Our People

David Smellie became Chairman of Council in 2019. He is a Partner at Farrer & Co, a leading commercial law firm, and is consistently rated as one of the top employment and safeguarding lawyers in the country.

He advises institutional employers on the discrete handling of potentially high-profile employment cases. Outside of employment law, David provides strategic counsel to leading independent schools and is probably the most experienced safeguarding lawyer in the country. David founded Farrar & Co’s Child Protection Unit (now known as the Safeguarding Unit) in 2015 which advises organisations either working or coming into contact with children. These include schools, universities, charities, churches, visitor attractions, sports clubs and the medical sector. David advises on the full range of safeguarding issues, from creating safer systems to handling live cases and carrying out retrospective reviews.

Mr David Smellie can be contacted c/o Radley Schools Group’s office at the following address: 7 Cothill, Abingdon OX13 6JN.

Council Member since August 2024. Tracy is CEO and a Director of Pension Insurance Corporation, as well as CEO and a Director of PIC’s parent company, Pension Insurance Corporation Group. Tracy is responsible for leading PIC’s management team in carrying out the company’s strategy. Tracy was one of PIC’s founders, joining in 2006. Until she became CEO in 2015, Tracy was PIC’s Chief Investment Officer and was responsible for building up the company’s asset management function. Areas of particular interest include the social value creation of urban regeneration projects for local communities, and diversity in financial services.
Tracy is a member of Wellcome Trust’s Investment Committee; Chair of the Purposeful Finance Commission; Chair of the Business Advisory Council of the Regulatory Reform Group; member of the British Infrastructure Council (BIC); Trustee and Honourable Treasurer of the Elton John Aids Foundation; and a Board member of the Association of British Insurers.

Council Member since July 2020. Member of the General Purposes Committee and Nomination Committee. Formerly Head of St Mary’s Ascot, Mary has been Schools Adviser at Farrer & Co since October 2019. She provides advice, support and guidance to a wide range of schools, working closely with Farrer’s team of education and safeguarding lawyers. Prior to St Mary’s Ascot, Mary was Head of Physics at Eton College and taught at Wellington College and the Abbey School Reading. She served as a Governor at six schools, and is a Member of the Charters School Board. She has been a member of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) Inspections Committee and Boarding Committee, the Committee of the Catholic Independent Schools Conference (CISC) and the National Committee of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC).

Peta started her career in advertising before moving to the BBC. She now lives in Herefordshire and is the Managing Partner of a diversified business that encompasses hospitality, property, agriculture, marketing and commerce, with a particular focus on growth and innovation. She is a Trustee of several charities, relating to the arts, culture and countryside. Her three sons spent incredibly happy years being educated at Cothill and Radley College. Peta is chair on Cothill LAG (Local Advisory Group).

Council member since June 2017. Stephen read law at Magdalene College in Cambridge and theology at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford. He was ordained in the diocese of Ely. In 1998, he became Chaplain of Exeter College, Oxford, and in 2004 he was appointed Senior Tutor of St John’s College in Durham. In 2007, Dr Hampton became the Dean of Peterhouse. In 2009, he was appointed as Director of Studies in Theology and Religious Studies. He also serves as Senior Treasurer of the Peterhouse Boat Club, the Peterhouse Music Society and the Peterhouse Politics Society.

Council member since August 2022. Member of the Audit and Risk Committee. James is a Children’s Orthopaedic Surgeon based in Nottingham and a clinical lead on the Getting it Right First Time program for NHS England. He was president of the British Society for Children’s Orthopaedic Surgery 2010-2012 and will provide some specialist input to the College and provide Council’s link to the Health Centre.

Council Member since June 2007 (originally nominated by the Radleian Society). Ex-officio of the Radley Foundation Trustees, the General Purposes Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee and member of Bursaries Sub-Committee and Senior Salaries Sub-Committee
Formerly Chief Executive at Helical plc. He is a member of the Investment Committee of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation and Past President of the British Council for Offices.

Council member since August 2022. Following a thirty year career in the Scots Guards, Alastair Mathewson has followed a path in estate management, heritage conservation, environmental protection, and philanthropy. A former parent, he joined Council in August 2022.

Radleian Society nominated Council Member since December 2019. Member of the General Purposes Committee and Nomination Committee, he is a Trustee – and was President (2011-17) – of the Radley Mariners Charitable Trust. He is an Investment Director at Caledonia Investments plc. Previously, he spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs as an equity research analyst, and subsequently at Chilton Investment Company.
Henry rowed for Oxford in the University Boat Race 2003- 2004, Isis (Oxford reserve crew) in 2002/05, GB U23 World Champs 2002 and Winner at Henley Royal Regatta 2010.

