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The Oriel Alumni Advisory Committee

Membership of the Committee

The membership of the Oriel Alumni Advisory Committee (OAAC) includes representatives from a range of different generations of Orielenses. Open invitations for new members to join the committee will be sent out when spaces become available, with Orielenses encouraged to apply. Having a wide representation of alumni is important to the success of OAAC’s work and, by extension, the College’s programme of engaging with our community. Committee members meet twice a year, in September on the Saturday of Alumni Weekend, and on a Saturday in February. These meetings are both held in College with the option to join virtually.

Current Committee Members

Chair: Claire Toogood (1991)

Claire read Jurisprudence and is now a barrister and part-time judge. She was the first woman to cox the men’s first boat and is now a member of the Tortoise Committee and the Campaign Board, as well as the Alumni Committee.

Sandy Todd (1958)

Sandy matriculated in 1958 to read chemistry, BA 1961, staying on to DPhil, 1964. He then spent the next 2 years at Stanford doing post-doctoral research in chemistry.

Sandy joined the Pharmaceuticals Division of ICI (now part of AstraZeneca) as a research chemist in 1966. In 1969, he became a Project Manager responsible for leading multidisciplinary teams in the development of new candidate products from research to international marketing, specialising in treatments for Breast and Prostate Cancer. In 1989, he became responsible for seeking licences under their patents to develop and market the products of other pharmaceutical companies, particularly those in Japan, where he became very familiar with their business practices. Sandy retired at the end of 1996.

Sandy is a member of the Adam de Brome and Raleigh Societies, and also the Development Board for the University Chemistry Department.

Sandy is also member of the Salters’ Livery Company in the City of London, and was its Master in 1999.

David Paterson (1963)

David read Medicine and rowed in the First Eight and in Torpids. He won a half Blue in Pentathlon. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse and then did Corporate Finance at Samuel Montagu before emigrating to Hong Kong in 1976 where he has lived ever since. He joined the Swire group and then ran several companies in the financial and real estate sectors before founding a private equity management company associated with HSBC. He retired in 1998 but has since held a number of non executive directorships in various listed and unlisted companies in Hong Kong, the UK, Australia, Canada and South Korea. He is also the sponsor of the David and Jayne Paterson Educational Trust which provides scholarships for students from the PRC to study Law at Oxford. He is an Honorary Professor of the Chinese University of Political Science and Law in Beijing.

David is a member of Adam de Brome and Raleigh Societies

John Cook (1965)

John is a retired Stockbroker. John captained the college rugby team . He also sat on the committee of the university Conservative Association. For 37 years he was secretary of a community rugby club . He was also a trustee of Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. He has been Chair of the college Investment Advisory Committee and is Adam de Brome Fellow.

Vernon Sankey (1968)

Vernon is a Leadership Coach, Mentor and Author. Vernon has been in business for many years during which time he has been the CEO, Chairman and Board member of major international corporations including Reckitt plc, Pearson plc, Zurich AG (Switzerland) Taylor Woodrow (now Taylor Wimpey), Cofra AG (Switzerland) Firmenich SA (Switzerland) Gala Group plc and Atos SE (France)

Vernon was also a Governor of Harrow School for fifteen years, a founder Board member of the UK’s Food Standards Agency. He has also served on the advisory boards of several international companies such as Korn/Ferry International. He is a former Chairman and co-founder of The Really Effective Development Company (RedCo Ltd) a coaching and mentoring company.

Philip Burrows (1982)

Philip read Physics at Oriel, graduated in 1985 and stayed on to do a DPhil. He then spent 10 years doing postdoctoral work at Stanford and MIT. He is now Professor of Physics at Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College. His research in subatomic particle and accelerator physics is anchored at CERN. He is a member of the Adam de Brome Society.

Astra Emir (1987)
Matthew Gilpin (1988)

Matthew is COO of Lodge Quai, a private equity real estate group. He is a founder (and now Chairman) of InfinityQ Technology Inc., a Canadian quantum-alternative computing company and co-founder of siriusinsight.ai.

He also serves as a Trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum and is the founder of Westmorland Spirits, creator of Gilpin’s Gin, which sponsors Oriel Boat Club.

Charlie Humphreys (1995)

Charlie graduated in 1999, having read Biochemistry. He started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in London before working in various commercial and leadership roles at the marketing and data analytics company Aimia (joining when it was a startup, running the Nectar loyalty programme). He has spent the last eight years leading Apple Pay and Apple’s Wallet and Payments business in Northern Europe, based in London.

Whilst at Oriel, Charlie rowed for the 1st VIII and the OUBC, including as OUBC President in 1999. He served as a Non-Executive Director of the Boat Race Company from 2010-2016.

He lives with his family in Oxfordshire.

Sophia Smout (2016)

Sophia read English and German at Oriel and graduated in 2020. She then studied for an MA in Law and the Legal Practice Course at the University of Law in Bristol, before starting her career as a trainee solicitor at a private client firm in London. During her time at Oriel Sophia served on the JCR Committee as External Affairs Representative.

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