Who we are

Brian is Chief Executive Officer of Finance Freedom. He has had a wide and varied career in financial Services and a deep love of dance that stems from many hours spent at dance school with his three daughters, one of whom studied dance at the London Studio Centre.  Brian has been chair of the Royal Academy of Dance and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds

Emeritus Professor of Pharmacy at the Universities of Brighton and Sussex. Past Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Brighton and Head of Schools of Pharmacy at Brighton and Cardiff Universities. Former QAA Higher Education institutional reviewer, Teaching Excellence Framework Project Board member, and Accreditation Lead for the General Pharmaceutical Council. Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Stephen has acted as a pharmaceutical expert to industry, the Department of Health and the European Commission and has been an external examiner and adviser to a number of universities.

Simon works on the legal and contracts team at HarperCollins Publishers; he is also a pension fund trustee and the Company Secretary. Simon is a co-founder of Elevate, HarperCollins UK’s Black, Asian and ethnic minority network. For this he was named on the inaugural 2016 Financial Times UPstanding Executive Power List. Simon is also a qualified mediator and worked previously as a legal advisor for the BBC. He was a director of the Bush Theatre in London’s Shepherds Bush, and a member of its Finance and Audit Committee.

Ann Cottis was a partner in PwC until her retirement after 38 years; following many years as a tax partner she developed and led the people agenda across the partnership. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1979 and a Chartered Tax Advisor in 1980 after completing a Maths degree at Warwick University. She has held a number of non-executive directorship and trusteeships including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Surrey Cricket Foundation.

Ben is the headmaster of The Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, a school which provides gifted students with specialist music tutoring alongside academic study. He studied in Music and French at Bristol University and the Sorbonne (Paris). He went on to study in the USA at post-graduate level in vocal performance, conducting, and piano, whilst teaching undergraduate music theory and piano. Before beginning teaching, he worked for ten years as a freelance musician, working as a tenor lay-clerk, animateur, accompanist, musical director and jazz pianist.

Managing Director in Greenhill’s Capital Advisory group. He has nearly 20 years of experience advising financial services companies and other entities. Brenlen has an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a BA from Princeton University.

Jo works as Director of Education and Studies at the University of Brighton and has been awarded an MA in Education. She is a highly experienced Higher Education practitioner with a track record of cross institutional leadership in Education and Student Experience. Prior to her work in Higher Education, Jo held a senior position in Television Production and Commercial Theatre. She is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and Fellow of SEDA (Staff Educational Development Association).

Upon leaving full-time teaching, Farida founded Mannan Education to provide educational support for school aged pupils throughout the academic year. Her company is another local Chiswick institute, based in the Hogarth Community Centre.

Property development and project management specialist, Rob has a degree in architecture and started his career working in construction before spending more than 22 years at a major property company, Capital & Counties, where he ran their project team. Until his recent retirement, he was a director of Rosenau Properties.

Ruth is an experienced HR professional who has worked for a range of organisations, most recently as an Interim consultant focussing on business change and transformation.  She has been a mentor in a secondary school and a governor for the University of Bedfordshire.

Jennifer works as the Director of Student Recruitment & Business Development at London Metropolitan University and has experience at leading UK institutions in international development, business development, and partnership management. As a musician, she has worked on a variety of national and international marketing projects. Jennifer is also a trained conductor, currently taking her place as Musical Director of the London Metropolitan Brass Community Band. Jennifer actively performs in a number of choirs and brass bands across London venues.