Class of 1968

Armed with a degree in set design from the Central School of Art and Design, Jenny took a chance on an unpaid job designing costumes for a small Merchant Ivory film, Hullabaloo over Georgie and Bonnie’s Pictures, which marked the beginning of her long relationship with the famed film makers. She won her first Oscar with Merchant Ivory in 1986 for her work on A Room with a View. She has since worked on some of cinema’s most successful period pictures, including The Bostonians, Howard’s End, Sense and Sensibility, Gosford Park and The King’s Speech. 

“Putney offered such good teaching and such a grounding for life. In the job I do now I am learning all the time – about the subject matter of the film, the locations we are filming in, the people I am working with…it never stops and is the joy of the work. Putney High School set me up well for my world.” 

With an extensive career in costume design, Jenny is now reputed to possess one of the sharpest creative minds in the business and is in constant demand. Jenny has been nominated for an Oscar 12 times, winning 3; she has won 4 BAFTAs and 2 Emmys, amongst a plethora of others.  

Class of 1997

After leaving Putney, Alison read Economics at the University of Southampton and has subsequently held a number of prominent roles in the financial sector. She spent five years on the trading floor in European High Yield prior to joining JPMorgan Private Bank to co-found the EMEA Financial Sponsors business in 2006.  Her career has taken her through several big names in banking, including Credit Suisse, Coutts & Co and more, culminating in her current role as Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, specialising in Ultra High Net Worth Wealth Management, Financial Sponsors and Complex Families. Alison was a finalist in Spear’s Ultra High Net Worth Wealth Manager of the year awards in 2023.  

In addition to her success in the banking world, she co-founded the luxury fashion brand 1947 Bespoke in 2015. Borne of her frustration that Savile Row did not cater to women looking for elegant, feminine workwear, 1947 Bespoke uses only pure wools and silks and has many loyal international clients. This demi-couture luxury brand has been featured in the FT’s How to Spend it, Tatler and Great British Brands.  

Outside of work, Alison has five young children and sits on the campaign Boards for Historic Royal Palaces, the Royal Institution of Science, and Smart Works. 

Class of 2018

Saskia is a mechanical engineer who studied at the University of Edinburgh. While studying, she gained an internship at Alpine in the Formula 1 racing team and has been working full time for Alpine since her graduation in 2023. While at Putney, Saskia gained a prestigious Arkwright Scholarship and has paved the way for future Putney pupils to pursue a career in this male-dominated field. To read more about Saskia’s journey from the lab at Putney to the racetrack, click here. 

Class of 2005

At the age of ten, Mary followed in her father’s footsteps and took up fencing, in Mary’s case at Putney High School. Mary had a 19-year international fencing career and was on the senior British team from when age 19 to 33. She was British Champion three times, won two bronze medals at the Commonwealth games in 2014, and gold at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in 2018 as captain of the England team.  

After studying medicine at Cambridge and King’s College London, she became a Paediatric Doctor and combined her two professional passions as a European Fencing Confederation doctor. She has been the medical director of several international competitions including the Senior European Championships in Dusseldorf in 2019, and the 2022 Commonwealth Fencing Championships in London. She went on to join the Board of British Fencing in 2021 and is a part of its medical sub-committee.  

Fencing and Medicine are not perfectly compatible, and sometimes she needed to take time out to focus on events, but even when training full-time in France, she worked one day a week in a French Accident and Emergency departments. She is clear that both of her identities are equally important.   

Since retiring from professional fencing, Mary lives in Manchester with her family.  

Class of 1997 

Rosenna started playing the violin at 3 years old and at Putney she continued to practice and perform, joining the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Never focusing solely on music as she had broad academic interests, she went onto read Modern History at Brasenose College, Oxford. She continued to play all through university, leading the Oxford University Orchestra, and after graduating decided to extend her studies as a Postgraduate at the Royal College of Music. She gained a Masters there and was awarded a Fellowship.  

Not long after the beginning of her professional career Rosenna was offered a place in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and moved to Edinburgh. During her 10 years as a professional musician in the orchestra, she started to explore her other interests. These included taking up board positions on the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and others, which was her first look into the world of Arts Management.  

In 2014, Rosenna accepted the role as General Manager for the Nevill Holt Opera. Then, it was a fledgling opera festival in the East Midlands, taking place at the stately home of businessman (Nevill Holt Hall). It was a very steep learning curve, but in a very short time the turnover of the company was tripled, it developed a reputation as a sell-out festival and Rosenna oversaw the growth of the Education and Outreach programme. Their success unlocked new backing, and in 2016 work began on a new theatre in the stable block at Nevill Holt which opened in 2018. The theatre won multiple RIBA awards, and narrowly missed out on the Stirling Prize for Architecture.  

