Trustees

Peter Cousins (Chairman)

Peter is a former Managing Director for Lloyds Banking Group.

Sami Cohen

… recently retired after many years as the Principal of an independent school in Oxford where he was always keen to support the development of the school’s provision in music, drama and the arts. Joined OSJ’s Board of Trustees in …., drawn by the Orchestra’s ethos, its approach to music-making and to people, and the bold and inspiring work that it does, as part of its Connections programme, to reach and engage with a broad and diverse range of audiences.

Michele Smith

“My career has largely involved administration and finance, most recently as bursar of an Oxford College. Over the last ten years I have developed the concert venue SJE Arts and came across John Lubbock and the OSJ and was totally taken by the sheer quality and musicality of the performances they gave. While I can’t play an instrument nor can I sing, music is extremely important to me. I joined the board as Trustee in 2019.”

Mark Chambers

Mark was educated at Harrow and Keble College, Oxford where he read Modern History. He spent 36 years working in finance in London and abroad. The first half of his career was spent in sales and trading at different investment banks. The last 19 years of his career was spent at Man Group Plc, the world’s largest listed hedge fund, where he held a range of senior management roles.

Since his retirement in 2013 Mark has devoted his time to his philanthropic interests and to a variety of non-executive roles. He lives in Oxford, is married to Angela and has five children.

Sir Tom Shebbeare

Tom has been lucky enough to have had a ‘career’ developing, managing and helping to fund Charities and not-for-profit ventures in the UK and elsewhere. Following a decade with the Council of Europe (Strasbourg) he was appointed (1987-2010) The Prince’s Trust’s first Director. The charity has rightly become a substantial  feather in the cap of our new King. He has also chaired The Royal Parks Foundation, Virgin Money Giving, Virgin StartUp and China Exchange. He is a former Barclay Fellow of Green Templeton College (Oxford) and Trustee of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation (Afghanistan)

Tom has chaired Spring Films, a documentary filmmaker, since 2010 and is a Deputy Lord Lieutenant (DL) for Oxfordshire.