Beyond King’s

This week pupils are going on the French Exchange to Cysoing and Gernech in the Lille area. This will be a fantastic opportunity for pupils to practise their language skills, which is something our former pupil of the week David Atkinson (W 79-86) would have done whilst at King’s, during exchange trips to Vichy and also whilst studying at Grenoble University during his degree.

While at King’s, David played soccer and took part in the Duke of Edinburgh award and following school he went to read Languages, Economics and Politics at Kingston University. David has worked in various senior business roles including Senior Account Executive at Carlson Marketing Group and Board Director of Billington Cartmell. He is now a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of creative agency Space which has been running for 14 years and has worked with big brands including Nivea, Sky and UEFA. Recently they have won Marketing Agencies Association UK ‘Best International Award’ for the second year running.

This Saturday is the Superball Netball King’s vs RGS at Worcester Arena so it is very fitting that our former pupil this week not only played for the 1st VII team while at King’s, helping them to the U19 National Schools Finals, but now works as a sports journalist for the BBC. At King’s, Louise Gwilliam (K 03-10) was also Head of Kittermaster House and involved in hockey and athletics. Louise went on to read French and History of Art at University College London, where alongside her studies, she began as a runner on BBC Radio 5 live’s 606 football phone-in and worked her way up to a producer.

Louise has undertaken a number of roles since leaving University including reporting on the 2015 Rugby World Cup and working as a content producer and talent assistant for Tongue Tied Media. Louise joined BBC Sport as a full-time broadcast journalist in 2017 and now works across the BBC Sport website, driving their rugby and women’s sport coverage. Louise is keen to encourage more females into the industry and is a passionate member of the network Women in Football.

This week saw the entire Upper Remove take part in a Careers Speed Dating session. Pupils met parents, OVs and other friends of the school to find out about their different professions, in the hope that they may find their career match. We were delighted that so many OVs gave up their time to take part in the event, and included in their number was OV Matt Jones (W 90-97). While at King’s, Matt enjoyed working backstage on drama productions, took part in Himalayan Club and was a House Prefect.

On leaving King’s, Matt graduated from the University of Birmingham with a first class degree in Electronic & Electrical Engineering with Management. He joined Land Rover as a graduate engineer in 2002, and since then has embarked upon a successful career working for Jaguar Land Rover as Director of Future Technology, and then again for JLR in Portland, Oregon where he led the start-up of an Open Software Technology Centre and the JLR Technology Incubator. Matt is much in demand as a speaker at international conferences and exhibitions, was judged TU-Automotive Influencer of the Year 2015 and in 2016 was named in the Portland Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list. Since August 2017, Matt has been Senior Vice President at Virgin Hyperloop One, based in Los Angeles. Virgin Hyperloop are the leading company working to commercialise hyperloop systems, moving passengers and cargo at airline speeds at a fraction of the cost of air travel.

We were delighted this week to welcome international economist & financial author Ranga Chand as the newest member of the Barnabas Group. While at school, Ranga was a House Monitor, CCF cadet and played Hockey, Basketball and Badminton.

On leaving King’s, Ranga went to the University of Toronto where he studied Economics. He has held senior positions with Canada’s Department of Finance and served as a director of the Conference Board of Canada before joining a major stock brokerage firm. He has also taught economics at the University of Waterloo and has represented Canada at numerous economic forums, including the OECD in Paris and the United Nations.

Between 2000 and 2003 he hosted popular television show “Talking Mutual Funds with Ranga Chand” which aired weekly on Canada’s Report on Business Television (ROBTV) for three years and reached over 4.3 million viewers nationwide. Ranga has also published a number of books, including ‘Best of the Best Mutual Funds’ and ‘Getting Started With Mutual Funds’.

Our former pupil this week is Neil Lonergan (S 91-02) who was a keen sportsman while at King’s, playing rugby and captaining the First V basketball team. In addition to this, Neil also helped coach the junior basketball team and acted as a mentor for Lower Fourth pupils. Neil continues to use these interpersonal skills as he now works in the telecommunications industry. After working for BT as a consultant for eight years, Neil decided to start his own company, Linimex Ltd, in 2012.

