About Us

Chairman

Chris Woodhead has over 35 years experience in education. He has taught English in grammar and comprehensive schools, lectured in education at Oxford University, and worked in senior posts in three Local Education Authorities. He ran the National Curriculum Council and the Schools Curriculum Assessment Authority before becoming Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools. He resigned from this post in November 2000. He is now a Professor of Education at the University of Buckingham. He broadcasts and writes regularly in the national press on education policy.

Chief Executive

Rees Withers is the former Chief Executive of a European homecare company. His early career was in Europe and the United States with Xerox and Tektronix Inc. He returned from the USA, appointed as the European Marketing Director for Invacare Corp, a US $ billion quoted corporation, where he spent six years building the European business. Subsequently, he was appointed to the Board of a UK FTSE listed healthcare group, before investing in the formation of his own European business, in partnership with Warburg Pincus, a US private equity firm

Chief Financial Officer

Before the formation of Cognita, Gary Narunsky was the CFO of Global Education Management Systems (GEMS) a privately financed education company, which entered the market in early 2004. He was directly involved in the acquisition of schools and the development of a central finance and administrative function of the group. Prior to GEMS, he was Vice President of Merrill Lynch's investment banking division. Formerly, he was the Finance Director of a software company in South Africa, which he co-founded. He has an MBA from London Business School and is a Chartered Accountant

Property Director and Chief Operating Officer

Dean Villa was recently the Property Director of GEMS, responsible for the property acquisition of new and existing schools, and the facilities management and procurement activities for the school portfolio. Prior to joining GEMS, he was the Property Director of Thistle Hotels with responsibility for the asset management of 56 hotels with a value of over £1 billion. Before that, he spent eighteen years at Whitbread Plc. where he was the Development Director responsible for managing the restaurant estate of between 2,000 - 4,500 properties, including the rollout of several successful UK Brands within the UK, responsible for £200 million p/a capital budget.

Chief Education Officer

Jim Hudson OBE graduated from Lancaster University and went on to complete further advanced studies at Oxford University. Until his appointment at Cognita, Jim was the Head of Two Mile Ash Middle School in Milton Keynes. There, he built the school roll from 380 to 780 places. As a Foundation school the school funded its own facilities and infrastructure development. The school was classified as 'outstanding' by OFSTED, and was designated as the Lead School in a national consortium of outstanding primary schools delivering school-based initial teacher training. He had formerly been headmaster at two other schools. He is an associate lecturer at both Nottingham and Buckingham Universities and a chairman and adviser on many national education bodies. He was awarded an OBE for services to Education in 1998.

Director of Strategic Development

Before joining Cognita, Charles Robinson ran four businesses for Capita Group. He has a varied business background in large and small businesses, including a period of time with PwC. Charles started his career in the Royal Navy and ended up as a submarine navigator. In 1994, with his wife and partners, he helped to start a prep school and so has a detailed understanding of schools, their running and funding. Charles' first degree was in Mechanical Engineering with Maths; he also has an MBA from Cranfield and has completed the London Business School Corporate Finance course.

Director of International Schools

Bob Findlay has wide experience of international education both as a teacher and as an operator. He has taught in the Middle and Far East and has considerable experience as a head of international schools. Several years ago, he established the first British international school in America. He was responsible for the subsequent start-up, growth and development of five international schools in the United States. Bob received his first degree in Education from Rolle College/Exeter University, is the author of Choosing a New School for your Child and has edited the International Schools Handbook.