Chair of Governors
Philip is the immediate past Joint Head of Chambers at 1 King’s Bench Walk in London (2013-2020), having been called to the bar in 1989 and appointed a QC in 2012.
His various professional accolades include being past Secretary, Vice-Chairman and Chairman, and now an Honorary Life Vice President of the Family Law Bar Association and also a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
He is also a proud Old Boy of Merchant Taylors’ (1978-1985) and an alumnus of Liverpool University, where he graduated in Law in 1988.
Philip has devoted his time to his former school for many years, serving as President of the Old Boys’ Association, a Trustee of the Merchant Taylors’ Old Boys Charitable Trust and as a Governor, before becoming Chair of Governors in July 2020.
Gareth is an Old Crosbeian (1990-97) and joined the Board of Governors in 2022.
After leaving School, he spent 25 years as a logistics officer in the Royal Navy, serving ashore and afloat all around the world, including in Afghanistan; the Philippines for disaster relief after Typhoon Haiyan; across the Middle East; and a number of tours in Whitehall working closely with HM Treasury and the Foreign Office.
His sea appointments ranged from frigates and destroyers (including taking HMS Dauntless out of build), to time at sea in both US and Italian aircraft carriers, and culminated in being the Commander Logistics of the new aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, leading a team of over 150 logisticians and administrators on board. As a junior officer he read Geography at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and more recently completed a second MA through King’s College London in Defence Studies.
On leaving the Royal Navy in 2021, Gareth joined John Lyon School in North West London as the Chief Operating Officer before moving on to a similar bursar role at Farleigh School in Hampshire, responsible for the day-to-day running of the school through provision of HR, finance, administration, IT, estates and grounds support.
Charles attended Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School between 1975 and 1981 before going up to Durham University to read mathematics.
He qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and became a Partner and subsequently Chief Actuary at Mercer. He is currently President of the International Actuarial Association. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Actuaries.
Charles is also an ordained priest and a curate in the Parishes of the Upper Eden and Upper Lune in Cumbria. He is married to Becky, an Old Girl, and has four children. He is a keen singer and also a runner and regularly runs marathons for charity. He is also Chair of Trustees at Manna House in Kendal, and a Trustee of the USPG.
Charles is a Liveryman of the Merchant Taylors’ Company and is their representative on the Board of Governors.
An experienced teacher, holding an M.Ed. from Liverpool University, Glynis spent her final 10 years of teaching at Stanfield.
Glynis has been a magistrate for many years and continues to chair adult courts. Having lived in Blundellsands for many years she is Chair of Blundellsands Park Trust, known locally as The Key Park. She believes passionately in conserving this beautiful place for future generations.
Her hobbies include reading, travel and cooking but she likes nothing more than spending time with her four grandchildren, one of whom attends Merchant Taylors’ Girls’ School.
Chris retired from policing in February 2026, having served for over 32 years with Merseyside Police. Chris was a career Detective, a senior investigating officer, serving in every rank as an investigator rising to lead the force as Deputy Chief Constable.
Chris is an experienced homicide investigator, an accredited strategic firearms commander, public order commander and mentor to a number of leaders within the organisation.
During his career, Chris spent five years leading the six-force North West Regional Organised Crime Unit & regional specialist policing collaborations and represented the North West region on a number of national policing boards. Chris led three national policing portfolios, including crime recording standards on behalf of the National Police Chiefs Council until his retirement.
Chris has lived, studied and worked in the Merseyside area all his life. He has a BA (Hons) in Geography and having a thirst for continuous improvement he studied for his Master’s degree in leadership whilst serving and in 2019 was selected as the sole UK policing representative, and spent three months attending the FBI National Academy senior leadership programme in Quantico, USA.
In his spare time Chris enjoys all sports, the outdoors and maintains a diminishing desire to run one more marathon. Chris was previously a local primary school governor and has been a governor at Merchant Taylors since 2020.
Colin is the CEO of Knowledge Quarter Liverpool (KQ Liverpool), which is transforming half of Liverpool City Centre into a world-leading innovation district focused on health and education, science and technology, including the £1bn Paddington Village Development and the award winning Spine building, one of the world’s healthiest buildings.
He started his career in the music industry, managing bands and owning nightclubs in Manchester, before moving on to produce major televised events internationally.
A marketeer Colin was CEO of Manchester’s investment and development agency (MIDAS) and, before taking up his role in KQ Liverpool, was a main board Director at the property developers Bruntwood, leading their diversification from office buildings into also owning science parks and developing creative workspace.
