Port Regis is governed by a Board of Governors, called our 'Council of Management', whose prime responsibility is to ensure that the School provides the best education for the children. The Council has a duty to ensure its charitable objectives are adhered to. It comprises a group of people who voluntarily contribute a varied and differing range of experiences and skills applicable to the functions of the School. The Council seeks to achieve a balanced and diverse membership.
The full Council meets once a term although much of its work is carried out through committees which meet on a regular basis and report to the Council.
The Chair and Vice Chair can be contacted via the Clerk to Governors by email at clerk@portregis.com or by post to: The Bursary, Port Regis, Motcombe Park, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 9QA.
James joined the Council of Management as Chair of Governors in Summer 2021.
James read Modern History at Oxford before joining De La Rue Plc , a global industrial, as a graduate trainee in 1983; he remained with De La Rue for a further 27 years becoming CEO in 2009, a business with £500m of revenue and in the FTSE250.
In 2011, James joined Oberthur Fiduciaire a family business in the same industry as De La Rue, based in Paris, as Advisor to the Chairman, a post which he held for 9 years until December 2020. James has also been a Non-Executive Director of Camelot, the UK National Lottery; Vice Chairman of a charity, Friends of the Elderly and remains a Trustee for Ruffer LLP (Capital Points)
James is married to Emma, lives in Wiltshire and is an ex-parent.
Committee: As Chair, James is a member of all Committees. He can be contacted via email: james.hussey@portregis.com
Fiona read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St Anne's College, Oxford. She worked in management consultancy for Bain & Co, as well as for the public relations company Hill and Knowlton. Fiona is also a founder and Principal of Hawkesdown House, a boys' preparatory school in Kensington.
Fiona moved to Somerset in 2001 and all her four children were educated at Port Regis.
Committee: As Deputy Chair, Fiona sits on all committees. She is also chair of the Governance, Fundraising and Marcoms Committees.
Emma is Co-Head of the Schools Practice at Saxton Bampfylde, working as a consultant supporting schools to find exceptional leaders. Prior to this, Emma spent over three decades teaching in a variety of educational settings. She has experience of day and boarding schools, co-educational and single sex, prep and senior. Emma was Head of Godolphin School, an HMC day and boarding school, for nine years. Before joining Godolphin, Emma was Housemistress at Canford School and then moved to Sherborne Girls to take up a Deputy Head position.
She brings extensive understanding of educational leadership, as well as significant GCSE, A Level, and IB teaching experience. Emma has examined for OCR and the ABRSM and is a School Governor at both prep and senior level. She has chaired the HMC Inspection sub-committee, served as an inspector for ISI and is a former member of the ISI Educational Advisory Forum. She read music at Durham University and studied for two years at the Royal Academy of Music as a postgraduate.
Emma is married to Stephen. They have four grown up children and live in Dorset.
Committee: Emma is a member of the Education Committee
Emily Boswell has worked at Wycombe Abbey School since 2008. She is currently Deputy Head (Academic), responsible for all aspects of the School’s academic life; she was previously Director of Higher Education and Careers. Before that, she was Head of Religious Studies at Cheltenham Ladies’ College. She enjoys teaching across the whole age range from 11 – 18 and is keen to encourage pupils to read widely and to find their own passion. Emily was educated at boarding school from the age of 10 and later read Theology at Worcester College, Oxford. She met her husband David at Oxford and they have a 6 year old daughter. Emily’s interests include music and travel. She is a member of our Education Committee.
Committee: Emily is Chair of the Education Committee
Helen is a passionate and enthusiastic educationalist; she has spent four decades working in education both in the maintained and independent sectors. Helen has experience of teaching and senior leadership positions in prep and secondary schools in the UK and overseas. Helen has experience of day and boarding schools, co-educational and single sex schools and is particularly interested in the education of the very youngest pupils, those in pre-prep.
Helen retired from headship in June 2022, she had been Head of Sunny Hill Prep School (Somerset) for fourteen years. Prior to this she had worked for eight years at The Berlin British School and before this in two large comprehensive schools.
Helen has been an ISI Team Inspector in the UK and overseas for over ten years. She is also a Regional Support Representative for IAPS (Independent Association of Prep Schools).
Helen and her family live in Somerset
Committee: Helen is a member of the Education Committee
Jeremy Hamer was brought up in Surrey and went to Tonbridge School. His professional background blends an early career in financial services and then the food industry, with a more recent array of mergers, acquisitions, fundraising and turnaround experience, with a prime focus on the AIM market. He currently acts as a non-executive director across a portfolio of publicly quoted companies, as well as being an active Board level executive coach.
