Our trustees

Joe Sealy

Joe Sealy is a co-founder and the COO of Greater Pacific Capital, where he serves on the Investment, Portfolio Management and Risk & Operations Committees.

Prior to founding Greater Pacific Capital, Joe was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, where he provided strategic advice to corporations, investors and government clients across multiple industry sectors. 

Formerly, Joe was a Partner at KPMG, where he was a member of the firms’ European Strategy Team, the co-founder of its Ventures business and the Head of UK for the Information, Communications and Entertainment sectors.

Joe has an MBA from Henley Management College, UK and a BSc from Leeds University. He is also a qualified accountant.

Joe’s stand out oracy moment

One of my earliest inspirations was Martin Luther King JR  “I have a dream” speech introduced to me by my high school teacher – inspired me on the power of words and oratory and life changing.

Kyush Modasia

Kyush Modasia is a qualified chartered accountant who has always valued the impact education can have on one’s life and having spent the past 7 years in the education sector, he is firmly poised to help shape future generations. After spending almost six years in practice, specialising in education sector finances, he moved to work in an academy to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by teachers and the sector in general. From here he moved to working within Ark Schools and was able to observe how a large trust operates which enabled him to progress onto a Finance Director role of a Multi Academy Trust (MAT). A bigger challenge presented itself in the form of Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), the largest MAT which historically delivered poor academic and financial performance. He is currently the Director of Finance at AET, leading a team of 70 finance staff, where he has helped to steer the turnaround of the organisation; reversing a multi-million pound deficit and now running a modest surplus. 

Kyush’s standout oracy moment

I was the keynote speaker at Amazon Business Exchange 2020 where I presented my thoughts on how organisations can drive better insight and value through detailing my journey of implementing efficiencies in the purchasing process and financial strategy.

Miriam Keane

Miriam is a seasoned marketer and communications expert with experience of working across both the public and private sectors, and in the UK and international markets. She spent 5 years as the New York-based Chief Brand Officer of Weight Watchers International, travelling the world to engage with customer touchpoints in all markets, and was part of the team that launched the brand in China. She has worked at award-winning advertising agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Young & Rubicam and Publicis.

Prior to joining NCS she led the marketing charge at British Gas, launching the Hive Active Heating and localheroes.com initiatives, and responsible for the advertising campaign spearheaded by Wilbur, the explorer penguin. Miriam joined NCS Trust in July 2018 as Chief Marketing and Sales Officer and has since initiated and championed a complete brand refresh, the appointment of new creative and media agencies and the launch of an integrated national communications campaign helping to raise the voice of young people under the clarion cry of ‘No We Can’. Under her leadership of the Sales team, the organisation exceeded its recruitment targets for the first time in 2020. In that extraordinary year, the newly-minted ‘Staying Connected’ hub on the website hosted over 350k unique visits and had over 3m unique interactions with created and curated content in the shadow of COVID-19.

An innovative creative thinker and a motivational leader, Miriam is adept at navigating matrix structures and complex stakeholder landscapes, building high performing teams to help transform organisations to be best in class. A proud Irishwoman and passionate francophile, fluent in French, Miriam has a Masters in English Literature from Trinity College, Dublin. She lives on the river in Hampton Court with her husband Jon, a Londoner, and their beloved ragdoll cat, Topsy.

Miriam’s standout oracy moment

My stand-out oracy moment was talking to a group of the most respected and awarded advertising creatives on the subject of ‘Creative Bravery In A World Gone Safe’.

Peter Hyman

Peter Hyman is Co-Director of Big Education, a group of schools and social enterprise pursuing a more expansive vision of education. He is co-founder of School 21, a 4 to 18 school in East London and co-founder of Voice 21 which developed from the exciting practice at School 21.  In a former life he was a strategist and speechwriter for Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Peter’s standout oracy moment

The first Ignite community event in our new school where every student in our first cohort performed a five minute speech without notes – it was one of those great – ‘I laughed, I cried’ moments of pure inspiration and pride.

Sarah David

Sarah’s business, Thrive Consulting Collaborative, works with people organisations to clarify strategy and purpose, build and enhance leadership skills, and nurture and shape positive culture. She started her working life as a lawyer in a Magic Circle firm. Following her MBA, she held international executive level roles in businesses including Linklaters and Korn Ferry, before becoming CEO of an autism school in Colorado.

Sarah is an Ambassador for Queen Bee Coaching and a member of the UK Social Mobility Awards judging panel. As a widow and adoptive parent, social justice causes are particularly close to her heart.

Sarah’s standout oracy moment:

Time and again, standout oracy moments in my life come from the unique, fearless and curious perspectives of young people.

Sarah Kaiser

Sarah Kaiser is Head of Employee Experience at Fidelity International with responsibility for driving Fidelity’s strategic agendas around Diversity & Inclusion, Wellbeing, Employee Engagement, Flexible Working, Corporate Citizenship and the Employee Value Proposition. She is passionate about creating cultures where everyone can thrive.

 Previously to joining Fidelity in 2019, Sarah was the Employee Experience, Diversity & Inclusion Lead EMEIA for Fujitsu. She has also led diversity and inclusion efforts for a local government organisation and for the Tate galleries. Prior to that, Sarah was the Director of RenéCassin, an international human rights NGO.

 In her personal capacity, Sarah has worked on a wide range of diversity, inclusion and education projects. She has a degree in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

Sarah’s stand out oracy moment

My pinch-myself oracy moment was speaking to the UN Human Rights Council. But I am always so moved by those brave people who share their personal stories to help others feel free to be their authentic selves. Storytelling can truly change lives.

Simon Coyle

Simon started his career as an inner-city school teacher through the Teach First programme. He left the classroom to co-found The Brilliant Club, an award-winning charity that recruits, trains and places PhD researchers to work as tutors and teachers in state schools. After stepping down as Chief Executive, he advised a range of education organisations on strategy and fundraising. He is now Head of Philanthropy at XTX Markets, a leading financial technology company. As well as Voice 21, he is a trustee of  The Elephant Group.

Simon’s stand out oracy moment

I’ll always remember my first day of teacher training when Reuben Moore captivated the room with three simple words delivered in his unmistakable Northern Irish accent: “I. Love. Teaching.”  Now, that might not sound like much on the page, but that’s the power of oracy.