Governing Body

Mr Jonathan Watkins, BA (Oxon)

Vice-Chair of Governors

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 was appointed Vice-Chair in June 2025 and sits on the Finance Committee (F&GP) and External Relations Committee.

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.

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 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.

Dame Sarah Storey 

Dame Sarah Storey is widely known for her sporting achievements in swimming until 2005 and subsequently in cycling. Most recently she claimed her 19th Gold Medal at the Paris 2024 Games and her 45th World title at the Zurich Road World Championships in September 2024.

Sarah has worked as a keynote speaker over the past 30 years and established her own consultancy business with her husband in 2009. Sarah has held multiple board roles across international sporting bodies, including two at the International Cycling Union [UCI] and on the Athlete Council at International Paralympic Committee [IPC]. Since then she has moved to roles within the UK and currently works on boards at the Department for Transport, Transport for Greater Manchester and is the Interim Chair of Lancashire County Cricket Club, having previously been President.

Sarah’s consultancy business has seen her take on a variety of roles across transport, education and media as well as working with companies such as Scottish Widows, Deloitte and Skoda.

Sarah graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2000 and has associations through Honorary Degrees with numerous other institutions, including a Visiting Professor of Sport role at Manchester Metropolitan University. Alongside this Sarah is the Active Travel Commissioner for Greater Manchester and a parent of two children at King’s.

Sarah sits on GNAR.

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.

Iwona Clough BA 

Iwona Clough is a Managing Director in Financial Services, with more than 25 years experience specializing in Global Markets Operations.

Iwona has worked at Bank of America in Chester since 2018 and is the Global Head of Fixed Income, Currency & Commodities Operations, the Head of Global Markets Operations Transformation and Change, as well as Site Lead for the Bank’s Chester offices. 

Prior to joining Bank of America, Iwona worked at NatWest Markets for 7 years, and spent 6 years at Morgan Stanley in London, before moving on to run their EMEA Branch Operations. Earlier Iwona spent 6 years at Goldman Sachs, in London.

Iwona is a member of the BofA EMEA Philanthropy Board and chairs the Chester Site Steering Group. Iwona co-chaired the Global Markets Operations D&I committee until 2025, and is on the boards of two regional charities focusing on social mobility.

She graduated from the University of Liverpool with a B.A. in Architecture.

Iwona lives with her husband and daughter, who attends King’s Senior School and has been a pupil since Pre-school.

Iwona sits on the F & GP Committee.

Emma Hannah 

Emma joined the King's Governing body in 2025.  Emma graduated from Leeds University in 1996 where she read History of the Fine & Decorative Arts before going on to gain an MA in Architecture & Critical Theory from Nottingham University.  Emma worked in Finance for the early part of her career, before moving into Strategy, and has specialised in the Retail & Consumer sector for the majority of her 25+ year career.

Emma began her career with Arthur Anderson, before working at KPMG, and then working in Paris and London for BNP Paribas, Deloitte and a number of specialist Private Equity funds.  She completed an Executive MBA in 2002. 

Emma moved back to Macclesfield in 2009, and worked for PwC as a Strategy Consulting Director and practice lead with Retail clients in London and the North West.  She joined the Co-operative Group in 2018 where she held a variety of roles including Group Director of Vision, Strategy & Transformation. Emma is now the interim Group Strategy & Transformation Director for Saga Plc. 

Emma and her husband Alex are both former pupils of King's, and their two children now attend the school. 

Emma sits on the GNAR Committee

Dr David Ennis

David joined the governing body in September 2025. He graduated from Liverpool University with a degree in Chemistry and completed doctoral training in Organic Chemistry at the same institution. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Yale University, USA.

Dave has 32 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry, where he held senior roles in R&D and Operations. He was Vice President of Global Chemical Development for 10 years and moved to Vice President of Environmental Protection before his retirement in April 2025.

Dave is married to Julie, and through their son Matthew, has a long association with King’s. Matthew was educated across all divisions during a 14 year-period, and left in July 2025 to take-up his undergraduate education.

Dave is passionate about education and sports and can often be seen on a Saturday cheering on King’s rugby.

David sits on the Education Committee.

Matt Forbes, MA (Oxon)

Matt joined the Governing Body in September 2025 and sits on the Finance & General Purposes Committee.

Matt attended King's himself from 1989 to 1996, before going on to study German & Philosophy at Brasenose College, Oxford.  He has since spent 25 years working in the business services sector, initially as a strategy consultant and more recently in senior management positions in construction, engineering and real estate companies.  He is currently Group President, Global Operations at CBRE.

Matt has always retained a strong connection with King's, his daughter currently attends King's Senior Division, and for the last four years he has been involved in the Former Pupils & Staff Association.

Matt lives locally with his wife and children, and his interests include sailing (another sport he enjoyed at King's), cycling, and triathlons.