The new board includes members fluent in conversational Mandarin,a former French army officer and the host of popular BBC programs,as well as numerous investment bankers and lawyers.
Cranbrook School councillors announced their resignation last year as the internal feud escalated.Brook Mitchell
The appointment of the new council is an attempt to end months of infighting at the school after the relationship between headmaster Nicholas Sampson and former council president Jon North deteriorated,as well as wider disagreement over the timing of admitting girls to the Bellevue Hill school.
A small number of parents at the $39,000-a-year school had been completely opposed to going co-ed,others wanted girls enrolled as soon as this year,while others wanted a more ordered change to happen in 2026.
In a letter to parents on Friday night,the school said all of the 13 new councillors supported the co-ed move occurring in 2026,with girls admitted in year 7 and year 11 that year.
“The committee has stated that it is satisfied that the incoming councillors … will bring their own independent views to the governance of the school,while supporting the school’s announced decision to commence co-education in 2026,” the letter said.
The newly elected council members were elected by former council presidents Helen Nugent and Roger Massy-Greene,who were charged with selecting them after the previous council resigned en masse in November. One source said there were about 80 applicants for the 13 prestigious positions on the school council.
Outgoing council members had a final meeting on December 30 when they rubber-stamped the selection made by Nugent and Massy-Greene.
Nine of the 13 new council members are current parents at the school and of the 15 total board members,seven are women.
The biggest order of business for the newly minted school council this year will be whether to renew headmaster Nicholas Sampson’s contract,which expires in 2024 because recruiting a new headmaster for the prestigious post would take 18 months and require an international search.
Former council president Helen Nugent.
The only person not to resign in November’s mass exodus was non-executive director,lawyer and Ascham old girl Katrina Rathie,while council member Suzanne Williams has agreed to serve on the board for an interim period while one of two of the Anglican Archbishop Kanishka Raffel’s nominee positions remains unfilled.
The new board will include Old Cranbrookians Association president Martin Cayzer;the Anglican Archbishop’s nominee Geoff Lovell,who has previously been deputy chairman of SHORE’s school council,and Cranbrook School Parents Association nomination of Samantha Roberts.
Other councillors,who also have affiliations with the Anglican church,include St John’s church in Darlinghurst rector Dr Matthew Wilcoxen and Right Reverend Stuart Robinson from St Michael’s in Vaucluse and St Peter’s in Watson’s Bay.
Vanessa Cardonnel,who has one son currently at the school,a background in corporate finance and law and is fluent in French and speaks “conversational Mandarin”,will take up one council position.
A meeting to vote for the council president is expected to be held sometime in February.
Ari Droga,who has one son at the school and is on the board for the Museum of Contemporary Art,will also join the board. The fund manager previously hit the headlines in 2018 when he paid $20.4 million for his Bellevue Hill 1935-built mansion,Bonnington.
Other finance professionals on the board Dr Amelia Hill,the managing director,corporate advisory at MA Moelis Australia and Blackbird Ventures’ chief financial officer John Moorehead.
McKinsey partner Katia Khvatova,who served in the French army,speaks fluent French and Russian also takes up a board position. She has applied for admission to Cranbrook for her son.
Other newcomers include University of Sydney pro vice-chancellor Prof Richard Miles,who has been a writer and presenter for popular BBC programs on archaeology and ancient history.
Lawyer Julie Soon and senior counsel James Sheller are also new additions to the board.
A meeting to vote for the council president is expected to be held sometime in February,while the school’s annual general meeting will be held in May. An estimated 1200 registered parents,alumni and donors will have the opportunity to vote to either endorse or reject the new council members then.
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