ST JOHN'S COLLEGE - Key Persons


Adv Graham Kerr

Job Titles:
  • Phillips - Chairman of the Old Johannian Association

Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the T & D Sub - Committee

Emily Fuchs

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of Systems

Graham Kerr-Phillips

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Old Johannian Association
Graham Kerr-Phillips is the Chair of the Old Johannian Association. Graham is an advocate at the Johannesburg Bar and comes from a dynasty of Old Johannians, being one of five brothers who matriculated at St John's. Both Graham's sons also attended the College.

Jeanne Trickett

Job Titles:
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Staff Representative

Michael Brown

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Finance Committee
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Chief Executive Designate

Mr Banele Booi

Job Titles:
  • Staff Representative

Mr David Vermeulen

Job Titles:
  • Business Manager at St John 's College
  • Head of Finance and Operations
Dave Vermeulen has been the business manager at St John's College since May 2013. He served articles at Deloitte & Touche, and thereafter spent nearly 20 years in the investment banking and financial consulting sectors in both the UK and South Africa. Dave was been a parent at St John's from 2007 until 2018.

Mr Gavin Heron

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Finance Sub - Committee

Mr Lester Lalla

Job Titles:
  • Leader
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Prep Headmaster
  • Preparatory Headmaster
Lester is an educational leader with a wealth of experience in the classroom and in administration, having held senior positions within school environments for the past nine years.

Mr Melvyn Lubega

Job Titles:
  • Vice - Chairperson of the St John 's College Foundation Board
Melvyn Lubega is a business person and IT entrepreneur. Following his graduate studies at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, he co-founded an international software company which currently serves clients in more than 20 countries. Prior to that Melvyn worked for the Boston Consulting Group, where he was their first associate in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as for Goldman Sachs in the UK. Melvyn is Vice-chairperson of the St John's College Foundation Board. He is an Old Johannian and was Head of School in 2007.

Mr Sibusiso Zungu

Job Titles:
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Representative
  • Bishop 's Representative

Mr Stuart West

Job Titles:
  • Executive
  • Headmaster
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
Stuart is a highly accomplished teacher and Head with decades of experience in the boys', girls' and co-ed education environments and a proven record of driving transformation, diversity and social justice in the schools he has led. He spent the first 19 years of his teaching career at Bishops Diocesan School in Cape Town, where he taught history, was a boarding housemaster, coached the First XI Hockey team for 16 years and was a Deputy Principal. He then moved to Dainfern College, where he was Principal for seven years before heading up Herschel Girls' in Cape Town. Mr West is an accomplished sportsman, having played and coached hockey at a provincial level. Mr West attended Graeme College in Grahamstown, Rhodes University and UNISA. He holds a BA (Hons) in History and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. He is married to Joyanne, and they have three adult children and a granddaughter.

Mr Thulani Khanyile

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the St Johns College Council
  • Chairman of Council

Mrs Nicola Burger

Job Titles:
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Parents' Association
Nicola Burger consults to, and provides training to Boards of Trustees and members of government-, corporate- and industry-sponsored retirement funds in South Africa. She has a financial background and is passionate about education, which has driven her involvement in educating trustees and members of retirement funds on all their fiduciary and investment responsibilities.

Ms Christina Playne

Job Titles:
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Chairman of the BMC Committee
  • Vice Chair of Council and Chairman of the BMC Sub - Committee

Ms Raksha Singh

Job Titles:
  • Member of the St Johns College Council
  • Chairman of the HR
  • Semnarayan - Chairman of the HR Committee
  • Semnarayan - Chairman of the HR Sub - Committee
Raksha Singh Semnarayan is the Chair of the HR sub-committee. Rahskha is a seasoned attorney with an excellent grasp of labour law with a pragmatic approach and an enthusiastic and consensus-building demeanour. She is currently Chief Legal Officer at Bankserv Africa and has held senior legal positions in Standard Bank, the Reserve Bank and the Banking Association of South Africa. Raksha has a son in the College.

Priyesh Modi

Job Titles:
  • Founder of Advaya Consulting ( Pty ) Ltd
  • Member of the St John 's College Parents' Association
Priyesh is the founder of Advaya Consulting (Pty) Ltd which provides transaction advisory services and corporate and commercial legal solutions to clients. Prior to this, Priyesh was a director in Bowman Gilfillans' M&A practice where he advised multi-national and local clients on a range of corporate and commercial issues. Priyesh has been a member of the St John's College Parents' Association since January 2018.

Prof Martin Veller

Job Titles:
  • Surgeon
Professor Martin Veller, a vascular surgeon, is the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Witwatersrand. He previously was the professor and head of the Department of Surgery, (November 2001 to February 2013) and the head of the division of vascular surgery (January 1992 to June 2014) at the University of the Witwatersrand. In the past he has served as president of the College of Surgeons of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, chairman of the Association of Surgeons, president of the World Federation of Vascular Societies and president of the Vascular Society of Southern Africa.

Prof Tshilidzi Marwala

Job Titles:
  • Vice - Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg
Prof Tshilidzi Marwala is the Vice-chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Previously he was the deputy vice-chancellor for Research and Internationalisation and the executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, both at UJ.

Ross Rovelli

Job Titles:
  • Head of School