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In a career that has taken in City trading floors, learning high-speed driving manoeuvres, postings in Africa and senior management with a FTSE250 insurance company, Paresh Thakrar has learned a few things!

A keen advocate of ‘portfolio careers’ – “more interesting and more fun” – OE Paresh believes one of the key lessons is that it is important to continue to learn and renew yourself throughout your career.

“There is no substitute for ‘experiential learning’, taking risks in your career choices and following your interests, so long as you can demonstrate some consistent thought around your decisions.”

“As careers have become so specialised in every field of work from law to medicine to finance, there is more need than ever for people who can bring together the various threads into a coherent strategy,” adds Paresh, who is now Chief Operating Officer at Hiscox.

Paresh left the School in 1993 with an unusual collection of A-levels – Physics, Maths, Economics and Russian – but it gave him plenty of options for university. He chose to do Natural Sciences at Cambridge, enjoying the freedom to mix ‘hard’ subjects like physics with options such as zoology or history, and philosophy of science and psychology. “Churchill College was a great choice – out of town, tranquil and with the Cavendish Laboratories on the doorstep. QE had developed good links with the college over time, too.”

On graduating, he headed for the City, working at Deutsche Bank. “The mix of ‘quant’ skills and problem-solving rigour imparted through a Natural Sciences degree is a hugely valuable asset on a trading floor.” He spent five years as an emerging markets trader, trading everything from equity derivatives to foreign exchange and thriving in the “pacey, meritocratic culture”. During an exciting time in the financial industry, he enjoyed opportunities to spend time in South Africa and Eastern Europe.

Deciding it was time for a new challenge, he then served in various roles at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office from 2001–2008. “Following a gruelling training programme, I came in after the 9/11 turmoil.” His financial background proved valuable in trying to unravel and understand the new world that emerged after the terrorist attacks in the US. “It gave me a fascinating insight into a fast-paced area of government and a huge amount of autonomy in a career where you could find yourself chasing down leads in the Far East one week and the Middle East the next. I never dreamt I would be posted in Nairobi, doing “j-turns” in a Ford Focus on an abandoned airfield, or jumping out of a helicopter into the English Channel. Whatever your best-laid career plans, sometimes it’s just best to follow what you find fun.”

Finding the travel demands of diplomatic life at odds with being a good parent after the birth of his first child, Paresh went back to studying and in 2008–10 he took an MBA at London Business School, looking to move back into the private sector.

After an enjoyable two years, he took a role at management consultants McKinsey, “working with some of the smartest and inspiring of colleagues”. The highlights included “pulling my first all-nighter at the ripe age of 35” and working for financial institutions after the international financial crisis alongside some of the most senior leaders at the big banks. “The lessons I learnt were to never be afraid to network and reach out to mentors and colleagues who can often be the source of the most unexpected opportunities – and always to look for ways to reinvent yourself.”

In 2013, he began his present role, as Chief Operating Officer at FTSE250 insurance company Hiscox. “I was attracted to the small, rewarding and entrepreneurial culture with a distinctive market positioning and a hugely ambitious management team I wanted to work with.” Paresh’s areas of responsibility include strategy, IT and operations for the reinsurance business.

Paresh still lives in Hertfordshire; he is married and now has three boys.

The School marked half a century of dinner debates with an evening that included a stimulating speech about OE Joe Sheffer’s experience as a war journalist.

The 50th Annual Dinner Debate brought together current Year 12 boys and Old Elizabethans to debate the motion ‘This House Believes that prosperity is the best measure of success’. The special anniversary was mentioned several times by the chairman, Pranesh Varadarajan, in his introductory and concluding remarks.

“The school was wonderfully represented by Omar Haider and Zaheer Badat,” said Nisha Mayer, teacher in charge of debating. However, it was the OEs opposing the motion, Arjun Sajip (2004-2011) and Joseph Masters (2004-2011), who carried the day.

“The chairman, Pranesh, noted that the vote at the beginning of proceedings was heavily in favour of the visiting OE opposition and then swung at the end of a fascinating debate and floor discussion more in favour of the proposition, but with the opposition still winning overall,” Mrs Mayer said.

The event began around 6pm with a drinks reception for guests and VIPs, including several OEs, and “concluded around 10pm after a very enjoyable evening”, reports Mrs Mayer.

There were the traditional toasts to ‘Her Majesty, the Queen’ and ‘The Pious Memory of Queen Elizabeth I’. School Captain Norbert Sobolak proposed the toast to ‘The Visitors’, while the toast to ‘The Elizabethan Union’ was proposed by the after-dinner speaker, Joe Sheffer (2000-2007).