In 2018, Colin took up the dual role of CEO of Sciontec Developments Limited, a new property development company that was created to bring new investment to the City Regions science and tech assets, whilst creating a world-leading innovation ecosystem to help commercialise research and grow innovation-led companies. Sciontec owns the successful Liverpool Science Park and is developing HEMISPHERE, Liverpool’s first operational net zero carbon building.
Married with three sons, Colin switched from playing Rugby Union to taking part in Endurance events in his fifties and has since completed numerous triathlons and ultra runs, raising tens of thousands of pounds for local charities.
Colin joined the Board of Governors at Merchant Taylors’ in March 2022.
Sarah is a qualified accountant, having trained and qualified with PwC in 2003. Whilst in practice, she worked on audit, assurance and advisory roles, predominantly within the health and education sectors.
Sarah moved into the charity sector in 2016 when she joined The Reader, which is a national charity focused on shared reading, as Chief Operating Officer. Whilst at The Reader, she oversaw a period of sustained growth, including the Calderstones Mansion rebuild, before leaving in 2020 for her current role as Chief Operating Officer at Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
Sarah is passionate about education and has served as a Trustee at another independent school before joining the Board in 2023. She is also a Trustee of The Reader, being asked to join the Board when she started her role at Alder Hey.
Outside of work Sarah enjoys reading and travelling with her husband and three children.
Anthony is a Managing Director and a growth acceleration expert who works with many CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs to help them grow their companies through strategising, consultancy, and digital marketing.
With this, Anthony runs a company that provides the utmost support for business leaders who want to succeed and prosper.
Indeed, Anthony thrives on helping other businesses grow and reach their potential, empowering other like-minded individuals to realise their ambitions. Be it by marketing their business or providing them with expert consultancy and coaching, not only does Anthony measure success quantitatively, but he also measures success by how many entrepreneurs he has empowered and helped while watching their businesses grow because of his support.
Anthony joined the Board of Governors at Merchant Taylors’ in March 2024.
Jeremy Quartermain holds an MA in History from the University of Cambridge and an M.Phil. in Medieval History from Trinity College, Dublin. Since September 2018, he has been Head of Rossall School in Lancashire. Prior to this he was Deputy Head (Academic) at Brentwood School (2013-18) and Head of Sixth Form at Gresham’s (2010-13). Jeremy has also served as an ISI team inspector and an educator for the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Jeremy has a keen interest in music and enjoys spending time with his family in the Lakes and the west of Ireland.
Matthew attended Merchant Taylors’ Boys’ School between 2002 and 2009 before going on to study Economics & Finance at The University of York. He then qualified as a teacher after completing a PGCE – where he specialised in Mathematics – and later achieved his Masters’ degree in Education whilst working as a primary school teacher in a 4-form entry school in Southport.
Now with over a decade of teaching experience, Matthew is currently the Assistant Headteacher of an ‘Outstanding’ primary school in Formby, where he holds many responsibilities, including Curriculum Leader and Mental Health Lead.
As a result of his enthusiasm and commitment as the Year 6 class teacher in his school, Matthew was awarded, ‘Primary School Teacher of the Year’ by the National Pearson Teaching Awards in 2023 – receiving his award on BBC’s ‘The One Show’. This has since led to him sharing his practice and knowledge with Sefton Council, The Department for Education…and even at 10 Downing Street!
Ian is a managing director of MHP Group, a leading integrated communications company with clients from across every sector, across the world. Before, he was an award-winning political journalist.
Ian advises at a senior level on all aspects of the media, from media relations to corporate reputation, crisis communications and campaigning work. He is also a specialist in integrated accounts that combine all media channels, including advertising, social content, PR and public affairs.
He also specialises in giving practical, strategic advice to chief executives and has advised a wide number of public schools on crisis and reputation issues.
Before joining MHP, Ian was Political Editor at the News of the World for 13 years. During that time, he interviewed four Prime Ministers, covered five wars and won awards for his campaigning journalism. He also advised News Corporation on political, economic and media issues.
He has appeared regularly on television and radio (including Newsnight, Sky News, Dispatches, Panorama and the Today Programme).
Ian began his career at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, where he started as a graduate trainee after an MA (Hons) at the University of St Andrews.
Ian is an Old Crosbeian (1980-1991) and now lives in Kent, where he and his partner have four children, but his family is from Crosby and he has close links to the local community.
