St Leonards-Mayfield School in East Sussex, one of the country’s leading Catholic independent schools for girls, has elected Lady Davies of Stamford as its new Chairman of Governors. Chantal Davies has been a Governor since June 2012 and takes over from Nicholas Bagshawe, who chaired the Board of Governors for 5 years.
Chantal is herself an Old Cornelian (a former Mayfield pupil), read Modern Languages at Oxford University and studied Business Administration at INSEAD in France. As Chair of the Governors’ Finance Committee over the past twelve months Chantal has drawn from her 15 year career in international banking, working in the City of London and in Paris. She is married to former Government Minister Quentin Davies, now a Labour peer in the House of Lords. After her career in the City, Chantal assisted her husband in his parliamentary and constituency duties as an MP, working in the House of Commons for over 20 years. They have two grown-up sons and live in Lincolnshire. Chantal is a long-standing Trustee, and currently Treasurer, of the Lord Kitchener National Memorial Fund.
Chantal Davies comments:
“I am delighted to have been asked to chair the Board of Governors at my old school and I look forward to working very closely with the Headmistress and her Senior Management Team at Mayfield in the coming years. I remain very grateful for my own education at Mayfield all those years ago and am keen to see future generations of girls continue to go out into the world with a truly rounded education, the confidence to succeed in the field of their choice and the desire to make a positive contribution to society. The school has recently had some very successful years under the leadership of Headmistress Antonia Beary and my predecessor, Nicholas Bagshawe – to whom the Governors are most grateful. I look forward to building on that as we face the challenges ahead.”