Our Patrons

Chris Achiampong

Chris is an alumnus of Smart Futures and one of EY’s past programmes, School Leaver’s.

Chris works at IBM, and was awarded Higher or Degree Apprentice of the Year for London. He is committed to helping young people and was a member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and Chair of the Foundation’s first Youth Panel, he is also a governor at his old school. His profile, inspirational skills and network has already significantly contributed to raising awareness of the Foundation’s work.

Margaret Gibson OBE

Margaret was previously Deputy Chief Executive of EY Foundation. Prior to joining the EY Foundation, Margaret was the Chief Executive of Women's Enterprise Scotland, a social enterprise working to engage more women into business and Deputy Chief Executive of The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust and has established several small businesses.

Margaret’s work has seen her support young people for over 30 years. She is a volunteer with Young Enterprise Scotland, a Governor with the University of the West of Scotland, and a Trustee of the charity, The Lens, working with public sector and third sector organisations to examine intrapreneurship and innovation in their processes. She is a founding trustee of award-winning charity smartSTEMS, inspiring young women into STEM careers.

She was the first woman in Scotland to receive the Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion and was awarded an OBE in the 2017 New Year's Honours List. Margaret has also been presented with the Woman of Influence Award, by Action for Children.

Dawid Konotey-Ahulu

Dawid qualified in 1987 as a barrister of Lincoln’s Inn, then spent 16 years as an investment banker. In 2006, he left the industry to set up Redington, a City firm advising large institutional pension funds and insurance companies. In 2009, Dawid set up mallowstreet, a specialist online community for the UK pensions and savings industry. It has over 3,000 members representing over $2 trillion in pension fund assets across 600 pension schemes.

Dawid also founded Partnership for Change, a collaboration platform which will combine fintech, healthcare technology, ed-tech and sustainability.

Dawid is a Governor of the University of Hertfordshire, a Trustee of the Chineke! Orchestra, is on the Global Advisory Council of Tobacco Free Portfolios, and a trustee of Legacy of War Foundation. He is a frequent blogger on innovation, pensions, savings and healthcare, and is currently attempting to help build a specialist heart hospital in Ghana.

Patrick Dunne OBE

Patrick Dunne OBE was the founding Chair of EY Foundation from 2014 to 2023. He now currently serves as the Chair of Royal Voluntary Service and ESSA-Education Sub Saharan Africa and was the founder of Warwick in Africa.

Patrick had extensive executive experience with Air Products and FTSE 100 private equity business 3i Group plc where he held a variety of senior roles, including Communications Director and a member of its Operating Committee. Patrick is also the author of the award winning book Boards  and a leading expert and advisor on boards and governance as well as a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University, and former Council Member of the University of Warwick. 

Douglas Nisbet    

Douglas is a former Audit Partner of EY, having joined the firm in 1980, and becoming  Partner in 1994. He has held various management roles within EY, including Managing Partner of EY in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and later had a number of governance roles on the EY Global and EMEIA councils.

Douglas has also served on CBI Scotland Council and as a board member of the Scottish Enterprise Investment Fund advisory board.

Nathaniel Peat    

Nathaniel is a multi-award winning entrepreneur, international speaker (including TEDx), business coach, engineer and pilots. He was listed on the 2017 Black Power List, the 2017 and 18 EMPower Financial Times List and, 2016 saw an entry onto the Financial Times Upstanding 100 BME Executive List.

Nathaniel is co-founder of Gennex Solar, which provides innovative renewable energy products in Africa. He also founded The Safety Box; a company whose training and development programmes assist with reducing youth violence and help young people develop important skills, such as leadership, communication and conflict resolution. In 2015, Nathaniel was the only UK entrepreneur selected by Virgin Unite to attend a week long leadership gathering on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson. Nathaniel is also a former Trustee and co-founder of EY Foundation.