Our Team
Welcome from our CEO
Welcome to DESS.
We are a family of three schools, educating children from Foundation Stage through to Year 13, united by a shared belief in what great education should be: ambitious, inclusive and deeply personal to every child.
Our story in Dubai stretches back more than 60 years, and we are enormously proud of the legacy and of the reputation for educational excellence that generations of students, families and staff have helped to build. But that legacy is not something we rest on. It is something we add to through the community we continue to create together and the opportunities we keep finding for the generations still to come.
As a not-for-profit organisation, our purpose is simple: education comes first. We invest in our schools, our people and, above all, our children. We have the scale, expertise and ambition of a leading educational group, and we have always retained what makes DESS genuinely special; the warmth, the relationships and the sense of belonging that come from being, at heart, a family.
We believe education is about far more than examination results. Of course, we want our children to achieve exceptional outcomes, but we also want them to become confident, curious, kind and grounded young people, ready to make their mark on the world. From their earliest days in Foundation Stage to the moment they leave us in Year 13, every child should feel known, valued, challenged and supported.
That is what Creating Great People for Life means to us; a belief in our children, in our people and in the strength of the community around them.
DESS is not simply a group of schools. It is a family, built on belief, proud of its legacy and excited about what comes next.
Welcome to DESS.
Chris Vizzard
Chief Executive Officer
Education Leadership
Our Education Leadership Team brings together the experience, expertise and shared commitment that shape the DESS educational experience across our three schools. Together, they lead with ambition, care and a clear focus on creating great people for life.
Sam Bowen
Headteacher - Academic CityTony Clarkson
Headteacher - Oud MethaMatt Cotgrove
Headteacher - CollegeCatherine Dando
Director Primary Future StrategiesHani El Taher
Director UAE National Programmes & StrategyMalachy McGrogan
Director Digital Transformation
Business Leadership
Our Business Leadership Team brings together the expertise that supports and strengthens every aspect of DESS, from marketing and communications to finance, HR, operations, admissions and compliance. Together, they help our schools thrive and ensure our community, people and achievements are represented with pride.
Lee Cooper
Operations DirectorLisa Henry
Marketing & Communications DirectorLisa Madden
Finance DirectorKerry Rycroft
HR DirectorBronwen Swart
Head of Assurance, Risk & ComplianceAisling Hubert
Admissions ManagerTina Skeritt
Executive Office Manager
Advisory Board of Trustees
Our locally based elected Trustees actively support and promote the Schools' and College’s mission, vision and strategic goals. They guarantee that there is generous reinvestment in the DESS to meet both short and long-term opportunities to remain world-class.
Board of Trustees President Jonathan Siklos joined the Board in 2019, chairing the HR subcommittee until becoming President in September 2024. Outside of his responsibilities to DESS, he is Managing Director - Middle East for online reputation and digital risk advisory firm Digitalis, and former chairman of the UAE’s oldest community theatre company, Dubai Drama Group. Jonathan has been in the UAE for 17 years, is a non-native Arabic speaker, and is the father of two proud DESS students!
Jonathan Siklos
PresidentReal estate and construction expert Patrick Rouse was responsible for the full development lifecycle of the Downtown Dubai and Zabeel masterplans.
Patrick Rouse
Vice PresidentGerard McHugh
Alexis Waller also joined the Board in 2023 and is a highly regarded real estate and hospitality lawyer providing advice to education sector clients on all aspects of their business.
Alexis Waller
General SecretaryFormer student and change management specialist Nisha Patel-Wakerley grew up in Dubai and lives here with her husband and son. She joined the board in 2023.
Nisha Patel-Wakerley
SafeguardingLucy Pritchard
Clerk to TrusteesDr Hannah al Ali went through DESS Oud Metha and DESS College, before gaining her bachelor’s degree maths at Brunel University in London and then achieving her Master’s degree and a PhD in maths at Coventry University. In doing so, Hannah became Dubai’s first female maths PhD holder. She is currently Dean of the School of Mathematics and Data Science at Emirates Aviation University. When she joined the Trustees in 2020, Hannah has also followed in the DESSC Board footsteps of her mum Sophia Panayotou, who was a DESS Trustee from 2002 – 2013.
Dr Hannah al Ali
Mother of three past and present DESSC (as it was known) students Dr Lames Abdul Hadi is a Higher Education Inspector at the Ministry of Education in the UAE and a certified accreditation evaluator from the Council of International Schools (CIS).
Dr Lames Abdul Hadi
Grainne Boyle
Andrew Clark
DESS parent Darren Clarke is currently the Chief Financial Officer at the Commercial Bank of Dubai and joined the Board in 2019.
Darren Clarke
Nick Hoque
Carlin Naidoo
Lauren Savill
Aldrin Sequeira
Charlie Simpson
Francesca Sullivan
One of the first Governors (as they were then) of DESC (as it was then) when it opened in 2006 with 250 Students, Dame Maggie Thorne joined the combined DESSC Board in 2010. In 2018, she was appointed Community Trustee, reporting to the Board on Primary and Secondary school community activities. Among her many achievements, she and other governors wrote the Articles of Association for DESS; which have remained unchanged since.
