Meet the Governors

• Chair of Board of Governors
• Operations & Infrastructure Committee (Chair)
• Finance & Resource Committee

Chris Roberts is a surveyor, and has been with Bruntwood, a large property investment and development company, primarily based in the North of England, for 17 years. He is currently a Director of the business with particular responsibility for acquisition and development of new projects.  He is also acting as Director of Manchester Science Park.

Chris’s daughter is an Old Waconian from the Class of 2022.

• Governor
• Safeguarding and Pupil Experiences Committee
• Education and Pupil Progress Committee
• Nominations Committee
• Trustee of CHS 150th Anniversary Bursary Trust Fund

Dr Riley worked as a general practitioner before retiring in 2014.  During that time he had a special interest in medical education.  He has since completed a two year Christian ministry training course.

In addition to his role as a governor, Dr Riley is also a trustee of Cheadle Hulme School 150th Anniversary Bursary Trust, and a vice-president of the Old Waconians’ Association.

Dr David Riley has been associated with Cheadle Hulme School for over 40 years, initially as a pupil and then as a parent, with both his daughters attending the School, and in 2001 he became a governor.

• Governor
• Operations & Infrastructure Committee
• Safeguarding and Pupil Experiences Committee
• Risk Committee

Martin Tyley is a Partner at KPMG LLP based out of the Manchester office where he leads the consulting practice across the North of England and the Cyber Security practice nationally.  Martin’s clients include Premier League football clubs, retailers, banks and parts of the Critical National Infrastructure where he advises on how those organisations can best protect themselves from organised crime, nation states and other threat actors.

Martin spent a year in Italy, teaching English as a foreign language and then began a career in technology in the late 1990’s.

At KPMG Martin leads a national cyberchampions.org initiative aimed at educating children from Years 5 to 11 on internet safety covering topics such as cyber-bullying and staying safe online. Martin has also worked extensively with fostering and adoption agencies to educate adult carers.

Martin was educated at Cheadle Hulme School and read History at Manchester Metropolitan University.

• Governor
• Finance and Resources Committee

Michael Bolingbroke is the CEO and Executive Producer of ABBA Voyage, a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Pophouse Entertainment AB (a developer of entertainment industry IP), and a member of UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (the body that oversees Financial Fairplay).

Previously, Michael was the CEO of Inter Milan Football Club, and was based in Milan where his scope of responsibilities spanned the entire business, both on and off the pitch. Prior to this, Michael was COO at Manchester United FC, a position he held for seven years and Chairman of the Club’s charitable Foundation.  His remit included the Club’s corporate management, the operations and revenue generation at Old Trafford, operations at the Club’s training complex and club secretarial functions.  He was the Principal Financial Officer for their NYSE listing in summer 2012. Prior to working in football, Michael spent six years as Senior Vice-President, Shows, at Cirque du Soleil, where he managed strategy, profitability and operations for the global business.  Earlier in his career, he was a Senior Vice President at The Jim Henson Company.  Michael’s first role was as an audit manager at PwC and he is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

His BA degree is in Economics from Reading University, and he has an MBA, awarded with Distinction, from the London Business School.

• Governor
• Finance and Resources Committee
• Risk Committee
• Nominations Committee

Claire Thomson is the Chief Finance Officer of The Pebble Group plc, a market leading provider of products, services and technology to the global promotional products industry. Having worked with the Group for over twelve years, Claire has been heavily involved in its growth and instrumental in its transition to a Private Equity funded business in 2012 and its listing on AIM in December 2019. Prior to joining The Pebble Group, Claire trained and practiced at PwC.

Claire has a degree in English and American literature from the University of Manchester and has 2 children. Claire’s daughter currently attends the school and her son is an Old Waconian from the Class of 2024.

• Governor
• Strategy Committee

Stuart Abraham works for Willis Towers Watson (a multi-national advisory, broking and solutions company) where he is accountable for their enterprise-wide technology strategy, investment and integration capabilities as well as sitting on the Board of Directors for their insurance software business. Before joining Willis Towers Watson in 2018, Stuart spent 20 years with Accenture as a strategy and transformation consultant where he worked with many industry-leading businesses to build high performing teams, to develop executable strategies and to deliver successful change initiatives.

Stuart was educated at Whitgift School in South Croydon, graduated from Durham University with a first class degree in English Literature and moved to Cheshire 12 years ago to raise his family. Stuart has two sons at the school and the younger two are hoping to follow them in due course.

• Governor
• Education and Pupil Progress Committee

Graeme Wright is the Head Master of Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, a selective state grammar school. Prior to this appointment, he was Senior Deputy Headmaster at Victoria College, a selective HMC School in Jersey. Graeme also taught at Liverpool College, The King’s School in Macclesfield and Trent College where he was Head of Senior School. He has a degree in History from Liverpool University, qualified as a teacher at Manchester University and has an MA in Educational Leadership and Management from Nottingham University.

Prior to teaching, Graeme served in the Royal Marines for seven years, where he took part in operational tours of Northern Ireland and the former Yugoslavia.

• Governor
• Risk Committee

Richard is a partner in the Finance team at international law firm Addleshaw Goddard and is based in Manchester. Richard has been with AG since joining as a trainee in 2003 and has been a partner since 2014. He advises lenders and corporate borrowers on a range of financing transactions and, prior to becoming a solicitor, worked for PwC’s insolvency practice.

Richard has two daughters who attend the school and has been a Governor since 2021.

• Governor
• Safeguarding and Pupil Experiences Committee

Belinda Walmsley runs marketing across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa for the US technology firm Verint – a multi award-winning firm offering leading-edge AI and analytic solutions within the customer engagement, software as a service space.

Prior to her position at Verint, Belinda was part of the senior leadership team at GRI UK – one of the most profitable companies in the Bain portfolio and the UK’s most successful neutral vendor and temporary workforce management technology firm. Earlier in her career Belinda ran the UK content partnership between the world’s No1 HR services firm, Randstad and the Williams Formula One team, working with drivers including  Susie Wolff, Valtteri Bottas and Bruno Senna.

Belinda (Class of 1994) joined CHS in 1986 as a full bursary student – an experience she often cites as being ‘utterly transformative’. She has been heavily associated with the School for a number of decades including numerous career and bursary promotion talks to students, staff and parents over the years and she is a trustee of the CHS bursary fund.