Three Fellow Commoners elected

St Catharine’s Governing Body was delighted to elect three alumni to senior positions in the College community when it met earlier this term. The Master and the Official and Professorial Fellows are the trustees of St Catharine’s and serve on the College’s Governing Body, which can choose to award the title of Fellow Commoner in recognition of individuals’ substantial involvement in, and contribution to, the St Catharine's community.

Sir John Benger (1979, English), Master of St Catharine’s, welcomed the news by commenting:

“It is a proud moment to share this news – marking the first elections since I started as Master! Our alumni do so much to support Catz and enhance our standing as a welcoming, thriving and vibrant academic community. I have already been in touch with each of the newly-elected Fellow Commoners to congratulate them on behalf of the College. We are fortunate to benefit from this group’s fundraising acumen and longstanding affection for Catz.”

All three alumni now awarded the title of Fellow Commoner have made considerable contributions to St Catharine’s, not least through their support for the College’s Campaign Advisory Group which guided the 'Our College, Our Future' campaign. Tina Patel (1989, Mathematics) and William Paul (1992, Modern & Medieval Languages) co-chaired the Campaign Advisory Group. Garrett Curran (1991, Law) has also been a valued supporter over many years, serving as a member of the Campaign Advisory Group and also commissioning for the College’s benefit a full-size replica of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. 

Tina trained as a Chartered Accountant after graduating from St Catharine’s in 1992. Following a career in practice and later as a Finance Director, she now runs a property business with a particular interest in sustainable living. She is also involved with several charities and community projects with the common theme of promoting access and excellence in education. 

She said, “Every time I come back to Cambridge, I am reminded of the three wonderful years I spent at St Catharine’s and the world class education I was fortunate enough to receive – it was a life changing experience for me and more so, as I met my husband, Ian, there too. More recently, it has been a huge pleasure to co-chair the Campaign Advisory Group and connect with the College in a different way. Becoming a Fellow Commoner of St Catharine’s is a great honour which ranks as one of the very special moments of my life. I will always remember receiving the news with the same undiluted excitement as when I received my undergraduate offer letter a few decades ago!”

William is a Non-Executive Director on a number of different boards and investor in early stage and growth businesses. After graduation he initially pursued a career in investment banking before joining Bridgepoint, Europe’s leading mid-market Private Equity fund manager. When he retired in 2021, he was Bridgepoint’s Lead Partner for the Financial Services and Sports Media sectors. He is a Trustee of the Sherborne School Foundation, and has been a Mentor in the Level 20 Foundation.

He said, “For me, being involved in the Campaign Advisory Group has been a wonderful way of saying thank you to the College for its support of me as an undergraduate.  It has been a privilege to play a small part in the College’s long-term development for the benefit of its students, staff and Fellows, and I am delighted and honoured to have been nominated a Fellow Commoner of the College.”

Garrett spent the first part of his career in finance in London and New York, culminating in his appointment as CEO of Credit Suisse in the UK and the bank’s Chief Client Officer in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is now an adviser and investor and a member of a number of Boards in different countries specialising in financial services, technology and real estate. He is likely known to members of the St Catharine’s community for walking the last degree to both the North and South Poles to raise money for the charities HopeHIV and CRIS Cancer Foundation. 

He said, “It is a great honour to be elected a Fellow Commoner, and it is a great privilege to be able to support the work of the College in raising aspiration, awareness and attainment and in ensuring that the opportunity to study there is within everyone’s reach. I have always felt an enormous gratitude for my time at Catz – it profoundly changed my appreciation of life’s possibilities and I made many special lifelong friends.”