In the five years since it was launched, the company has grown to become the largest in its specialism in the UK telecommunications industry, delivering services to businesses in more than twenty-eight countries across four continents and winning multiple industry awards along the way. Neil is one of King’s Bursary Ambassadors and he features as part of our new Bursary Appeal. Neil says, ‘King’s gave me an educational foundation coupled with the confidence and belief in myself to dream bigger, which is something that I have found invaluable in both my personal and professional life.’

This week was a busy week for girls’ sports with several hockey fixtures and a netball tournament. Our former pupil this week is Nicky Wilkinson (K 03-08) who was captain of both the First VII and First XI teams while here and led the hockey team to become County Champions for the first time. After leaving King’s Nicky went to Loughborough University and studied Information Management and Business Studies. During her course Nicky did an industrial placement working at National Grid; from that placement year she gained sponsorship, in the form of a financial bursary, from National Grid for her final year of university and a place on their graduate scheme. Nicky joined National Grid in September 2012 and since then has worked in various roles.

In 2017, National Grid sold their gas distribution business which was bought and renamed Cadent Gas; Nicky moved with the separation and was promoted to her current role, London Emergency Network Manager. In this new role, Nicky manages a team of twenty staff and two hundred and fifty engineers and is responsible for the emergency gas service for North London. Nicky says, ‘I am the first female to ever take on this role but it’s one I’m really enjoying, and am certainly learning from all the challenges that come with working in what is known as a very male-dominated industry.’

We are staying close to home this week with our very own King’s Estates Manager Adam Winter (Cl 84-94) as this week’s former pupil. Adam was involved in lots of activities while a pupil here including D of E, The 3 Peaks Challenge and CCF. After King’s, Adam studied Land Management and Development at The University of Reading before working for 12 years at The Leadership Trust where he was Operations Director. He then co-founded White Orca Information Management where he was a Director for 4 years before joining the King’s School in 2015 managing the estates and buildings at all three schools in the Foundation. Adam lives locally with his partner Lisa and their daughter Molly who is a pupil at King’s Hawford School.

This week we were treated to a fantastic Dance Showcase by pupils from the Senior School and King’s St Alban’s. This week’s former pupil, Jackie Stevenson (née Mills) (Co 84-86) has always been a keen dancer, still competes and is currently UK Pro-Am Ballroom Champion. At King’s Jackie was a very active member of the English and Drama departments and she went on to read English at Exeter University.

Jackie’s career includes her role as Managing Director of Craik Jones – one of the UK’s most lauded direct and digital agencies – for thirteen years, as well as being a Director of advertising agency Collett Dickenson Pearce. Jackie’s career has led her to advise people as varied as David Cameron, the Earl of Wessex and the Archbishop of Westminster on a number of different communication projects. Jackie is now Global Managing Director of The Brooklyn Brothers, a creative agency which she founded in London with three partners in 2008 and which has since grown to employ over one hundred and eighty-five staff worldwide.

On Monday, the Lower Removes took part in The Big Physics Quiz in Birmingham and our former pupil this week is no stranger to the world of physics. Stephanie Grant (née Taylor) threw herself into many school activities during her time at King’s, especially in the music department, being involved with both the orchestra and choir.

On leaving King’s, Stephanie read Physics at Merton College, Oxford and whilst trying to avoid labs she stumbled across a teaching course and completed her PGCE at Oxford. This was followed by an MSc in Learning and Teaching. She has taught Physics ever since and is now Assistant Director of Studies at Norwich School, which is set in the grounds of Norwich Cathedral.  Stephanie says “The best bit has been winning a bid for a local school to host a live radio link with Tim Peake while he was on the International Space Station. He answered questions from local pupils representing over 20 primary and secondary schools that got involved in the project”.