Vice-chair, Finance & Operations Committee

James was co-opted to the Board in May 2020 and brings with him expertise in Education and Science.

I started Class 1 at Wynstones on a damp autumnal day in 1982. A strange new place, but I remember the teacher’s passion for a nurturing and caring education that endured for the next 12 years. I had a love of sports, creative writing, chess and science but a particular interest in chemistry emerged during this time.

I am now Professor of Biological Chemistry at the University of Oxford and Director of the Mass Spectrometry Research Laboratory where I run a busy research group focused on understanding chemical processes in complex biological systems; such as how metabolic changes are linked to disease. I feel incredibly privileged to find myself where I am today, enjoying every minute of what I do, but to reflect on this is to realise the journey started at Wynstones with the freedom to play and discover the world around me. Inherent in the precarious times we now face, I feel a duty to support and enable future generations of students to be able to look back at their education, as I do now, with pride and gratitude.