Governing Body

Mr Andrew Higginson, BSc (Hons), FCMA
Chair of Governors

Andrew Higginson has been Chair of Governors since December 2021 having been elected as a Governor in 2019.

He is a highly experienced company director, both as an Executive and a Non-Executive Director, having served on six FTSE 100 Boards. He was Chair of Wm Morrison Supermarkets and is currently chair of JD Sports Fashion PLC. He has served as a NED for Sky, the RFU and Flutter. He was previously Chair of Governors at RGS High Wycombe for 11 years.

Mr Simon Barriskell, BSc (Hons), MBA
Chair of the Finance & General Purposes Committee (F&GP)

Simon is the Chair of the Finance & General Purposes Committee and was elected as a Governor in 2014.

He is an experienced CFO/ Finance Director, has worked in the UK and internationally for a number of major fast-moving consumer goods businesses for over 30 years, with companies such as Unilever, McBride plc, Glen Dimplex and Warburtons.

Having attended Birkenhead School, Simon graduated from Leicester University in 1990 with a BSC (Hons) in Economics, qualified as an accountant in 1993 and completed an MBA from Henley Management College in 2000.

Simon is a keen rugby fan, a coach at Macclesfield Rugby club, enjoys hiking and scuba diving and is married with two children, who both attend King's.

Simon also sits on the Governance, Nominations, Audit & Remuneration (GNAR) Committee.

Prof Neil Hanley, BSc (Hons), MBChB, PhD, FRCP

Chair of Education Committee

Neil has been a Governor since 2016. He is a doctor and university academic. He is Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Birmingham and member of its Executive Board. He leads Medicine & Health, one of the University's five Colleges and is responsible for undergraduate medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, midwifery and biomedical sciences alongside diverse postgraduate studies. His College's research in medicine is in the world's top 5% of universities.

Neil is also Executive Director of Birmingham Health Partners, responsible for drawing together innovation in healthcare for the Birmingham city region. Amongst other board roles, Neil is a European representative for the executive committee of the International Society for Endocrinology, his clinical specialty.

He is married and their two daughters are both at King’s. Neil is a keen hockey player and, for the last six years, has given up Saturday mornings to coach over 50 Sixth Formers from King's and other Macclesfield schools in their aspirations to enter medicine, dentistry and veterinary sciences at university.

Neil is Chair of the Education Committee and also on the External Relations Committee.

Mr Michael Strutt, BA
Chair of the External Relations Committee

Michael is Chair of the External Relations Committee and has been a Governor since 2011 having been nominated by the Lord Bishop of Chester.

Michael graduated from Lancaster University in Accounting and Finance.  He went on to work for Deloitte, Haskins & Sells in Manchester before working in the advertising industry with McCann-Erickson.

For many years he has been involved with a number of local charities, either as a member of the business team (usually as treasurer) or as a trustee.  He was chair of Age UK Cheshire East until 2019, stepping down on completion of his term of office.  In 2019 he became a trustee of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain.

He is a Licensed Reader, serving at St Michael & All Angels’, Macclesfield. He is married to Tina and they have three children, all of whom have progressed through King’s.

Mike also sits on the F & GP committee.

Mr Ian Bradley, BSc (Hons)
Governor responsible for Safeguarding

Ian Bradley is the Governor responsible for Safeguarding in the School as well as the link Governor for the Sixth Form and joined the Governing Body in March 2014, as the representative for The University of Manchester.

Ian is currently Head of Student Systems, Records and Data at The University of Manchester, a position held since the beginning of 2019 although he has worked at the University for many years and in Higher Education administration since 1990. He has held a number of roles in that time with the recruitment and support of students being a feature of his roles for much of the last 15 years (including having had responsibility for student recruitment and student admissions).

He was awarded his degree in Mathematics from the University of Warwick and has worked predominantly with Science and Engineering students since 1993 within UMIST and then for some years at The University of Manchester.

He is a Rotarian (of the Wilmslow and District Rotary) and has been involved in a number of local charities notably with Friends for Leisure where he was a trustee and Secretary to the board of trustees. He is currently also a trustee for the Rochdale Ancient Parish Educational Trust.

