Born in the North East, John studied Law at Durham and was a student at Chads between 1985-8.  After qualifying as a solicitor, he spent 28 years based in the North East (and operating more widely around the UK) as a commercial litigator.  He progressed to the Board of his firm, latterly as Senior Partner, then became Vice Chairman of the new firm created following its merger. 

In 2017 he stepped down and took on a number of Chair, Non-Executive and Trustee roles across the North East.  These include Believe Housing Limited, North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust,  North East Chamber of Commerce, Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, Destination North East England, Newcastle United Foundation and William Leech Investments Limited.  He is also Vice Chair of Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust.  He is a regional ambassador for the King's Trust and a Lay Canon of Newcastle Cathedral.

John has served as both a Tutor and a Governor at St Chads and so stepping into this role he knows the College well.  He lives in Northumberland with his wife Alison and they have two children.

I have been Principal of St Chad's College since March 2016; prior to that, I was Vice-Principal and Senior Tutor for 11 years.

My academic discipline is English Literature, with special interests in D.H. Lawrence, Post-Colonial Literature, and Theology and Literature. I lectured in the USA - in Washington State and Michigan for a number of years before returning to Durham to serve as Senior Tutor of St John's College and to teach in the English department.

As Principal, I appreciate having a strong Governing Body who can help to set the college's strategy and offer wise counsel from a wide range of perspectives and professional backgrounds. St Chad's is a college in which every voice is valued and part of my role is to ensure that we build a community in which as many members as possible - and especially students - are engaged and valued.

In my life beyond St Chad's, I serve as a Bishops' Advisor for Training Institutions, was involved for many years in Traidcraft, the UK's leading fairtrade organisation, and help to organise a community/church Eco-Fest.

To unwind, I enjoy walking (ideally with my family), reading (of course), and Nordic Noir.

Richard Springer has been Rector of St George-in-the-East in the east end of London since 2018 having previously served his curacy in Hackney. He trained for the Priesthood at Westcott House, Cambridge before his ordination in 2013 in the diocese of London. Immediately before entering the Church of England for training, Richard worked in a London Mental Health NHS Trust as a Psychodynamic Therapist with children and adolescents. He has also been the Director of the Oxford-Kilburn Youth Trust a neighbourhood youth charity in west London and the Head of Programmes at Toynbee Hall, where the international settlement movement began.

In addition to his current parish responsibilities he is a Dean of Cultural Diversity in the diocese of London and Director of the Urban Leadership School at the Centre for Theology & Community. 

After graduating from Imperial College, London, where she studied for a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and Management, Mags joined Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) based at their Teesside sites. Over the following twelve years she held a variety of engineering and commercial positions, at ICI, specialising in commercial operations and supply chain management within the oil and gas sector. She obtained an MBA from Durham University in 2004. From 2004-2014 Margaret worked for Traidcraft, the leading fair trade organisation based in Gateshead, holding a number of roles including Operations Director, Business Director and Chief Executive. From 2015 to 2022 Margaret was the Chief Operating Officer at County Durham Community Foundation (a charitable grant making body supporting the North East voluntary sector). Since summer 2022 she has ceased full time employment, she is vice chair of the Independent Monitoring Board at Holme House Prison (Stockton) in addition to other various voluntary roles including being vice chair of the Durham Diocesan Board of Finance. 

Jane Macnaughton is Professor of Medical Humanities at Durham University in the UK and Director of the University’s Centre for Medical Humanities (CMH). She has been centrally involved in the development of medical humanities in the UK since 1998. She was part of the core group that set up the Association for Medical Humanities in 2000 with support from the Nuffield Trust and was its inaugural Secretary. She edited the journal Medical Humanities from 2002-2008. The Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research was established on the back of a meeting Jane initiated and chaired at Durham in February 2013 with the purpose of strengthening the visibility of medical humanities research and encouraging collaboration across universities in the North of England and Scotland. 

Simon took up the role of Deputy Provost of Durham University in January 2019, having been Principal of St Mary’s College since September 2011. Prior to this, Simon was Head of the School of Applied Social Sciences and then Deputy Head (Research) in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Health at Durham.

Simon has undertaken a wide range of cross-University roles including being Vice Chair of Durham’s Ethics Advisory Committee, Chair of the University’s Safeguarding Operations Group, member of the Sexual Violence Management and Operations Group and member of Senate Discipline Committee. Simon was also one of two Senate elected members of the joint Council and Senate Governance Review Board.

Simon’s academic position at Durham is as Professor of Child Abuse and Neglect and his research relates largely to interpersonal violence and child maltreatment in its various forms. He is known internationally in the field of research into sexual offending and, specifically, in relation to children with harmful sexual behaviours.

