S P D Hardy
J Withers Green
Simon ‘Chip’ Hardy left St Paul’s in 1979, having started at Colet Court 10 years earlier, and read French and German at Oxford. For the next 25 years he worked at Nestlé in brand marketing and business strategy in the UK, USA and Switzerland. In 2010 he founded his own wine business in Switzerland, Fitting Wines, having gained the WSET Diploma in Wines & Spirits. Back in London since 2019, he now organises Swiss Wine Week London and is the co-founder of Alpina Vina, a new transnational guide to Alpine wine regions. He is the Regional Ambassador for Switzerland at The Old Vine Conference and a judge at the International Wine Challenge. He played OP rugby for several years in the last century, has been a director of Colets Health & Fitness Club, as well as Chairman of the Old Pauline Trust, and is currently an Apprentice Master at the Guild of Mercers’ Scholars. He began his role as President in June 2025.
Jeremy Withers Green (1975-80) read history at Magdalene College, Cambridge before starting work in finance. After 27 years in the City, he left J.P. Morgan Cazenove and began working as a volunteer and trustee in the charitable sector at The Haller Foundation, The 999 Club and Friends of the Elderly. In 2016 he joined the OPC Executive Committee and has worked as Communications and Engagement Director and Editor of Atrium. He was President from June 2023-2025.
Tom studied War Studies at KCL from 2012-15, and then decided he had not yet had enough and did another year as an MA in the History of War, focussing on naval and maritime history. Since 2018, he has been working as a Finance Officer at SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. In his spare time, he volunteers on HMS Belfast (mostly hitting things with a hammer and/or painting them grey) and also enjoys going for long walks in the countryside away from anything, or anyone.
Nick Brooks (1966-1970) qualified as a Chartered Accountant and practiced in the City for over 40 years. On retirement, he started writing and, in January 2025 published his third novel. He played rugby and cricket for the OPC. He is a Vice-President of the Club and has been Treasurer for the last 10 years. He is also Treasurer of the Old Pauline Trust Limited. As a father of an Old Pauline and grandfather of a current Pauline, his association with the St Paul’s runs into seven decades.
Kut Akdogan (2001-06) runs Gaussian, a technology and services holding company. The companies he’s founded and led in the past have spanned medtech (Hero Health), fintech (Visor), and worktech (Sapeum Strategy). Over the course of investing (Newton Three) and running incubators (Brainchild and Newton Three), he has advised companies across domains like healthcare, robotics, SaaS, and industrials. Previously, he was a consultant at Bain and a theoretical aerospace engineer. He grew up in London and attended St Paul’s before attending Princeton University. He is the US Representative on the OPC Exec Committee and President of the Colet Foundation in the US, with a mission to grow and enrich OP connectivity across the country.
After leaving St Paul’s, Jaipal read Maths at university and has since been working in investment banking. He looks forward to engaging OPs in their 30s through our professional networking and social events.
Sam is a commercial pilot flying for British Airways, having previously worked in schools including St Paul’s for over five years as a rowing coach, but also in various roles across the School. Sam lives with his husband in Putney, London. For four years he was OPC Secretary and recently became a 20s Decade representative.
James works at St Paul’s School as Associate Director St Paul’s Community, and is responsible for Alumni Relations. He serves on the Executive Committee as Sports Director and is also Chair of the Old Pauline Cricket Club and Hon. Secretary of the Old Pauline Golfing Society. His previous career included working in commercial events and various senior fundraising roles for a national military charity.
Harry Hampson has spent over 30 years working for JP Morgan in London holding a variety of roles in the investment bank. He is now one of the Global Chairs of Investment Banking and a member of the Executive Committee.
Harry is an Old Pauline who went on to read Natural Sciences and Chemical Engineering at Cambridge University. He is also a former parent having had two boys attend the school. Harry is a former oarsman and now is a keen skier and runner, and enjoys fishing and other outdoor pursuits.
Sam has been proprietor of Hyman Developments, a family-run residential developer in the Cotswolds, since 2009. He is a chartered surveyor, having qualified at Donaldsons/DTZ where he specialised in retail development, compulsory purchase and regeneration. He is also the proprietor of Hyman Estates Limited which provides Energy Inspections including commercial and domestic energy performance assessments. Sam is also Managing Director of VinoVeritas Asia Limited, a Hong Kong based wine company specialising in the wholesale of Italian wine to the trade and private markets. Sam is a founding Board Member of the company and holds a Level 3 (advanced) WSET qualification.
