Biographies
The Bridge Academy Trustees
NICK WRIGHT SPONSOR TRUSTEE and CHAIR of the BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Nick Wright joined Swiss Bank Corporation (now incorporated into UBS) as a Fixed Income Derivatives Trader in 1989. In 1999, he assumed his role as regional Head of Community Affairs (now Community Impact). UBS operates a vigorous and long-standing Community Impact programme focusing in particular on education. Nick has overseen the development of this multi-award winning programme both regionally and globally. It is notable for innovative and long-term partnerships with voluntary and third sector organisations and significant and sustained Employee Volunteering.
Nick has previously served on the Boards of the London East Learning & Skills Council and Hackney Business Venture, was Chair of Business in the Community’s Curriculum Taskforce and a member of the Early Action Taskforce. He has been a member of advisory bodies to both central and local government in the regeneration space. He is currently the "Sponsor Trustee" at The Bridge Academy, Hackney, a Trustee of the UBS Donor Advised Foundation and a member of IntoUniversity’s Advisory Panel.
Nick is married with two sons and has a BA in History from Oxford University. He is passionate about education.
ZOE EVANS
SPONSOR Trustee and LINK Trustee FOR TECHNOLOGY
Zoë is the Chief Digital and Information Officer for the Investment Bank. She was born in Ireland, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from University College Cork and has been with UBS for 15 years.
In her CDIO Investment bank role, Zoë is responsible for supporting the Investment Bank’s digital transformation and works collaboratively with the business to deliver technology solutions and improve client experience. Zoë is also Head of CDIO UK and oversees Poland Technology.
Before joining UBS in 2006, Zoë spent several years working at Accenture as a strategy consultant.
Zoë is passionate about inclusion and development in the workplace and is an active member of the UK Community Impact Forum and the CDIO Technology Diversity, Equity and Inclusion council.
Zoë has been a trustee at The Bridge Academy since September 2020. This has special significance for Zoë as her grand aunt worked at the St. Joseph hospice in Hackney for many years and so she has a long established, personal connection to the neighbourhood.
RICHARD HARDIE
VICE CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, SPONSOR TRUSTEE and
LINK TRUSTEE FOR MUSIC
Richard Hardie is a Chartered Accountant and a former Senior Adviser to UBS in the UK. He co-led UBS’s project to set up The Bridge Academy and was first appointed as a Trustee in 2005.
Richard joined SG Warburg & Co. Ltd. (now part of UBS Investment Bank) in 1977. He was Regional COO for UBS Investment Bank in EMEA from 2002-06 when he became non-executive. He chaired UBS Ltd. from 2010-2015.
Richard is Chair of the UBS UK Pension Scheme and of the UBS UK Donor-Advised Foundation.
In 2003 Richard joined the Board of The Learning Trust, Hackney’s then education provider and the only not-for-profit independent Local Education Authority in the UK, and was Chair from 2007-12. He is a Director of the Fair Education Alliance of which UBS is a founder funder.
Richard is a non-playing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra and chairs its Finance Committee. He is an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, where he took an MA in History and French, and chairs its Development Committee. Richard is Honorary President of the Chartered Institute of Linguists and is actively involved in policy matters relating to the teaching of modern foreign languages.
ELIZABETH IFI
PARENT TRUSTEE
Elizabeth is a legal executive officer with the Home Office. She is particularly interested in making young ones aware of their legal rights. Elizabeth applied to become a parent trustee to support the school and to be an approachable and representative voice for parents and carers.
In her professional capacity as an aspiring barrister from a non-traditional route to the bar, the barriers and hurdles Elizabeth experienced bring an influencing and learning curve to the Board of Trustees.
Elizabeth's outside interest includes being a critical friend of the new London Museum's remodelling forum, where she and other families bring their opinions to selections of items to the new Museum.
As a parent of a Year 10 student and having a goddaughter and nephew in the school, Elizabeth is actively interested in their progress and seeing them become high achievers together with their friends as they move on to the next level in education.
PHIL JONES
PARENT TRUSTEE
Phil applied to become parent trustee to support the school and to be an approachable and representative voice for parents and carers.
In his professional capacity Phil brings 20 years of IT and cloud experience as CTO of a firm specialising in careers systems for multi-national organisations.
Phil's outside interests include music, history and sports. He is also heavily involved in Hackney Woodcraft, which helps young people learn to value our planet and each other. With members of his close family in teaching from early years to higher education, Phil has an active interest in education policy and practice.
NAV KHINDA
SPONSOR TRUSTEE and LINK TRUSTEE FOR PROGRESSION and VULNERABLE GROUPS
Nav Khinda is a Senior Relationship Manager (Managing Director) in the Investment Bank division of UBS, based in London. Nav joined UBS in 2012, in the Research department and was a key member of the Equities management team before transitioning to his current role in 2014.
Nav is also a Senior Sponsor of Mosaic-UK which seeks to enhance the career experience of employees from diverse ethnicities and engage them in decisions which will help to shape a more inclusive organisation.
Prior to UBS, Nav was the Global COO for Equity Derivatives and Convertibles, and the COO for the European Equities division at Credit Suisse. Nav joined Credit Suisse First Boston in 1997 from Grant Thornton, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and worked in Corporate Finance for several years. Nav holds a degree in BA (Econ) Hons in Economics from the University of Manchester.
WAYNE LAWSON-TURNBULL
SPONSOR TRUSTEE
Wayne Lawson-Turnbull is the EMEA Regional Operating Officer for UBS Investment Bank and the UK COO for UBS AG London Branch.
