Governance

Adam Small is a Theatre Director and Producer with experience in creating theatre, the arts industry, creative roles within the industry and how to build an arts career. He is empathetic, analytical and passionate about social opportunity and equity, empowering all young people to seize their passions and build fulfilling independent lives. He is currently undertaking a MA in US History and Politics at UCL.

Dr Moqi Groen-Xu is a Senior Lecturer for Finance at School of Economics and Finance at Queen Mary University of London. She specialises in empirical work on Corporate Finance and Corporate Governance. Groen-Xu joined Queen Mary in 2020 and worked previously at the LSE. She has a PhD from INSEAD, France. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a consultant with McKinsey. Dr Groen-Xu has two daughters, born 2015 and 2017. She is passionate about education and equality of opportunities. She blogs on moqixu.com and tweets @moqixu.

Miada is an active member of the local community. She went to university and obtained a masters in engineering in Chemical Engineering, after graduating she went on to work for technology departments as a product manager helping companies identify and resolve issues with in their offerings and helping them by creating revenue generating opportunities.

Miada went to one of the local state schools in the borough and attributes a lot of her life achievements to teachers that believed in her, and the local community who held the schools accountable and is hoping that she can meaningfully contribute to other children's journeys.

Faheem is a Strategy & Business Development professional with over 10 years of experience in the energy industry, prior to which he worked as a management consultant in South Africa. After moving to the UK in 2010 to complete a Masters at Imperial College, he worked in the oil & gas industry, primarily negotiating contracts with middle eastern governments. Over the last three years, he has been working on the development of renewable energy projects including solar farms, green hydrogen projects and offshore wind farms. Faheem has been a volunteer with STEM learning for a number of years, and holds a firm belief that education is the most effective solution to transform and uplift future generations. Faheem’s first child has recently enrolled in Ark Priory.

Jo is the Primary Music Specialist for the Ark Central Music Team and joined Ark in April 2021.  She has been a primary teacher for 20 years, working various schools across London as well as seven years as Director of Primary Music at the British School in the Netherlands.  She was appointed as a teacher-governor at Betty Layward School in Hackney where she worked for just under a decade as a class teacher across KS1 and KS2, became the music specialist and also stepped up as Assistant Head.

After teaching English as a Foreign Language in Germany and Switzerland, I returned to the United Kingdom to work for Ark after learning of Ark’s paid teacher trainee program. More so than its outstanding rated training, it was the mission that every pupil has a right to excellent education, regardless of background, that struck a chord with myself and from that moment I have shared this commitment.

Tom is a Teach First alumni and former maths teacher who has worked in education for the last 10 years, including with Ark Ventures. Tom believes passionately in the potential for technology to support teachers in the classroom and help to provide equality of education and opportunity for all.

George is a Fund Controller at Equitix a private equity firm investing in infrastructure and renewables having previously worked as an auditor at KPMG London and worked in Jersey for EY.  His interest in educational governance stemmed from his partner being a teacher in South East London. He believes firmly in the transformative capacity of education having worked on projects in schools in Malawi, Nicaragua and North East London; and seen first-hand the importance and power of education.