Dave is a Senior Director at CBRE, valuing commercial property in Central London. He has played cricket for OPCC since he left the school and been on tours with the club to Barbados and Sri Lanka. He played rugby for the OPFC until it started to hurt too much. He attends the OPC/SPS Real Estate networking events and was previously a director of The Old Pauline Trust.
Lizzie trained as a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer after obtaining a degree from Cambridge University in Law. Following a career break, Elizabeth returned to corporate law at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Elizabeth lives in Barnes and has four sons – three Old Paulines and one current Pauline.
Nathaniel “Nog” Norgren is a senior lawyer with nearly 30 years’ experience in multi-jurisdictional asset and project finance, the investment funds industry, growth finance and general corporate work. He currently runs his own practice, Norgren Legal, which was established in July 2011 and focuses on providing legal support to early-stage technology companies and the entities that finance them. After leaving St Paul’s in July 1986, Nog went on to study Archaeology at Southampton University from 1987-1990. Following a year working as a paralegal at Freshfields, he enrolled at The College of Law in York (1991-1993) and then returned to Freshfields where he worked until July 2004 before moving in-house to Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. He remained at Merrill Lynch until becoming General Counsel for the ETV Capital group of companies (providing debt financing to early-stage technology companies) where he stayed until establishing Norgren Legal.
Ellie is a specialist in fundraising, community engagement, marketing and crisis management. Since graduating from UCL she has worked for PR agency Paragon Communications, The Princes Trust, Breast Cancer Care, the Roundhouse and Wellington College prior to taking up her current role at St Paul’s School. In each of these organisations she has been responsible for building profile, strengthening communities and raising substantial funds. Since 2017, Ellie has been Director of Development and Engagement at St Paul’s School (Strategic Director since 2024), where she has modernised the development offer and alumni relations programme. She has also led on the creation and successful delivery of a five-year, £20 million campaign predominantly focussed on bursaries and partnerships. She leads a quite brilliant team of twelve who look after all marketing, events, community engagement, alumni relations and fundraising for the school and works closely with the High Master on the Senior Leadership Team.
Simon Strauss is a renewable energy financier, President of the Hudson Valley-based non-profit Mid-Hudson Energy Transition, CFO of Hellenic, a large-scale water desalination company, co-founder and Board member of the Colet Foundation to support bursaries to gifted students at St Paul’s, a member of the Town of Olive’s Conservation Advisory Council and a member of the Ulster County Environmental Management Council. After St Paul’s, Simon attended the University of Edinburgh from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in business and engineering. Simon is a Chartered Accountant and a CPA. He enjoys racing and cruising all types of sailing boats, skiing and hiking.
Nick Troen is not only the Staff Rep but also an OP (1998-2003). His role involves acting as a liaison between the OPC and staff body, as well as developing the School’s entrepreneurial initiatives with alumni through the Ester incubator programme and the Capital Angel Network.
Neil Wates (1999-2004) worked in the property sector for 15 years before training as a Psychodynamic Therapist and Counsellor. He is a trustee of a UK based charitable trust and an NGO committed to the alleviation of social violence in East Africa. He also founded Friendship Adventure; a craft brewery based in Brixton, as well as running a monthly comedy club for 10 years. Neil is on the OPC Executive Committee.
Simon Hardy (Chairman)
Jeremy Withers Green, Brian Jones, Peter King, Nog Norgen
James Grant (Chairman)
Rob Rayner, Jehan Sherjan, Nick Troen, Jack Turner
Simon Hardy (Chairman)
Jeremy Withers Green (Immediate Past President), Tom Arnold (Secretary), Nick Brooks (Treasurer), James Grant
Neil Wates (Chairman)
James Grant, Simon Hardy, Jeremy Withers Green
Stephen Withers Green (Chairman)
Nick Brooks, James Grant, Simon Hardy, Richard Holman, Sam Hyman, Brian Jones, Ian Turley
John East (Chairman)
David Abulafia, Peter Baker, Jon Blair, Paul Cartledge, Mike Colato, Ross Compton, Richard Cunis, Tim Cunis, Alan Day, John Dennis, John Ellis, Robert Engel, Brian Fall, Dean Godson, Stephen Greenhalgh, Richard Holman, Brian Jones, Peter King, Charles Madge, Alan McLean, Jon Morgan, Francis Neate, Rob Rayner, Tim Razzall, Bernard Rix, James Rolfe, Mike Seigel, Jehan Sherjan, Nigel Thompson, Ed Vaizey
Kelly Strickland, Katherine Gregory (parental leave cover)
Tom Bradley
Kreston Reeves LLP
OPC Trustee Company Limited