Nitesh Gor OBE – CEO and Trustee

Nitesh Gor is Chief Executive of Avanti Schools Trust. His previous experience encompasses CEO and director roles across the exploration and investment banking industries and a broad business strategy background gained as a result of working for two leading management consultancies. He is a published author. Nitesh has an MBA from London Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of London. He is a Deputy Lieutenant with the Greater London Lieutenancy and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2018 for Services to Education.

Mike Younger – Chair

Mike Younger the Trust Chair, has extensive experience in teacher education and gender studies. He was Dean of Education and Head of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education 2006-2011, having previously been Director of Teaching and Teacher Education. Whilst Director of the Teacher Education programme, 1992-2001, he led the Faculty through three very successful Ofsted inspections which resulted in the programmes being awarded ‘outstanding’ status. His main research and teaching interests are located in teacher education and teacher professional development, in gender studies and school leadership and curriculum development.

Bavaani Nanthabalan – Trust Director

Bavaani is passionate about children’s learning and has had extensive experience of teaching in the entire primary range, working in schools first in Singapore and then in England, before taking on her first headship. She has had substantial experience as an Executive Headteacher leading four schools as part of a soft federation. In all schools, she has left an impact on standards of attainment and achievement and built leadership capacity.

Dipa Dhokia – Trust Director

Dipa Dhokia has a long standing career in IT spanning over 20 years working in senior roles. She has worked in leading companies and blue chips focusing on strategic partnerships with global clients. In addition she is a seasoned entrepreneur who has created and operated several businesses in different industry verticals.

Dipa is passionate about empowering women in industry and business believing that the fundamental improvements in educating and developing of young children and people is imperative at grass roots. She is a proven natural mentor who also regularly participates in events to help young people get a taste of industry whilst encouraging individuality and lateral thinking. Dipa is also a strong advocate for mental, physical and metaphysical cognisance resulting in a healthier balanced lifestyle.

Sukwinder Bassi – Trust Director

Educational leader with proven strategic, operational, financial, school improvement and people leadership skills that have led to improving educational outcomes for Multi Academy Trusts in the UK, and International schools in Africa, Middle East and India. He is an expert in improving School groups. As CEO GEMS in East Africa, he led the successful expansion, from 2 under-performing schools to 26 schools across Sub-Saharan Africa. Sukwinder also served and led 14,000 staff in raising educational outcomes of 90,000 students in 33 schools across UAE. Over a 20-year career in UK retail he successfully developed high-performing teams to deliver exceptional customer satisfaction and financial results. Sukwinder was responsible for leading a team of 60,000 staff at Adidas for 2,000 stores, across 31 countries. As Stores Director, Tesco London, Sukwinder was responsible for 15,000 staff and serving over a million customers per week. Sukwinder is committed to and inspired by The Avanti Way, to help each person become a well-rounded human being through intellectual, moral and spiritual growth, and so make the world a better place, he has experienced the power of education and how it can transform lives.

Molly Warrington – Trust Director

Now retired, Dr Molly Warrington was formerly a lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge and Director of Studies in Geography at King’s and Homerton Colleges.

She has undertaken research into homelessness and the geographics of domestic violence, though the main focus of her work lay along the intersections of human geography and education, with a key emphasis on gender.

Though Molly’s teaching has been in the higher education sector, she has considerable experience of schools in several different contexts. For example, she co-directed a four-year government-funded project on gender and underachievement in England and led a longitudinal study on access to education for girls from extremely poor backgrounds in partnership with governments and NGOs in Kenya and Uganda. She has over forty publications in the form of peer-reviewed academic papers, books, book chapters and reports.

At Avanti, Molly has initiated an action research project with yoga teachers in several Avanti schools, producing a report showing the value of the sustained practice of yoga in schools.

Through her time as a member of the Trust Board, she has chaired several committees and is currently Chair of the People and Governance Committee. Most recently Molly has been involved in setting up an Avanti Women’s Network, an informal group of women supported by the Trust Board, whose aim is to improve the working lives of women employed by Avanti, at whatever level.

Anjana Gupta – Trust Director

Anjana is a chartered accountant with a background in client service and now working in the investment industry while pursuing several creative interests. She is passionate about ensuring opportunities for well-rounded development for children and young people, particularly from marginalised backgrounds. Anjana’s own educational experiences were greatly varied, which informs her belief in ongoing educational innovation and in the need to harmonise academic, physical, social and emotional development.

Michelle Loughrey Photo for Trust website

Michelle Loughrey – Trust Director

Michelle is a successful teacher and education leader with over two decades’ experience working in primary education. She has substantial leadership experience leading schools, including as Headteacher. Michelle is currently working as an education consultant, providing skilled coaching and strategic support; her particular interests and specialisms are in curriculum innovation, creativities, leadership development, and organisational change. She is co-editor of Sculpting New Creativities in Primary Education the third book in the University of Cambridge Primary School’s Unlocking Research series. Michelle is experienced in working in safeguarding across the education and charity sectors, including in international development, and is a trustee of the national children’s charity, School-Home Support.

Kishan Parshotam – Trust Director

Kishan Parshotam is a Solicitor Advocate at Covington & Burling LLP, with a practice focused on commercial litigation and arbitration. Kishan predominantly advises technology companies, financial institutions and life sciences businesses. In addition, Kishan runs several businesses and is a Magistrate serving in Central London. Kishan is also a volunteer at several organisations in and around London.

Kishan is passionate about education and its role in improving equity within society. Kishan also serves as Co-Chair of Governors at a primary school in Brent. He has held governor roles at schools since he was 18 years old. His vision as a trustee is to ensure equitable access to high-quality education that prepares students for success in a rapidly evolving world. Kishan has also been a visiting lecturer at a London university.

Roshni Thakrar – Trust Director

Roshni is a qualified solicitor with over a decade of experience working in the City across various sectors.

Roshni is also a huge champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Roshni is particularly passionate about neurodiversity and achieving greater gender parity. Being dyslexic herself, last year she co-founder a business named Inclusiviteam which focuses on improving workplace culture and how to hold employers to greater account.

Much of Roshni’s recent work revolves around neurodiversity following her diagnosis of dyslexia in 2022. In 2024, Roshni won “Rising Star of the Year” and “Employee Network of the Year” at her former employer.

Roshni is a trustee for the pensions policy institute (PPI) and an adviser to the Board at the Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity.

Outside of work, Roshni hosts the “Prim Rose Light” podcast on Spotify, covering mind, body, soul topics, climate change, and other relevant issues and is committed to cultivating a conscious community.

For the past twenty years, she has also been an active participant of the local community with her various volunteering endeavours.