The Round Square Board of Trustees

Round Square is led by a Board of Trustees, elected by the Round Square Member Schools, and convened under the chairmanship of John O’Connor, and the presidency of His Majesty King Constantine. The Board combines specialist expertise with representation from Round Square’s Regions and Stakeholder Groups by a mix of Heads of School, Teachers and Alumni. One-third of the Trustees retire from the Board by rotation at the Annual General Meeting each year.

John O’Connor, Chairman

Round Square Chairman, John O’Connor has served on the Board of Trustees for many years, previously as Chair of the Membership Committee, and Deputy Chair of the Board, before his appointment as Chairman in 2021. John has lived and worked in Kenya for nearly 30 years, as Director at Brookhouse School in Nairobi since 2004. He is a member of the G-30 Heads group and has served on accreditation teams for the Council of International Schools, the Executive of the Kenya Association of International Schools and the Board of the Human Needs Project, an NGO working towards poverty alleviation in Kibera.

Simona Baciu

Simona is a Founder/Director, of Transylvania College. Simona is on the Global Connections Board and was recently awarded His Majesty King Michael I of Romania’s ‘The Custodian of the Romanian Crown’ Medal by HRH Princess Margareta. This Medal is offered to only 400 living persons and recognises her work in the field of education. Simona is an educator, speaker, author, trainer and consultant for the improvement of education in Romania and abroad.

Siddarth Singh Girnar

Siddharth Singh is Principal and Director of the CBSE (Delhi) and CAIE (UK)-affiliated Emerald Heights International School, Indore. His school was established in 1982 in Indore, India and now has 4,000 students and 250 teachers on its rolls. An alum of Stony Brook University, New York, Siddharth serves on the board of American Field Service (India). In March 2017, “Education world,” a leading Indian publication, named Siddarth as one of the “33 young rising starts of Indian education.”

Catherine Donovan

Nominated to the RS Board by the Round Square Representatives in RS schools globally, Catherine Donovan is the RS Rep at Stiftung Louisenlund. Having been involved with Round Square for more than 30 years, Catherine has extensive experience of hosting, organizing and participating in a wide range of Round Square activities and collaborations throughout the world such as an Eco-Adventure project in Costa Rica in 2008 in which students from Louisenlund and Westfield School spent 14 days working on service projects and hiking through the fascinating countryside.

Paul R Sandford

Paul’s early experience of Round Square began as a student of Lakefield College School, and included a RS Exchange to Australia, a 1993 RS Project in India and Lakefield’s hosting of the 1994 RS International Conference. His career since has included senior leadership positions with firms specialising in asset management and investment banking including Ocean View Asset Management, High Tor Limited and Morgan Stanley. He has worked in China, Thailand, Singapore, the Bahamas and most recently the UK where he is currently enjoying being a stay-at-home parent. Paul is involved with a number of philanthropic endeavours including voluntary, ambassadorial and support roles with projects in the developing world.

Richard McDonald

Nominated to the RS Board by Heads of School in the Europe & Mediterranean Region, Richard McDonald has played an active role within Round Square since 1994, when he took up post as Head Master of Aiglon College, Switzerland, a founding school. He served on the Round Square Board of Directors between 1996-2000. After a number of years as a Director at Collège Alpin Beau Soleil in Switzerland, one of Switzerland's three Round Square Schools, he returned as Head Master of Aiglon College from 2009-2021. He served as Chair of the Swiss Group of International Schools (SGIS) from 2006-10 and 2012-13. He regularly serves as an accreditation team chair for the Council of International Schools (CIS).

Sally James

Nominated to the RS Board by Heads of School in the Africa Region, Sally James is the Head of School at St Stithians Girls’ College. Sally has worked within the Independent School movement for over 14 years and has also lectured at the Wits School of Education. Her particular areas of interest include professional teacher development and collaborative learning communities, education and leadership of young women, technology and innovation, and educational and community up-liftment.

Surendra Kulkarni

Nominated to the RS Board by Heads of School in the South Asia and Gulf Region, Lt Gen Surendra Kulkarni [Retd] is an alumnus of Round Square School, Mayo College, and only the second to head the iconic school in 145 years. General Kulkarni took on the role of Director at Mayo College after four decades of leadership in the military and received from the President of India the highest peace time distinguished service award of the Armed Forces, the Param Vishisht Sewa Medal [PVSM]. Under General Kulkarni’s stewardship Mayo College offers a wide range of RS-infused extra-curricular and sporting activities. Mayo hosted the RS International Conference in 2009 and a RS Global Conference and Regional Meeting in 2017.

Innes van Nostrand

Nominated to the RS Board by Heads of School in the Americas Region, Innes van Nostrand is the Principal of Appleby College. Innes has been involved as a volunteer, presenter, author, and Board member with a variety of professional and community organizations, including Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS), The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE), TABS, CASE, NAIS, G20 Schools, WLSA, Christ Church Deer Park, Rotary, Scouts Canada, and Queen’s University (having just retired from its Board.)

Lisa Moloney

Nominated to the RS Board by Heads of School in the Australasia and East Asia Region, Lisa Moloney, first became involved with Round Square whilst Deputy Principal and Head of High School at Radford College Canberra where she was instrumental in Radford’s successful application to become a Round Square school. Lisa is now serving as Principal at MLC School, Sydney, where Round Square themes underpin a wide range of programmes, and students regularly participate in RS exchanges and Conferences. Lisa holds a B.Ed (Secondary) in Environmental Science, a Graduate Diploma in Music Education (Primary), a Master of Educational Leadership and has completed further study at the Harvard GSE.