The diners enjoyed a starter of houmous with olives and pitta bread. The main course comprised Cajun butterfly chicken supremes with savoury saffron rice and coleslaw pot, or a vegetarian alternative of Mediterranean vegetable & butter bean ragout. The desserts of chocolate gateau with cream, or lemon tart with raspberry coulis, were followed by coffee or tea with petits fours.

Paresh Thakrar has embraced both risk and variety in the course of his fascinating and successful career.

Paresh left the School in 1993 with an eclectic collection of A-levels – Physics, Maths, Economics and Russian – but it gave him plenty of options for university. He chose to do Natural Sciences at Cambridge, enjoying the freedom to mix ‘hard’ subjects like physics with options such as zoology or history, and philosophy of science and psychology. “Churchill College was a great choice – out of town, tranquil and with the Cavendish Laboratories on the doorstep. QE had developed good links with the college over time, too.”

On graduating, he headed for the City, working at Deutsche Bank. “The mix of ‘quant’ skills and problem-solving rigour imparted through a Natural Sciences degree is a hugely valuable asset on a trading floor.” He spent five years as an emerging markets trader, trading everything from equity derivatives to foreign exchange, and thriving in the “pacey, meritocratic culture”. During an exciting time in the financial industry, he enjoyed opportunities to spend time in South Africa and Eastern Europe.

Deciding it was time for a new challenge, he then served in various roles at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office from 2001–2008. “Following a gruelling training programme, I came in after the 9/11 turmoil.” His financial background proved valuable in trying to unravel and understand the new world that emerged after the terrorist attacks in the US. “It gave me a fascinating insight into a fast-paced area of government and a huge amount of autonomy in a career where you could find yourself chasing down leads in the Far East one week and the Middle East the next. I never dreamt I would be posted in Nairobi, doing “j-turns” in a Ford Focus on an abandoned airfield, or jumping out of a helicopter into the English Channel. Whatever your best-laid career plans, sometimes it's just best to follow what you find fun.”

Finding the travel demands of diplomatic life at odds with being a good parent after the birth of his first child, Paresh went back to studying and in 2008–10 he took an MBA at London Business School, looking to move back into the private sector.

After an enjoyable two years, he took a role at management consultants McKinsey, “working with some of the smartest and most inspiring of colleagues”. The highlights included “pulling my first all-nighter at the ripe age of 35” and working for financial institutions after the international financial crisis alongside some of the most senior leaders at the big banks. “The lessons I learnt were to never be afraid to network and reach out to mentors and colleagues, who can often be the source of the most unexpected opportunities – and always to look for ways to reinvent yourself.”

In 2013, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer at FTSE250 insurance company Hiscox. “I was attracted to the small, rewarding and entrepreneurial culture with a distinctive market positioning and a hugely ambitious management team I wanted to work with.” Paresh’s areas of responsibility include strategy, IT and operations for the reinsurance business.

A keen advocate of ‘portfolio careers’ – “more interesting and more fun” – OE Paresh believes one of the key lessons is that it is important to continue to learn and renew yourself throughout your career. “There is no substitute for ‘experiential learning’, taking risks in your career choices and following your interests, so long as you can demonstrate some consistent thought around your decisions.”

“As careers have become so specialised in every field of work from law to medicine to finance, there is more need than ever for people who can bring together the various threads into a coherent strategy,” he adds.

Paresh still lives in Hertfordshire; he is married and has three boys.

With the launch of his own company, Antony Pink has realised a long-standing ambition to become an entrepreneur.

Antony (OE 2000-2007) was a keen rugby-player during his time at School, when he was known as Kishan. He later began to use his middle name Antony and went on to study Business Management at Nottingham University, where he developed a fascination with business, which has been a constant theme in his life.

“While at Nottingham I was involved in business start-up societies and it was always in my mind that one day I would like to launch a business of my own.”

After university, Antony joined multinational management consultancy Accenture as a consultant, aligned to Accenture’s IT Strategy practice and working predominantly within the financial services sector and in communications and media sectors.

Nearly four years later, in 2014, he took the decision to leave a secure job and instead launch a mobile start-up company, Laundrapp, with two business partners. They have raised £1.5million of seed funding from well-known investors Rupert Hambro (former Chairman of Hambros Bank) and Dominic Perks.

Laundrapp offers customers a door-to-door laundry and dry-cleaning collection and delivery service, initially operating in London and five other UK cities.

One of Laundrapp’s strategies was to advertise heavily and to invest in PR. A six-figure marketing investment resulted in TV and radio commercials, online and outdoor advertising, and posters on the Underground (in stations and in trains). Features in the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail, as well as articles in the specialist business and technology press, have also formed part of the marketing mix.

Laundrapp is available on iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android.

Business consultant Andrew Kramer is dedicated to using his abilities to help young people develop their own skills.

