What are members?

Every trust has members who have a similar role to shareholders of a company limited by shares. Members have very specific powers and ultimately hold the Trust Board to account. 

They:

• are the subscribers to the memorandum of association of the Trust.

• may amend the Articles of Association subject to any restrictions created by the funding agreement or charity law.

• may, by special resolution, appoint new Members or remove existing Members other than, where there is one, the foundation/sponsor body and any Members it has appointed.

• have powers to appoint Trustees as set out in the Trust’s articles of association and powers under the Companies Act 2006 to remove Trustees.

• may, by special resolution, issue direction to the Trustees to take a specific action

• appoint the Trust’s external auditors and receive (but do not sign) the audited annual report and accounts (subject to the Companies Act).

• have power to change the company’s name and, ultimately, wind it up.

Who are our members?

Parminder Kholi (Chair)

Parminder has 26 years of General Managerial experience in Strategy, Business Development, Marketing, Sales and Operations across 7 industry verticals, 3 continents and 4 organizations. The last 19 years of which are with Shell. 

He is Senior Vice President Europe, Middle East & Africa for Shell Lubricants business, accountable for delivering the bottom-line of the business in 80 plus countries and circa 2500 employees within the region. 

He has a track record in turning around underperforming businesses by building strong cohesive teams, attracting diverse talents and a high-performance culture. He is passionate about promoting diversity in the workplace. He enjoys coaching and mentoring young entrepreneurs and was also a Non-Executive Director for Success For All Educational Trust which ran 3 secondary schools in London Borough of Havering between 2018 - 2020.

Adam Beddoe

Adam works as a Risk Manager and Chair of Ethnicity for a major bank. He has significant experience in the field of school governance having served as a school governor, chair of finance, vice-chair of a governing body and a Trustee.

Maria Sotiriou

Maria has worked in Adult and Community Education for 30 years starting as a volunteer in adult literacy classes before qualifying as an adult literacy tutor.  Maria moved quickly into management and her first role was to develop Family Learning provision in Redbridge which included working alongside schools who hosted courses for their families. For the last 15 years she has been a member of the leadership team at the Adult Education service in Redbridge. She leads on English, maths, vocational skills, English for Speakers of other languages and courses for Adults with learning disabilities. Working in Adult education she sees many Adult learners getting a second chance at their education or who are studying for a new career. She is passionate about lifelong learning.

Gira Parmar

Gira is a Finance Manager leading a team at an Aviation company in Essex. She is CIMA qualified and has a background in Corporate Finance and Banking analysing and reviewing financial data, cost management,  forecasting, budgeting and payroll. She has experience working closely with auditors and various stakeholders in the business.

She has a passion for education and keen to support the educational trust for a better future for the younger generations.