Bursar’s Review ISBA Annual Conference 2019

Keynotes, panel discussions and updates CONFERENCE SPEAKERS 20 Keynote GLOBAL ECONOMIC OUTLOOK Tuesday 21st May Keynote 14.15 – 15.00 Professor Joe Nellis (See Joe’s biography on page 14) PANEL DISCUSSIONS A1 15.45 – 16.45 An alternative look at finance Anjali Kothari, chair Anjali Kothari FCCA, DChA is a partner at Kingston Smith in their dedicated charities and schools group, with over 18 years’ experience of the sector. She is involved in auditing a number of independent schools as well as free schools, academies, educational bodies and exam setting bodies. As well as being one of the lead partners in the dedicated not-for-profit group, Anjali is also a member of the executive board for Kingston Smith. She is therefore able to draw upon her commercial experience as well as being familiar with the issues which face the sector. She has extensive experience of successfully helping organisations through expert and practical advice. With a wide network of contacts in specialist areas such as data protection, pensions and VAT, to name a few, Anjali is quick to draw on the knowledge of experts. Her ability to explain complex technical concepts in everyday language and to propose suitable solutions to meet challenges as they arise is greatly valued by her clients. In addition, she is the current treasurer and executive member of the Charity Law Association. Panel Martin Boulton Dr Boulton is the high master at The Manchester Grammar School (MGS), which was founded in 1515 with the express aim of educating ‘the poor boys of Manchester in godliness and good learning’. Some 500 years later, the school is considered to be one of the country’s leading academic schools and still has social mobility as one of its key driving principles. At present, the school has around 200 full fee bursary places and has the aim eventually to become completely needs blind. Dr Boulton is the chairman of LIDS, an HMC grouping of the leading academic day schools in the UK. Prior to taking up the post at MGS, Martin was the under master at Westminster School in London. He trained initially as an engineer and prior to joining the teaching profession he worked for De Beers and then Arthur Andersen. Adrian Bowcher Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Adrian spent 16 years with the RBS Group. For the past 10 years there, he specialised in distressed company portfolios and specific banking problems of managing companies and portfolios following exceptional events such as fraud, mismanagement or succession issues. He has an MBA (Finance) from CASS Business School in London and, in 1998, founded a risk consulting and investment company, which he later sold to the SA Pension Group. Since 2000, he has been working as bursar and director of finance and operations in independent international schools in UK and abroad, usually with a theme of restructuring, reorganisation or turnaround. He has been bursar of The Dean Close Foundation since January 2014, a charitable company which owns and operates three schools in Cheltenham, two in Chepstow and five large nurseries. Joe Francis Joe was educated at RGS Guildford (for £540 per term when he started in 1981) before going on to spend three tuition fee free years at Oxford. He began his career as a schoolmaster at Tonbridge in 1994, then moved to Eton College to eventually become head of English. In 2010/11 he had a sabbatical year as headmaster of Hampton Court House School, before returning to Eton as a senior master. The experience of chairing the remuneration and conditions of service group opened his eyes to the pressures on school finances. With the help of a number of colleagues in top independent schools, he launched Scholar 6 in 2017 as a research project into fee levels in the independent secondary sector. This year, he is leaving Eton to try and turn their findings into a new kind of asset-light, tech-enabled sixth form. Karen Hartshorn Karen Hartshorn is chair of the Institute of Development Professionals in Education (IDPE), the professional development organisation for those working in fundraising and alumni relations in schools. The IDPE exists to enable every school to develop a culture of giving in order to provide the best educational opportunities for children and young people. She combines this with her role as director of development at Pangbourne College, where she oversees marketing, admissions and communications in addition to fundraising and alumni relations. Educated at Harvard and Cambridge, Karen's career started off somewhat by accident when she worked in the development office of a Cambridge college for a year. More recently, she has been development director at Canford School in addition to previous fundraising, communications and marketing oriented roles. Voluntary roles have included serving as a school governor and trustee of a conservation charity. www.theisba.org.uk