Yvonne has a portfolio career that includes local, national and international governance and advisory roles that brings together a wealth of experience of social and environmental impact investing in high growth entrepreneurial businesses, improving access to finance and driving business innovation. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales holds a DBA, MBA, IOD Diploma in Company Direction.

Locally, she holds non-executive directors with the North East England Chamber of Commerce, Innovation Super Network, and NEL Fund Managers having formerly been CEO. She is an investment committee member on the North of Tyne Creative and Cultural Investment Partnership.

Nationally, she is Chair of the advisory board for the UK Government’s Office for the Small Business Commissioner’s, Chair of the UK Prompt Payment Code Compliance Board, a member of the ICAEW Members and Commercial Board, an advisor to Responsible Finance and an assessor for Innovate UK.

Internationally, she is chair of the ethical lender Shared Interest and was an advisor to the UAE Ministry of Finance-backed, Mohammed bin Rashid AED 2 billion Innovation Fund.

In addition to volunteering as a Governor of St Chad’s college, Yvonne is a trustee of Millfield House Foundation, Shared Interest Foundation and the Northern Society of Chartered Accountants.
 

Ollie has been Rector of Haydon Bridge, Warden with Newbrough and St John Lee (East of Hexham) in the Diocese of Newcastle since 2024.Having prepared for ordination at Westcott House and Trinity College in Cambridge, Ollie began ministry in the parishes of Cowgate and Newbiggin Hall in North West Newcastle. Immediately before becoming an incumbent, Ollie served as curate in Jesmond, a part of the city strongly populated with students. During this time Ollie held responsibility for St Hilda’s, Jesmond, at the same time as being the Anglican chaplain to Newcastle University. 

Ollie’s background is in Archaeology, historic building surveying and Anglo-Saxon/Byzantine/Early Christian Architecture. Alongside his parish responsibilities, Ollie is a vocations advisor for the Diocese of Newcastle, a Governor of a Church of England primary school in rural Northumberland, and a member of the Newcastle - Møre (Norway) diocesan link group. 
 

Alan joined the Governing Body in 2016. He says that he was a hard-working, happy and occasionally foolish student at St Chad's in the late 1970's. He studied Philosophy - which he claims that he found quite difficult but loved. Alan says that he ran for the University without great distinction and played jazz music, sometimes unintentionally discordantly. Alan eventually became Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of KPMG International, a consulting and accountancy firm which allowed him to travel the world and advise many large companies and governments. He left to work in political administration and public policy. Alan's life noe includes a portfolio of political and charitable work, a preoccupation with trying to run faster than other "older" men in the UK and admiring the lives of his grown up children. Alan hopes that his many years internationally and his time at the heart of the UK's political system, will enable him to bring a wide perspective to the development and delivery of the College's strategy. He would like to help the College to develop as a community of learning which is unique in its commitment to the wider world.

Alistair became Bursar at St Chad's in December 2016, following a career in finance and business which has included working for major companies such as Lloyds Bank and Shell as well as a six year stint as Stewardship Development Officer for the Diocese of Durham. Alistair's most recent role was a Regional Manager for Charity Bank in the North East. Outside of work Alistair chairs the North East Religious Learning & Resources Centre and was Chair of Prince Bishops Community Bank until December 2016. In his spare time, Alistair enjoys playing and watching a number of sports and spending time with his family.

Victoria joined St Chad’s College as Vice Principal in 2022 following 8 years as Deputy Principal at Van Mildert College. Victoria is a Durham University Natural Sciences graduate and holds a PhD, also from Durham, in Physical Geography. Her research has primarily been in the area of glacial geomorphology in both the UK and western Canadian Arctic.

At St Chad’s College Victoria has responsibilities relating to admissions, student support and the wider student experience. However, Victoria has a particular interest in widening access to higher education and is keen to develop the College’s portfolio of outreach and volunteering activities with community partners across Durham and the wider North East. She is also an accredited Sexual Violence Liaison Officer.

Jonathan Moreland lives in Neville's Cross, Durham. He was a governor of St Chad's College from 1995 to 2005, and since then he has been in attendance at meetings in his capacity as College Solicitor.

Jonathan qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and is currently a partner with Swinburne LLP, a law form based in Aykley Heads, Durham City. He specialises in employment law and civil litigation, and provides legal advice to the College and Governing Body when appropriate.

The Visitor shall be the final court of appeal for matters which are referred by the Governors and which lie wholly within the jurisdiction of the College not being subject to the oversight of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education or the Visitor of the University

The Rector is titular and religious head of the College foundation.