Lord John Nash
Lord John Nash spent 30 years working in the field of venture capital before focusing his efforts on philanthropy and education. In 2005, along with his wife, Caroline, he set up the charity Future, which exists to help young people by supporting academies and several other small charities. Pimlico Academy has been supported through Future Academies since 2008, having initially been in special measures. In 2010 the academy was ranked as Outstanding by Ofsted, a turnaround that was achieved in less than two and a half years.Lord Nash was appointed a non-executive director of the Department for Education in 2010, and he was appointed a schools minister in 2013, a post he held until 2017. During this time the number of academies in the country rose from around 2,000 to approximately 7,000, and he was responsible for, among other things, school capital, free schools, independent schools, state schools and academies. He also took five acts of parliament through the House of Lords, including the Children and Families Act. Between 2020 and 2022, Lord Nash was the lead non-executive director across government responsible for coordinating the activities of the lead non-executives of each government department.Of particular interest to Lord John Nash is careers support and the provision of extracurricular activities for students. Future Academies runs a vibrant programme of extra art, drama, music and sport provision, as well as a range of residential trips and careers advice sessions. For Lord Nash, the aim is to take children our of their regular environment, expand their horizons, and give them access to a wide group of people from a multitude of industries and professions.