Our Governors

Chris Houlding, Chair

Christopher was appointed as Chairman of the Court of Governors on 25 March
2015.  He was educated at Trinity School before embarking on a career in financial
services, initially joining stockbroker W Greenwell & Co.  Christopher built his
career as a fixed income specialist and held senior positions at several leading
investment banks.  He was a Managing Director in the Wealth Management
division of UBS AG in London from 2003 to 2019, before retiring from banking to
run his own consulting business. Christopher is a Chartered Fellow of the
Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.  He joined the Court of
Governors in 2001 and served as a Trinity School Governor from November 2000 to
March 2015.

Contact the Chair of the Old Palace School Committee on cog@oldpalace.croydon.sch.uk

Warwick Jones

Warwick was educated at Trinity School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. After
qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1976 he spent most of his career in financial
services and banking. He was finance director of a number of commercial
organisations until 2006, when he was appointed Finance Director of the Bank of
England, a position he held until he retired in 2013. He is the Treasurer of the
charity Family Lives, a national charity supporting parents and the wider family,
and a member of the Council of the Trinity Midwhitgiftian Association, the school’s
former pupils’ association. Warwick has been a member of the Audit Committee of
Surrey County Cricket Club for a number of years, and is currently Interim Treasure

Pippa Hutchison

Pippa is a chartered surveyor with circa 30 years’ experience in the real estate sector. She currently works for the global real estate consultancy JLL where she leads an Asset Management team dealing with all kinds of commercial property. Her experience is wide having sold, let, redeveloped and dealt with all areas of the property lifecycle.

Pippa is passionate about girls’ education. She has a MA from St Andrews University in Ancient History and Art History and a MSc from Reading University in Land Management. At JLL she has sat on JLL’s board for Gender Balance delivering training for staff and has just been appointed lead for the Gender Balance for her department. Whilst not born in London, Pippa has lived in South London longer than anywhere else. She is excited to be involved with Old Palace School and sees it as a huge privilege to be a governor.

Dr Hana Patel, Safeguarding Governor

Hana Patel was a former student at Old Palace. Having been brought up in Croydon, Hana has settled in the area and works as a GP in South East London. Hana has a special interest in mental health and women’s health. She also works as a mental health coach.

Hana has had a varied career, and is dedicated to coaching, mentoring, and education which can be seen via her roles as an Academic mentor for Health Education England, a section editor for the RCGP medical journal for GP trainees all around the world, InnovAiT, and carrying out coaching and mentoring for primary care within the NHS. The University of Kent has made her an Honorary lecturer, which she does in congruent with teachings and trainings around the country and international lectures.

Hana feels that it is an honour and a privilege to be able to give back to her school, and will focus on wellbeing and safeguarding in her governor role.

Contact the Safeguarding Governor on safegov@oldpalace.croydon.sch.uk

Roxanna Sarkar-Patel

Roxanna Sarkar-Patel attended Old Palace School from 2002-2010. Roxanna studied French at University College London and during this time, spent a year abroad working for the British Council. During this time, she worked as an English Language Assistant at one of the top tier culinary schools in Western France. Since graduating, she has attended law school and is now a qualified solicitor.

In her spare time, Roxanna often dedicates time to diversity and inclusion initiatives and has worked with several organisations over the years. Roxanna has always held cherished memories of her time at Old Palace and strongly believes that the guidance and teaching she received from a range of brilliant teachers undoubtedly helped her to build her personality and strengthen her core skills, both of which have been essential to achieving goals in her professional life. Roxanna is so pleased to be part of the school’s development and future, in her role as governor.