Council member since August 2022 and Pension Trustee since January 2014. Member of the Audit and Risk Committee and
War Memorial Rep. John is an independent commentator and
public speaker on financial, economic and political issues, with
an extensive background in the official sector and over 30 years practical experience of training and capacity building in public sector finance and investment management. He is also an advisor to a number of pension funds, investment funds and policy think-tanks.
A liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Weavers, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and an enthusiastic trombone player. He is the author of a number of books.

Council Member since July 2021 and Common Room Rep. Charles is the global head of the Telecom, Media & Technology (TMT) industry practice in FTI Consulting’s Strategic Communications segment. In this role he advises clients on digital transformation and ESG policy.

Council Member since August 2024. Simon Pillar is a Founder and Managing Director of Pacific Equity Partners, the leading local private equity and alternatives asset manager in Australia and New Zealand. Prior to founding PEP in 1998, Simon was a partner with strategy consulting firm Bain & Company, with whom he worked in Sydney and Singapore.
Simon has a BSc (Eng) from the University of Bristol and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He started his career working as an engineer with the Royal Dutch Shell Group in the Netherlands. He is a current Radley parent with a son who was in Upper Sixth in 2024/25 and a son starting as a Shell in 2025.

Council Member since December 2023 and Audit and Risk Committee Member.
Partner at Wenn Townsend, Oxford.
Throughout his career as an audit partner, Andrew has worked with various academic organisations from Independent Schools, Academies and colleges of The University of Oxford.
This role has involved advising clients and presenting technical content for their committees and trustees in a variety of matters covering charity governance, financial reporting and internal financial management.
Detailed working knowledge of Charity SORP, Charity Commission guidance and charity law.
Old Abingdonian (2001).

Council Member since December 1996. Member of the General Purposes Committee and former Chair of the Investment Committee. Chair of the Foundation Trustees. Head of Investment Management at City Asset Management, formerly CEO of Walker Crips Investment Management after UBS, Cazenove and BNP Paribas. Member of Council of University of Buckingham and Trustee of a medical research foundation.

Council Member since July 2021 and Common Room Rep. Vice Chair of Summer Fields Governing Board, (Governor since 2012), Chair of Health and Safety Committee. BEd in Modern Languages, Homerton College, Cambridge. Teacher of French and Spanish at secondary schools in London, followed by seven years in Paris where Carole designed and taught English Language courses for 7–13-year-olds. Le Cordon Bleu Cookery School, Paris and London, interpreter and Head of Publishing.
Carole currently works from her home near Oxford running a property management business as well as her husband’s Orthopaedic business.

Council Member since December 2009. Member of the General Purposes Committee, Chair of Audit and Risk Committee, and member of Senior Salaries Sub-Committee.
A Chartered Accountant, experienced Finance Director and Non-executive Director, Robert launched ‘FD on tap’ consultancy service in 2003, but his main role until retiring from there in 2017 was Finance Director and Company Secretary of Neptune Investment Management. He now acts as part time CFO for a number of start-up companies and has various non-executive and trusteeship roles.
Robert still plays competitive squash, less competitive Real Tennis and wishes he had more time for sailing.

Justin joined Council in 2025. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of AgriWebb, the world’s leading livestock management and sustainability software platform. A serial founder, he has built and scaled multiple ventures across financial services and technology, including two quantitative hedge funds acquired by Macquarie Bank and Westpac. He subsequently founded PacWealth Capital, growing the business to $4 billion in assets under management, and later served as a Director and Head of Division for BlackRock.

A Radleian and former Captain of Boats, Justin rowed for Harvard and Oxford and has represented Australia internationally. He read Economics and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University and holds an MBA with distinction from the University of Oxford. He serves on the board of Bitwise Agriculture, the International Advisory Board of Brown Advisory, and the United States-based non-profit research centres Translational Pulmonary and Immunology Research Center and Food Allergy Institute, supporting advances in data-driven treatment and outcomes for children.

Hugh Willis is CEO and Executive Chairman at BlueCove Asset Management. He joined Council in June 2014.

Educated at Radley and Magdalene College, Cambridge, Hugh began his career at JP Morgan. He later founded BlueBay Asset Management. He is Chair of the General Purposes Commitee, a member of the Bursaries Sub-Committee and Director of Radley College Services and Radley College Leisure.