144: Cheryl Giovannoni – Lessons in leadership and learning: the power of girls’ education

Change Makers: Leadership, Good Business, Ideas and Innovation

Cheryl Giovannoni is CEO of The Girls Day School Trust (GDST), a cohort of 25 independent schools that encourage girls to learn without limits. With alumni including Olivia Colman, Helena Bonham Carter, Afua Hirsch, Miriam Margolyes, and Mary Beard, among many others, the Trust schools look to develop character beyond curriculum and individual progression for each of its students.

The GDST was founded in 1872 by four pioneering women and Suffragettes, Mrs Maria Grey, her sister Miss Emily Shirreff, Lady Stanley of Alderley and Miss Mary Gurney. They believed that girls should be entitled to the same academic education as their brothers. Today, with 19,000 students and almost 4000 staff, the Trust has doubled down on its commitment to work with future generations of women who will change the world for the better, for us all.

Cheryl joins Michael on Change Makers to discuss the education landscape in the UK today, the power of learning to shape lives, and leadership lessons from her career in advertising as well as education ahead of her speech at the National Coalition of Girls Schools’ Global Forum in Boston, next week.