Mr Jonathan Watkins, BA (Oxon)

Jonathan graduated from Brasenose College Oxford in 1992 with a Law degree and completed his law finals at Chester. Jonathan is a corporate partner in a global law firm, based in their Manchester office, working in mergers and acquisitions, since qualifying with them in 1995.  He also leads their International Health and Wellbeing Programme and is a member of their Tax and Remuneration Committees.

Jonathan has been married to Toni for 24 years and has two daughters, both of whom were at King's from Nursery though to Sixth Form. Jonathan enjoys running, Peloton, red wine and the Sunday Times.

Jonathan sits on the F & GP and External Relations committees.

Louise Grainger

Louise Grainger is a Senior Civil Servant and qualified accountant with extensive experience and knowledge in central and local government finance. Louise has a degree in Politics and Social Policy, a Masters in Financial Management and has worked in the education sector for over 15 years.

Passionate about education and learning, Louise joined King’s governors to contribute to the strategic direction of the school and to maintain positive outcomes for current and future pupils.

Louise’s daughter attended King's School from 2009 to 2024. Louise has a special interest in Learning Support and sits on the Education and GNAR Committees.

Mr Steve Murrells, CBE

Steve stepped down from his role as Group CEO of the Co-op in 2022 and was awarded a CBE in the New Year honours list that year. He is now Group CEO for publicly listed Hilton Foods, one of the largest food companies in the UK. He has also worked in senior roles at Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

Steve has a daughter in King's Senior Division.

Steve sits on the External Relations and GNAR Committee.

Mr Hamish Grant

Hamish graduated from Oxford University in 1995 where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He was an associate fellow of Oxford Business School from 2017 to 2019.

Hamish has worked in the financial services industry for 29 years: 4 years in investment banking and the last 25 years in private equity at Bridgepoint. His current role there is Head of Investor Services.

He has two children: George is a former King's pupil now at university; Charlotte is in the Seniors at King’s.

Hamish sits on the F & GP and GNAR Committees.

Vicky Davidson, MBChB, MRCGP

Vicky was elected as Governor in 2022. She was also previously on the Governing Body at Beech Hall School until 2017. Vicky was educated locally and attended Edinburgh University, whilst her brother attended King's School.

Vicky qualified as a General Practitioner in 2008, and has been a GP Partner in Congleton for the last 11 years. She was a Member of the Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Joint Commissioning Committee in 2015-2019. She became Co-Clinical Director of Congleton and Holmes Chapel Primary Care Network in 2023, and took on an East Cheshire Place Clinical Lead role for Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Commissioning board in 2024. Vicky also has a particular interest in Mental Health and has covered Mental Health units locally as part of her role for the last 13 years. Vicky is married, and has two children who are currently in the Infant and Junior Division at King's.

Vicky sits on the Education Committee and is the Link Governor for the Infant and Junior Division.

Sarah Byrne

Sarah Byrne was elected as a Governor in January 2023 and sits on the External Relations Committee. She has worked in several sales and marketing roles in businesses of various sizes in the food manufacturing industry for 22 years. Degree educated with honours at Newcastle University, Sarah studied Food Marketing. It was at university where Sarah discovered a love of sport, taking up rowing that took her all over the UK; a real highlight was taking part in Ladies Henley. 

Sarah is involved in the local community supporting and volunteering in both hockey and cricket; she is passionate about maintaining sporting opportunity for girls as they transition to ladies teams and into adulthood. Sarah has a daughter at King's who joined from Wilmslow Preparatory School. 

Depending on the season, each weekend you will find Sarah at the side of a hockey or cricket pitch around the North West! 

Sarah sits on the External Relations Committee.

Cllr Chris O’Leary BA (Hons) MSc PhD 

Chris has been a Governor of King's since 2023, representing Cheshire East Council.

Chris was elected as a Cheshire East councillor in May 2023, representing a rural ward on the outskirts of Macclesfield. Chris is an academic at Manchester Metropolitan University, working in the field of public policy and public administration. His research focuses on policy failure, policy evaluation, and homelessness. He previously held posts at King's College, London and Durham University, and has a PhD in Public Policy from King's College, London. Prior to his move to academia, Chris worked as a civil servant.

Chris lives in Wildboarclough with his two dogs. He is active in many local community groups, and helps to run the dog show at the Wildboarclough summer fete.

Chris sits on the External Relations Committee.