University, she studied Mathematics and Management Studies before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in practice in London.
Kirsteen was a partner at Arthur Andersen and worked on external audit clients in the financial services sector, latterly specialising in Internal Audit consultancy and partnership. After spending some time living in New York and Tokyo with her family, Kirsteen founded and co-ran a successful recruitment and flexible working consultancy agency in West Kent. During this time Kirsteen was also a board member on the Sevenoaks Chamber of Commerce. Since selling this business in 2020, Kirsteen has been working as Finance Manager for a local bespoke tea-blending business. Kirsteen lives in Sevenoaks and both of her daughters attended Sevenoaks School.
Roger Best joined the governing body in 2018. He is a member of the Governance and Education Committees and also serves as the school’s nominated trustee for Sevenoaks Almshouses.
Roger was educated at The Judd School, Tonbridge, and the University of Durham where he gained a BA in Economics and Law. He qualified as a solicitor and was a partner in an international law firm. His professional work focused on contentious issues and cross-border investigations. Roger has held various management and oversight roles at his law firm including managing partner of the office in Hong Kong where he lived for seven years. Externally, Roger is active in a number of anti-corruption organisations, he has chaired international arbitration tribunals and, in 2021, was appointed as an Alternate Complaints Commissioner to investigate complaints against the UK’s financial regulators.
Roger has a long association with Sevenoaks; his sister joined the school for the Sixth Form and his four children were pupils between 1992 and 2017.
Peter Collini joined the governing body in May 2025 following the merger with Solefield School, where he continues to be Chair of Governors.
He has lived in Sevenoaks for over 25 years and has two adult children, his son attended Sevenoaks and Solefield. A chartered accountant, he holds an MA in Engineering from Oxford University. He has a number of advisory and non-executive roles having previously run his own corporate finance advisory practice in Covent Garden for 20 years following appointments with Deutsche Bank and PwC. He serves on the Finance and Property Committee.
Ali Henderson joined the governing body in 2026. She is a member of the Education Committee. Following a degree in Economics, Social & Political Sciences at Cambridge University Ali worked for the civil service for a decade before moving into the charitable sector – initially at Oxfam GB and more recently as CEO of Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation, a charity that works across the UK’s boarding and independent day schools’ sector to support the targeting of transformational bursary schemes for vulnerable children. Ali is a parent of two current Sevenoaks School pupils.
Guy Innes was educated at Eton College and the University of Bristol, where he read Geography. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, he worked in London and Paris advising on corporate mergers and acquisitions. He was also Chairman of St John Ambulance Kent from 2010 to 2012.
As well as running a diverse portfolio of his own and family businesses, he currently serves as Governor (effectively Chief Executive) of the Titsey Foundation and serves on the boards of several companies in the building products and bio-technology sectors. He has two daughters and two sons.
Paul was the Executive Headteacher of Coastal Academies Trust, consisting of five state schools in Thanet, four secondary and one primary.
Paul is now retired. He was a National Leader of Education and a co-opted member of the IBSCA Steering Committee. He was also a member of the Kent Association of Headteachers Executive and the Kent and Medway Teaching Schools Association. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital School and University College, London and is married with three school-aged children.
Melanie McInerney joined the governing body in November 2019. She holds the Diploma in School Business Management and brings a wealth of experience, having served for 17 years as governor of a large local primary school, latterly as Chair.
A pharmacology graduate from the University of Bristol, Melanie qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 1992. During her career she undertook a range of management accounting roles at Glaxo Wellcome plc and was Regional Commercial Finance Manager of Asda plc. Melanie has had some success with fundraising for the primary school and a local sports club, enjoys running and has an interest in wellbeing. Her daughters attended the Sixth Form at Sevenoaks School.
Mark was educated at Warwick School and New College, Oxford, where he studied English. He was appointed to the governing body in 2018.
A chartered accountant, Mark was a partner at Andersens and Deloitte, specialising in consulting to banks and financial services. He subsequently spent 15 years with Barclays in senior roles in finance, including Group Financial Controller, Head of Investor Relations through the credit crunch, CFO for the Corporate and Investment Bank, and latterly Deputy Group Finance Director. Widely travelled through work and personal interest, having lived in Japan and worked through Europe, India, Africa and the US, he was a founding partner of Veritum Partners Limited, advisors to European financial services companies and is a director of Petershill Partners PLC. All three of his daughters attended Sevenoaks School.
Judy was educated at Sevenoaks School and went on to Birmingham University where she read English and French. She joined the governing body in April 2025.
Judy started her career in the bright lights of London’s advertising agencies, working her way up to be Group Marketing Director of M&C Saatchi and then Managing Director, CMO of Ogilvy UK.
After 25 years in agencies, she then pivoted into education, joining the Executive Board of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), where she spearheaded the transformation strategy. After that, she launched a strategic consultancy and has since advised many leading independent schools. Having worked with United Learning, she also has experience of schools in the state sector. She is very used to school life and the daily challenges that schools face.
Matt was educated at Sevenoaks School and Durham University, where he studied Economics and Management. He was appointed to the governing body in 2025.
Matt joined Coutts private bank in 2017 and has held a range of roles across client coverage, strategy and M&A. He is currently Head of Delivery of the firm’s Investment Management business, where he leads on areas of business transformation, strategic initiatives, financial oversight, organisation design and day-to-day business management. He has previously been a member of the NatWest Group Board Colleague Advisory Panel, and the PIMFA Under 40 Leadership Committee.
Matt is an Old Sennockian (OS 2015). During his time at school, he pursued the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme, was Captain of Cross Country and a scholar in the Music department.
Prior to joining the governing body, Matt spent two years as an Associate Member of the Board.
Anita Yuravlivker joined the governing body in 2018, having previously worked at Sevenoaks School as Assistant Bursar. She studied for her International Baccalaureate here and went on to gain a degree in Chemistry and Business Management from Imperial College.
In 2005 she qualified as a Chartered Accountant, worked in practice at Ernst & Young and prior to returning to Sevenoaks School, had a stint as the Finance Director of Greenpeace USA in Washington DC. Anita currently lives in Eton with her family and serves as a trustee to the local preschool.