In 2019, Rosenna was approached by a former colleague, conductor John Wilson, about the possibility of managing a new orchestra he was founding – Sinfonia of London. She started as Managing Director in 2020, and since then, has delivered 4 sell out BBC Proms – all of which have been on TV – as well as other UK tours, festival appearances, concerts for streaming on demand, and multiple award-winning recordings for Chandos Records. In 2020 she started a part-time Executive MBA at Bayes Business School to underpin her business experience and graduated in 2023 with distinction.  

Since 2020, Rosenna has had two children, which has also taught her a lot, and she lives with her family in London.  

Class of 1988 

After graduating from Cambridge in 1991, Sophy embarked upon a successful career in the Royal Armed Forces.  She served in the RAF for 19 years, being the first woman to hold every job to which she was posted. She served on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, spent a tour of duty at sea with the Royal Navy and was subsequently awarded the MBE in 2003. She left the RAF in 2011 as an Wing Commander.  

“I remember the teachers [at Putney High School]… they left me with no doubt that we can all go out into the world and be successful … it was that sense of confidence that they gave.”  

In 2011 she established her own communications business before returning to academics in 2016 as a PhD student at Exeter University.  Her thesis focused on the political, organisational and socio-cultural history of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the inter-war years, military innovation, and the RAF’s impact on inter-service competition. Since 2022 she has been a research fellow at The Freeman Air and Space Institute at King’s College London mainly researching contemporary air and space power.   

Over the years Sophy has contributed to many other projects associated with the RAF, including serving as a member of the Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society; serving as the RAF Museum’s event director for the 98th birthday of the RAF; and the event director for the dedication and unveiling of the memorial to the Bomber Command aircrew who lost their lives in the second world war. She has also worked with service charities on events, media, communications and marketing, and co-founded the Defence Research Network.  

Class of 1997 

Aimee is a Consultant Endocrine Surgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust, London. She studied pre-clinical medicine at Newnham College, Cambridge where she gained Blues for representing Cambridge University in the Women’s Boat Race.  She then moved to Guy’s, King’s & St. Thomas’ School of Medicine, London for her clinical course, graduating with distinction. Aimee is extremely keen on encouraging bright students from all backgrounds to join the profession in order to maintain the status of clinicians at the forefront of advancing medical knowledge and technology. 

Class of 2016 

“Putney meant so much to me and I hope it means the same for other people.” 

Class of 1995 

“I was allowed to be the individual I was.” 

Class of 1991

Journalist, writer and producer, Ramita Navai has spent a career spanning two decades fearlessly speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. With a reputation for working in hostile environments, she has reported from over forty countries, made over thirty documentaries and features and worked as a foreign correspondent for print. 

In 2023 alone, Ramita won the Grierson Award for Best Current Affairs Documentary for Afghanistan: No Country for Women, as well as the Rose D’Or Award. She was also named Royal Television Society Presenter of The Year 2023 for the film, which was described by the judges as “truly compelling” with an “astonishing depth of knowledge on the subject”. 

Speaking at the GDST WoW event (Women of the World Festival) this year, Cheryl Giovannoni, GDST CEO, said: 

“Our mission at the GDST is to support girls to learn without limits and give them the tools, freedom and power to make informed decisions, and fulfil their potential, on whatever path they choose to take – Ramita embodies this mission to the fullest.” 

In 2023 Ramita was named the GDST Alumna of the Year.  

Class of 1967 

After an impressive management and marketing career in engineering, computing and audio visuals, Ailsa set up the NRAS in 2001. Having lived with Sero-negative Rheumatoid Arthritis since her early 30s, she recognised the need for support for those suffering from the disease, and after her daughter started university, she entered a new phase of her professional life.   

The NRAS are acknowledged as the voice for people with RA in the UK and provide a wide range of services for people affected by RA including self-management training and supports a huge amount of academic research.  Ailsa spent a lot of time working closely with rheumatology teams and speaking with other sufferers of RA across the UK and has since been consulted by a multitude of policy makers for her advice. In 2009 she was on the expert panel advising the National Audit Office in respect of their landmark report on RA.  She was also Joint Chair of the Rheumatology Futures Project Group which was responsible for commissioning the King’s Fund Report into RA and the subsequent inflammatory arthritis commissioning pathway. 

In the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2016 Ailsa was awarded an MBE for services to people with Rheumatoid Arthritis. In 2019 she stepped down as CEO of the NRAS to focus more on research and developing supported self-management resources for NRAS. 

Class of 1966 

Class of 1979 

Class of 1987

Class of 1986

Class of 1983