Meet the Team
The Alumni & Development Office exists to ensure the College’s relationship with its alumni is a strong and positive lifelong partnership. Once Ardingly pupils walk through the Archway on their Commemoration Day, their connection to each other and to the College does not end. Rather, they automatically become part of the global Old Ardinian community and the Alumni & Development office is there to facilitate and encourage these meaningful connections and to ensure that OAs always have a place at the College.
I am a fundraising professional with experience across arts and education. Highlights from my years with the London Mozart Players and Fairfield Halls include: organising a dinner at Buckingham Palace, securing funding for a theatre project tackling knife crime, and achieving a Heritage Lottery grant for an archive and oral history project. The life of a fundraiser is nothing if not varied! After three years at Trinity School in Croydon, I joined Ardingly’s Alumni & Development Office in 2019. Education is transformative and as a fundraiser I find that inspiring and motivating.
I am a fundraising and culture professional from California. Prior to moving to the UK, I worked in Sales and Marketing in one of the world’s premiere food and wine destinations: the Napa Valley. Wanting to make a more meaningful impact in my community, I decided to move to the non-profit sector and was the Development Manager of Napa County’s largest performing arts venue for nearly three years. After relocating to the UK in 2017, I worked in Programming and Marketing for a boutique, touring opera company based in London. Following a move to West Sussex, I am excited to return to the fulfilling world of relations and engagement as Ardingly College’s Alumni Officer and look forward to supporting our diverse alumni community as they forge new paths around the world.
Having been connected with Ardingly College for nearly 50 years, I feel I am well qualified to look after all our past archival history and collect current objects for future generations to enjoy.
After joining the College orchestra in the 1970s, I met and married Tom, Housemaster of Mertens, and became fully involved in the life of the school.
As a Housemaster’s wife, I knew all of the pupils in his care. I taught violin in the Music School and ran the Senior School Library for many years which allowed me the opportunity to work with many of our pupils and members of staff.
We are always keen to expand our collection and welcome donations of anything connected to Ardingly College, particularly a uniform. Anyone got an old brown jacket?