Jeremy moved to Dorset in time for the youngest two of his four daughters to be educated at Port Regis. He was appointed governor in 2016.
Committee: Jeremy is a member of the Finance Committee
Rupert Jones was educated at Sherborne School and Reading University where he read History. He retired from the Army in 2022 as a Major General after 30 years’ service. He commanded on operations in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and the Caribbean. Decorated twice on operations, among other senior roles he served as the Army’s Assistant Chief of the General Staff and as deputy commander of the US-led coalition that defeated ISIS.
He now lives in Somerset and works as a consultant and advisor. His three children all attended Port Regis.
Committee: Rupert is a member of the Governance Committee.
Alex teaches Geography at Eton College where he has been since 2003 and is currently House Master of Jourdelay’s which he took on in 2017. He has degrees from Oxford, Nottingham and Cambridge universities.
In another life, he was an international oarsman and coach, rowing and coaching for Great Britain and latterly coaching for Australia where he lived for three years in Melbourne. He has run the high performance section of Eton’s rowing program for twelve years. He is also a governor at Ludgrove School.
Alex is married to Rachael, an educational fundraiser with whom he has a son, Bligh currently at St Edward’s School in Oxford. They have their family home in Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset.
Committee: Alex is a member of the Education Committee.
Giles is experienced in solving problems and leading change in both large and small firms, with a focus around technology and finance. He has worked with the leading global firms in the financial services industry.
Driven by a desire to identify and utilise the most productive technology for businesses, or, in our case Port Regis, Giles will help us create teams who can work efficiently and autonomously with the right tools to find sustainable solutions for complex school and education issues. Giles will bring a technology and IT understanding to the workings of the school and the Council of Management.
Giles has three children at Port Regis.
Committee: Giles is a member of the Governance Committee
Sophie O’Keefe is a practising family law barrister at Albion Chambers Bristol. She specialises in both private and public law cases where the child’s welfare is paramount. Her expertise lies in child protections cases. Sophie read a BA in History at London University and then completed a “conversion” course to law at City University in 1988. She completed her bar finals in 1989 and joined chambers at 2 Paper Buildings in the Temple. In 2001 with a growing family Sophie and her husband moved to Wiltshire where she became a tenant at 3 Paper Buildings with a practice on the Western Circuit. Sophie has specialised as a Family law barrister for over 30 years . Sophie has also trained as a mediator. In 2022 she completed a postgraduate course in therapeutic counselling at Cambridge University to assist her work in representing children and adolescents in the court process.
Sophie, a former parent at Port Regis, is now the Chairperson of our Wellbeing committee. She works closely with the designated Safeguarding lead at school and regularly visits staff and the children at Port Regis.
Committee: Sophie is Chair of the Wellbeing Committee
Gavin White was brought up in Wiltshire and attended Sherborne School and Durham University, where he read Modern Languages. In 1991, he started his career at SG Warburg (later UBS) where he worked for 14 years, initially as an analyst in the European oil sector, before moving on to manage the European technology research team and then on to proprietary trading. From 2005-2013, he was a fund manager at Millennium Partners.
Now living in Somerset, he is married to Maymie and has educated all four of his children at Port Regis.
He was appointed a Governor of Port Regis in 2014 and is Chair of the Finance Committee.
Committee: Gavin is Chair of the Finance Committee
With a career focused on organisational, leadership and individual development, Tim brings useful skills and experience to both the Council of Management and the school. He works for Anglo American, a global leader in its field, and is focused on understanding how, driven by innovation and societal shifts, the world of work will evolve over the next twenty plus years and what this means for companies, society, and wider institutions.
Tim also has experience as a company director. He has three children currently at Port Regis.
Committee: Tim is a member of the Governance Committee
Guy has had a long and successful career in the City including at ING Bank. Guy is also a current Port Regis parent.
Committee: Guy is a member of the Finance Committee
Alastair Cotton was brought up in Wiltshire and attended Marlborough College and University College London where he read Mechanical Engineering.
After a year working in the City for Hambros Bank, Alastair joined the Army and spent five years in the Royal Horse Artillery where he served in Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Jamaica, Oman and the UK. After leaving the Army, Alastair completed an MBA at London Business School and has spent the last 24 years in commercial roles at a variety of large companies (Economist Group, Bloomberg, Reed Elsevier) and smaller, private equity-backed businesses.
Alastair is married with two children and lives in the Chalke Valley.
Committee: Alastair is a member of the Finance Committee
