Chair, Board of Trustees

Nic was co-opted to the Board in September 2020 and brings expertise in Leadership and Community.

My parents left their London lives in the 1970s to be co-workers in Camphill, the communities for children with special needs based on Rudolf Steiner’s approach. I went to Wynstones School for most of the 1980s. Wynstones nurtured in particular my love of music: I went on to a choral scholarship at Cambridge, and music remains an important part of my life.

Wynstones shaped me overall in terms of values, creativity and curiosity about the world, and a love of languages (starting early by singing songs in French really helped when I needed to speak it fluently later!) All this led to me joining the UK diplomatic service serving in France, Germany, the US, Afghanistan and most recently as Ambassador to Kenya. I’m currently Executive Director of International Alert, one of the world’s largest peace-building organisations.

I believe that a modernised Steiner Waldorf education has a big contribution to make in producing people who are open, free-thinking, creative and resilient in the face of 21st-century challenges.