Chance to shine - Educating through cricket

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Our trustees

Adrian Beecroft

Adrian Beecroft is Chairman of The Cricket Foundation. He has a degree in physics from Queen's College, Oxford. Following graduation in 1968, he worked for ICL in the computer industry for five years. In 1974 he went as a Harkness Fellow to the Harvard Business School, graduating in 1976, before joining the Boston Consulting Group in London. He became a Vice President of BCG Worldwide in 1982.

Adrian joined Apax in 1984 when it had £10m under management. He helped indentify and evaluate opportunities, and negotiate and close investments in promising early-stage, high tech businesses.

As Apax grew, Adrian assumed responsibility for the London office and approval of all investments. He played a major part in the international expansion of the business, which now has over $20 billion under management with over 150 professionals in eight countries. Until recently Adrian was the company's chief investment officer. He was Chairman of the British Venture Capital Association in 1991/92 and has represented Apax on the boards of over 20 private and public companies.

Adrian is a sponsor of the Beecroft Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Oxford University, as well as sponsoring a new academy school outside of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics. He is a trustee of Impetus Trust, a charity focused on venture philanthropy, and was appointed Chairman of The Cricket Foundation in 2008.
 
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Graham Able

Appointed as Master of Dulwich College, Graham Able has provided dynamic leadership to the school, whilst additionally making his mark in the world of education at large.

During his time at Dulwich College Graham has been Co-Chairman of the HMC and GSA Education and Academic Policy Committee. In 2003 he was chairman of the HMC. Since 1998 he has been on the Edexcel Foundation Council, on the Council and Court of ICSTM since 1999 and on the Council of Roedean School since 2000.

His love of cricket is epitomised by his membership of the MCC and his recent appointment as a trustee of The Cricket Foundation in 2008.  In his retirement as Master of Dulwich in July 2009, Graham intends to devote his energies to ensuring that Chance to Shine delivers educational opportunities to young people within the maintained sector.

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John Dodge

John, who was born and brought up in Cumbria, has lived in the Midlands since 1979. As well as being an enthusiastic club cricketer, he has given great service to the game in Warwickshire. He’s Chairman of the Cricket Board and serves on several of Warwickshire CCC’s committees. He is also Chairman of the County Cricket Supporters’ Association and of Warwickshire’s Recreational Cricket Forum. In his professional life, John runs an office cleaning company.

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Simon Dyson

Simon Dyson was Executive Chairman of Chance to Shine from January 2007 to July 2009.  From 1st October 2009, Simon will take over as Chair of the Chance to Shine Appeals Committee. He arrived as a volunteer on the Appeal Committee in 2005 after spending 37 enjoyable years at IBM.  As global general manager, IBM Utilities and Energy Services Industry, Simon was responsible for setting the global strategy for IBM in the Utilities and Energy Services Industry. He also held executive roles in sales, marketing, operations, and human resources.

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Duncan Fearnley

Duncan is a man whose name is known and respected throughout the cricket world. He was a member of Worcestershire’s championship winning sides of 1964 and 1965 and later Chairman for 12 highly successful years in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He also served on the management board of the TCCB. And, of course, Duncan Fearnley established a company that became one of the leading makers of high-quality cricket bats. Duncan was one of the co-founders of Chance to Shine, along with Mark Nicholas and Mervyn King.

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Peter Gale

Peter was educated at Whitgift School and Oxford University and is a chartered accountant by profession. He was a tax partner at KPMG for 16 years until his retirement in 2002. He played cricket at school and club level and has been an umpire in the Surrey championship.

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John Josling

John, whose background is in public relations, is very actively involved in cricket and is especially committed to developing the grassroots of the game. He’s a former club cricketer with Old Albanians and now the club’s President. He has also been a highly-respected Chairman of the Lord’s Taverners, and is currently serving on its Foundation Committee.

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Khawar Mann

Khawar joined Apax Partners in 2003.  His prior experience was at Weston Medical Group Plc and Linklaters.  He has an MA in Medical Sciences and Law and LLM from Girton College, Cambridge.  He also has an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. 

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Tim O'Gorman

Tim O'Gorman is a former professional cricketer who played for Derbyshire for ten years (1987 – 1996). Since retiring from the professional game, Tim has remained fully involved within cricket, ostensibly within the PCA, where he is currently Chairman of PCA Group, and within the MCC, where he currently serves as a member of the General and Cricket committees and as Chairman of the MCC Young Cricketers. A solicitor by training, Tim is now Company Secretary of The Carphone Warehouse.

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Russell Perry

Russell’s active involvement as the Northumberland Cricket Board delegate ensures that the Foundation is comprehensively updated on the realities of bringing cricket to young people. Russell is fully involved in club cricket as both player and coach. He is chairman of a club in the ECB North East Premier League and has been recognized with a Sport England award for services to sport in the north. His professional life involves him in detecting fraudulent insurance claims.
 
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Mike Soper

Mike Soper became a trustee of The Cricket Foundation in 2005.  A former Chairman of Surrey CCC and Deputy Chairman of ECB, Mike is a highly experienced cricket administrator who has brought commercial savoir faire to the game.  In his professional life, Mike owned a number of different companies and is now a non-executive Chairman of Kerry London, the insurance brokers.

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Oliver Stocken

Oliver is Chairman of Home Retail Group, Deputy Chairman of 3i plc, Chairman of Oval Limited, non-executive director of Standard Chartered plc and Chairman of Stanhope Group Holdings Limited. His last executive role was as Group Finance Director, Barclays plc (1993 - 1999).

A keen follower of cricket, Oliver is a Trustee of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). In addition, he is Chairman of Trustees of the Natural History Museum; Trustee of the River & Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames; and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Garrick Club.  He is also a Governor of Felsted School and a member of the Design London Advisory Board.

Oliver was educated at Felsted and at University College, Oxford, and is married with three adult children.

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Toby Wyles

Toby is a Managing Partner and Founder of Vitruvian Partners. Prior to founding Vitruvian, Toby spent 13 years at Apax Partners where he was a Global Equity Partner and Co-Head of Apax’s European Leveraged Transactions Group.

Toby’s 16 year track record in private equity includes numerous successful transactions throughout Europe and the US. These investments have been in a variety of industries including media, business services, financial services, leisure and retail.

Prior to his career in private equity, Toby held positions with Morgan Stanley International, LEK Consulting and Hoare Govett. He has a BA from Cambridge University and an MBA (with distinction) from Harvard Business School.

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