Event Information
We are delighted to invite you to the next in our series of business and networking panels, this time focusing on ‘CEOs: What challenges made you a success?’. As well as hearing from our expert panel of speakers, listed below, you will also have the opportunity to meet and network with other professionals.
The event will run from 3:00 to 4:30pm on Tuesday 18th March in our Old Library. Spaces are limited to ensure the networking is manageable, so please sign up here.
Speakers
Mark Anderson
Mark has extensive senior leadership experience, including as CEO of travel and airline companies. Mark has served as Managing Director of Virgin Holidays, Chief Customer Officer of Virgin Atlantic and CEO of Flybe. He enjoys building high performing teams and developing successful growth strategies. Mark is passionate about helping people to be their best, creating opportunities for everyone to play to their strengths.
Mark is Chair of Governors at Taunton School after moving to the Southwest in 2019. He is ambitious for Taunton School’s ethos, goals, and future.
Jeremy Budd
Jeremy recently retired after a 39-year career in the global technology industry. Jeremy worked for IBM Corporation as a senior executive in Global, European and Asia Pacific leadership roles based in London, New York, Paris and Singapore. Jeremy was the Global executive leader for IBM’s Graduate and Early Professional Hires programme and passionately led their collaboration with universities, colleges and schools to transform student employability and career development.
In 2008, Jeremy established the strategic partnership between the University of Exeter and IBM which has since become a blueprint for collaboration between business and universities globally.
Matthew Pyke
Matthew left Taunton School in 1988, ultimately becoming CEO of the Lloyd & Whyte Group. The company is one of the top 25 insurance broking businesses in the UK, with over 600 people and a turnover of over £50m. The business is now majority owned by the Benefact Group. A unique financial services organisation, where all available profits are given away and which is the 3rd largest corporate charitable donor in the UK, with over £30m of grants to 1,000’s of good causes every year.
Matthew cares passionately about culture and values in business and organisations. He lives in Taunton and currently has a son at Taunton School. A keen golfer, Matthew has been part of the Old Tauntonians Golf Society for many years. He has been a Governor since 2023.
Debbie Wakeford
Debbie Wakeford is the General Counsel and Company Secretary at Vivobarefoot Limited. She has built her career working in-house with businesses, developing a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities they face. Known for her approachable style, Debbie has worked with a number of large family-owned businesses including Clarks shoes and a large construction company, helping them navigate the challenges of running a successful and sustainable business for future generations.
In addition to her role at Vivobarefoot, Debbie serves as a non-executive director, contributing her governance expertise to strategic decision-making. Outside of work, Debbie volunteers with her dog as a Pets as Therapy visitor and provides a personal taxi services for her daughter who is a keen hockey player for both Taunton School and Bath Buccaneers Hockey Club.
Moderator: Graham Mallard
Having held leadership positions at three of the UK’s leading independent boarding schools, Graham joined Taunton School as Deputy Head Academic in September 2023 and is leading the School’s rising academic status. Graham combines school leadership with his ongoing research into education and economics, particularly focusing on models of decision making and the environment. Graham is widely published in these fields, with articles in the highest tier of academic journals and books with Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge and Agenda, and continues to work with economists at the University of Bath. Graham has recently been a guest speaker at two educational conferences in China, delivering talks about the behavioural science of teacher development.