Wayne was also the Group Chief Operating Officer of EMEA from 2009 to 2011 leading the CEO and COO Management Office supporting the Group Regional CEO. Prior to Wayne's roles in London since 2009, he was based at UBS in South Africa and was the Group Country Head for Sub Saharan Africa. He also spent three years in London from 1999-2001 as Global Head of the Management Office and Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO of the Investment Bank. Before that, Wayne was the Managing Partner at JD Anderson and Co which was sold to Swiss Bank Corporation in 1995.
Wayne is a long-standing member of the UK Community Impact Forum and regularly participates in the UBS Volunteer scheme. Wayne is passionate about health and wellbeing; he is chair of the Ability UK network and is a certified mental health first aider.
Wayne holds an honours degree in Accounting Science and is a Chartered Accountant registered in South Africa and in England and Wales. He is married with three children.
JOHN ROBARTS, SPONSOR TRUSTEE
John joined UBS in February 2016 as a Managing Director and Head of HR for the FX, Rates & Credit and Global Research businesses, from 2020-2024 he then led the Global Markets HR team. In August 2024 he became Head of HR for the Investment Bank, Non-Core Legacy, UK and EMEA.
Before joining UBS, John was Head of EMEA HR at Credit Suisse, with responsibility for HR coverage across their Europe, Middle East and Africa franchise. Prior to that John led HR for their Investment Banking Department in EMEA. Previous to joining Credit Suisse in 2009, John worked at Merrill Lynch covering HR for the Investment Banking Department.
John has an undergraduate degree in Politics from the University of Nottingham, a Masters in Human Resources Management and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.
DAME BENITA RAYNE DBE
COMMUNITY TRUSTEE
Benita is a founding Trustee of Place2Be and a qualified counsellor. After 20 years, Benita stepped down as CEO of Place2Be in 2014 and continues to support the organisation enthusiastically through her new role as President.
Benita received an OBE for Services to Children and Families in 2007; was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of East London in 2009; in 2014 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Institute of Education, University of London and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Birthday 2016 Honours List in recognition of services to education.
Currently Benita is Trustee of Forward (previously known as RAPt) and a Trustee at Bridge Academy Hackney.
SUE ROBERTS
TRUSTEE and LINK TRUSTEE FOR SAFEGUARDING
Sue was a very experienced secondary headteacher with a track record of school improvement and outstanding results. She gained an outstanding Ofsted grade and a range of national awards during her time as head. Since joining Hackney Learning Trust in September 2016 as a Leadership and Management advisor, Sue has undertaken a wide range of roles including being a School Improvement Partner for differing schools, encompassing all settings, from a sixth form college, secondary schools, (both academies and maintained), to a special school. She leads on a number of leadership training courses to support staff in their career development. She is a trusted but challenging advisor and because of this has been asked by a number of heads to undertake headteacher performance management reviews. She has successfully mentored new heads form a range of schools. Sue is particularly knowledgeable about SEND and undertakes whole school SEND reviews. She is also a governor of a special school and chair of governors of a virtual school in another borough.
MIKE SALES
SPONSOR TRUSTEE and LINK TRUSTEE FOR MATHEMATICS
Mike is the Co-Head of Global Markets Sales EMEA within UBS Investment Bank. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Sciences from Warwick University and has been at UBS since 2000 having joined as part of the UBS Graduate Training Program. In his current role, Mike is responsible for delivering business growth across all client types for Global Markets. Prior to this role, Mike was EMEA Head of Equities Distribution and previously Global Head of Capital & Consulting and EMEA Head of Prime Brokerage. Mike is passionate about culture and driving cultural change within the workplace and is Co-Chair of the UK Global Markets People Forum and active member of the UBS UK Community Impact Forum. Mike became a trustee at the Bridge Academy in March 2022.
BERT SUER
SPONSOR TRUSTEE and LINK TRUSTEE FOR STUDENTS WITH SEND
Bert Suer works at UBS in London as Head of the EMEA Investment Banking Legal Department. He joined UBS in 2000 after training as a lawyer at Clifford Chance in London. He specialises in capital markets and M&A (Merger and Acquisitions) Law.
Bert has always been interested in community impact and represents Legal at the UBS Community Impact Forum. Bert participated as a volunteer and fundraiser for a number of the schools and partner organisations that UBS supports for many years before joining The Bridge Academy Board of Trustees in 2013.
CAROLINE TYSON
TRUSTEE
Caroline Tyson is a retired headteacher of an outstanding primary school who has worked in Hackney for many years. Prior to becoming a head, she helped to develop very successful early reading and catch up reading programmes, training and supporting both primary and secondary schools across the UK and abroad. During her career, she has worked in graphic design and print production and also as a nurse in the NHS. Caroline is a governor at a local primary school and also works as a school improvement partner for the local authority.
SOZINHA PAULO
PARENT TRUSTEE
Sozinha applied to become a Parent Trustee to support the school and become an approachable voice for parents, especially those whose voices have never been heard in regards to their children’s educational needs due to internal and external barriers.
In her professional capacity as an early intervention and prevention wellbeing coach, Sozinha hopes to share her experience and knowledge with the Board of Trustees to aid parents to maximise their children’s educational full potential.
Sozinha has always been interested in making an impact in her community. Sozinha hosted an educational award in 2020 to recognise and celebrate young people’s achievements from the PALOP community and thereafter, went on to host a careers event to aid young and parents to have an idea of different sectors that young people might be keen to explore.