Andrew (OE 2001-2008) is always looking for opportunities to work with clients focusing on education and young people.

After reading History at Jesus College, Oxford, Andrew worked as an English teacher and lecturer for ten months at Hengshui University in China. He also completed a short placement as a Communications Manager at Thirst, a water-sustainability NGO in Beijing.

In 2013 he moved to Berlin where he worked at a technology start-up and developed a free e-learning app for Android phones called Unlock Your Brain. “We put puzzles on the lockscreen so every time the user unlocked the phone they trained their brain.”

That same year he joined global business consultancy McKinsey & Company in London, where he works today. “I have served a real mix of private, public and social sector clients. I have tended to focus on clients in the City, in Whitehall, or those with a focus on education and young people, reflecting my interest in building young people's skills.”

Other work for McKinsey has included an assignment in Trinidad & Tobago, where he worked with a client in oil and gas, and enjoyed “exploring the beauty of the Caribbean”.

He renewed his contact with the School in 2015 after being impressed at the calibre of a QE Year 13 pupil (Bilal Hussain) whom he met at the McKinsey Leadership Academy. The Academy offers a two-day residential workshop for Sixth-Formers in the first year, followed by another the next year, with an opportunity to enter a competition for a leadership award.

“I was thrilled not only to hear about how QE continues to thrive, but also because of a wonderful conversation I had with Bilal about what leadership means; we took the opportunity to compare notes on our respective ambitions for the future.”

This term, we have again enjoyed the privilege of welcoming a varied list of guests to the School, all bringing their particular expertise to enrich our boys’ education.

To name but a few, Dr Elizabeth Glennon, from King’s College London, provided our Year 13 biologists with hands-on experience of genetically modifying bacteria, while senior boys also benefited from a visit by two 2012 leavers, Jonathan Fiber and Oli Palmer, who spoke on how to get the most out of life at university. Jonathan and Oli have just graduated from Warwick with first-class degrees. Five Old Elizabethans spoke to Year 11 students and their parents at our information evening for those interested in making an application to Oxford or Cambridge in due course. And at the lower end of the School, Year 8 boys were given an insight into the implications of a lack of clean water in the developing world in a visit from international charity WaterAid.

In addition to a busy term here at the School site, our pupils’ education has been enriched by a wealth of trips to locations elsewhere. These included the visit by a large Year 9 party to Kew Gardens on a cross-curricular trip organised jointly by the Mathematics and Biology departments. There have been successful visits to Sicily and Germany, while our sportsmen have put in good performances at cricket and athletics fixtures.

As well as welcoming Old Elizabethans back to the School, I have been delighted to see so many parents in attendance this term at events such as parents’ evenings, the Artist’s Palette Concert, Junior Awards and summer sports fixtures. Not only is parental support important in enhancing such occasions and thus in strengthening the life of the School, but research indicates that it is also a factor in the success of a child’s education. Instances of a successful partnership between home and School include financial giving from parents. Having launched our Amazon wishlists scheme to provide books for The Queen’s Library among the alumni a few months ago, I have been pleased to see that its extension to include parents has proved successful. The FQE Fête on Founder’s Day is of course the example par excellence of parental engagement at QE. By getting involved, both parents and Old Elizabethans are tapping into the history of the School, which is exemplified on the day by the morning church service, the procession, and the Reading of the School Roll and Chronicle. We are proud to celebrate such traditions. Our guest speaker at the service, Andrew Kramer (OE 2001-2008), alluded to their importance, reminding boys that in processing from church to School they were following a 442-year-old pattern.

While the past is important, we must look to the future, too. Next year will be the final year of our 2012-2016 School Development Plan, so we will be consulting with parents, pupils and staff to formulate our 2016-2020 plan. In evaluating the fulfilment of the current plan, there is much to celebrate. We have seen further enhancements to the classroom experience, our pastoral system has also been substantially revised and there have been curriculum changes, most notably in Languages. German is now introduced from Year 7, there are at least three years of Latin for all boys in the School and there has been a strong uptake for our new Latin GCSE course beginning in September 2015. Aspiring classicists will also be able to benefit from the introduction of Ancient Greek from September as a club for younger boys and as more formal lessons for older pupils, hopefully building towards an AS-level qualification in the years to come.

Our School is rightly known for success in public examinations, but it should never be thought that that is our sole focus: those revised pastoral arrangements are planned very specifically to nurture the development of good character. ‘Character education’ is a topic that is currently enjoying a vogue in educational circles, but at QE it is neither a superficial fad nor a recent innovation; it has long been embedded into all that we do, including academic studies and in the provision of worthwhile extra-curricular activities.

I wish all our alumni an enjoyable summer.

Neil Enright