David Johnston, Chief Executive Officer

David joined the Social Mobility Foundation having been the first Director of Future, a charity which supports organisations working with young people and which is the sponsor of Pimlico Academy, a secondary school for 1300 pupils in the heart of London.

He was previously Coordinator of the Oxford Access Scheme, where he ran a range of one day and residential programmes for 10-18 year olds to raise their aspirations and encourage them to consider higher education and the University of Oxford.

In addition to being a governor at Pimlico, he is a governor of a sixth form college in East London and is on the board of an organisation for 11-16 year olds in Oxfordshire. David has a BA in Modern History and Politics from the University of Oxford.

Mark Copestake, School and College Relations Manager

Before joining the Social Mobility Foundation, Mark worked at the University of Cambridge Admissions Office as Schools and Colleges Liaison Officer in the Widening Participation team where he coordinated access initiatives involving over 2,500 state school students and teachers annually.

Mark was responsible for GEEMA (Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applications) which aimed to raise the aspirations of academically able black and minority ethnic students in the UKand encourage them to consider higher education and the University of Cambridge.  Mark also coordinated the Goldman Sachs Fast Forward Mathematics Programme which aimed to enthuse students about mathematics and encourage them to study the subject beyond GCSE.

Mark has a BA in History of Art from the University of Cambridge.

Carys Roberts, Mentoring Coordinator and Employer Projects Officer

Carys recently graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.  As an undergraduate Carys worked for the University College Ambassador Scheme, planning and leading school visits and other access events.  She also initiated and coordinated a volunteering project tutoring local GCSE students one-to-one in Maths.

Tom Bateman, School and College Relations Officer

Tom recently graduated from Queen Mary University with a history degree. For the last two years, while at university, Tom has been working as mentor in a sixth form college in East London as well as volunteering with young people as a football coach in South London.

Fiona McCourt, Employer Relations Officer

Fiona graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2009 with a degree in Philosophy and Theology & Religious Studies, spending her junior honours year at the University of California.  She went on to complete an internship with the Three Faiths Forum where she devised conferences for sixth form students from different faith and belief backgrounds.

Niamh Quille, School and College Relations Officer

Niamh graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2011 with a BA in Political Science. Having applied to the university through their ‘Access to Birmingham’ scheme, she worked as a student ambassador to help inform other prospective university applicants. For one year, Niamh was a fundraiser for the student-led community group ‘Kids Adventure’, who provide activity breaks for disadvantaged children in Birmingham. More recently, she volunteered at educational charity, The Access Project.