Founder

Sue Laidlaw

Sue Laidlaw is Founder and Senior Partner of Laidlaw Education LLP. She taught in schools before founding her education consultancy. For over twenty-five years, she has headed her team of forty-five at Laidlaw Education LLP. 

Patron

Aled Jones

Aled Jones has performed at countless concerts as a boy soprano all over the world and became a household name in the 1980's singing "Walking in the Air" in the film The Snowman. 

Company Secretary

Parul Hindocha

Parul is a qualified UK Chartered Accountant. She worked for the RELX Group for many years before retiring in 2021. Parul has always had an interest in education, particularly education for girls.

Administrator

Georgia Laidlaw

Georgia has undertaken various roles in both the charity and social care sectors. With a background and degree in Psychology, Georgia has a strong interest in the development of children. Understanding the importance of early education, she is passionate about ensuring all children are given equal education opportunities. Having been involved from the beginning, and watched the growth of Sponsorstars, Georgia is excited to further her fundraising efforts and help to make a difference.

Trustee

Andrew Toll

Sponsor turned Trustee, Chartered Financial Planner Andrew has over 12 years of experience in finance, having previously worked at Barclays Private Bank. He is now a Director of boutique financial planning practice, Mulberry Bow, based in the City of London. 

Trustee

Clarence Mitchell

Clarence has more than 30 years of communications, senior public affairs engagement and government relations experience. He later established Clarence Mitchell Communications Ltd and is a Director of the Enterprise Forum.

Trustee

Fiona Thompson

Fiona enjoyed a working life in television, as a writer, BBC producer and director, though volunteering in her children’s primary school gave her just as much enjoyment and satisfaction.

She is thankful for an education that gave her choice and opportunity and wants to work towards making that true for every child.

Trustee

Nagham Al-Turaihi

Nagham currently works as a corporate lawyer in the city, having spent some time practicing in New York. She has volunteered and worked on a pro-bono basis with various charities and social enterprises, at different stages in her life. 

Trustee

Karn Dasgupta

A private equity professional, Karn is involved in the due diligence of new potential investments and also works alongside management teams of portfolio companies. Prior experience includes investment banking. 

Trustee

Sian Thompson

Sian worked in a variety of teaching and educational roles in Inner City London schools before retiring in 2022. With nearly forty years teaching experience, she  has a deep understanding of the importance of  education in the early years and at all subsequent levels and how opportunities impact the life chances of children. Sian is passionate about using her wide and relevant experience to enhance the life chances of the children supported by Sponsorstars.

Trustee

Charlie Waterkeyn

Charlie is an organisational design consultant with a background in Telecommunication, Media and Technology and secure government. He is currently a senior consultant at boutique management consultancy firm Q5 Partners. 

Trustee

Hazel Annikin

Hazel has more than 25 years of work experience ranging across public and private sectors, including multinational companies in both Fast moving consumer goods and Luxury goods sectors. Her experience to date has been in Logistics, Finance and Sustainability and she has worked with colleagues worldwide to improve training and knowledge. She is passionate about the opportunities which can be available through education and strongly believes in the fundamental human right of everyone having equal access to education. Already a sponsor, Hazel decided to become a Trustee in order to give her time to help Sponsorstars further their work in helping disadvantaged children reach their full potential.

Trustee

Johanna George

Johanna is a passionate and dedicated Assistant Headteacher at a London Primary School, with decades of experience. She is committed to ensuring all children receive opportunities to enable them to reach their potential. As a working teacher, Johanna understands the importance and positive impact of basic requirements such as access to healthy food and school uniform, on a child’s life and future opportunities.

Ambassador

Katie Marshall

Katie Marshall is an award-winning 17-year-old Soprano. Since she started Classical singing at 6 years of age, Katie has performed at the O2, sung on Warner Music’s ‘Christmas at Downton Abbey’ album with the Downton Abbey & Broadway actor Julian Ovenden,  and duetted with the King’s singers’ Paul Phoenix. She was nominated for a CLASSIC BRIT Award (Sound of Classical Poll).

Ambassador

Anna Maxwell Martin

Anna Maxwell Martin is an actress from stage and screen. Best known for her work on screen in BBC's 'Motherland', and at the National Theatre in His Dark Materials and Consent. She has won Baftas for her work in ‘Bleak House’ and Channel 4’s ‘Poppy Shakespeare’. Her latest work was on the film adaptation of ‘David Copperfield’. 

Ambassador

Bobby Seagull

After a career in the City as a trader for Lehman Brothers, and then as an accountant with PwC, Bobby is now a school maths teacher. He presented a BBC series “Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain” and published a book “The Life-Changing Magic of Numbers”.  Bobby co-founded OxFizz, a social enterprise that supports students applying to university as well as being a trustee for the youth leadership charity, UpRising. 

Honorary Advisor

Alan Kelly

After a long and successful career with ExxonMobil, Alan is now Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Wake Forest University Business School, on the Worldwide Board for Junior Achievement and a member and former Marketing Committee Head of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.