School Board

The school is governed by the School Board, which sets the strategic direction for the School, and ensures compliance with legal and policy requirements.

Our current School Board comprises a group of elected parent and community representatives, an elected staff representative, an elected student representative, and the principal. We are very fortunate that our Board Members bring a wide range of professional and life skills to their governance role.

Mrs Tahei Simpson - Board Chair

Kia Ora & warm greetings to our Epsom Girls community.

Epsom Girls Grammar School prides itself on its foundations of service and commitment to girls' education. These are qualities I strongly believe create the pedigree of girls we are proud to call Old Girls.

My name is Tahei Simpson. I am an Old Girl of Epsom Girls Grammar School and in 7th form I represented EGGS on the Auckland City Youth Council. My eldest daughter is also an Old Girl, my second daughter is a current student in Year 12. and my son is a Grammar boy in Form 5. We have lived mostly in Mt Eden and Epsom for more than 20 years but we do love going back to my home town of Mount Maunganui as often as possible.

Whilst studying at the University of Auckland I received an award for outstanding achievement in Statistics. Shortly afterwards I launched my career as a financial adviser with a television series called On The Ladder, as my passion is to help Kiwis learn financial literacy, achieve home ownership and grow wealth through property. Beyond providing financial advice, I also accept public speaking engagements in the financial services industry, to community groups, government agencies and iwi, often in relation to pathways to achieving home ownership.

I served on the Executive Committee for a Māori full immersion pre-school my children attended and continued in full immersion education until completing Year 8. I have actively participated in committee meetings, school events and fundraisers including bake sales, school camps, and the Auckland Grammar Foundation Art Tour.
Recently I served a term on the founding Board of Trustees for Auckland City Basketball (ACB) under Head Coach Lindsday Tait, also the Head of Basketball at Auckland Grammar. ACB revolutionised the delivery of youth basketball in Auckland winning the exclusive endorsement of Steven Adams of NBA fame. ACB continues to assist its top players in achieving basketball scholarships at American universities.

I believe in supporting our girls to strive for academic excellence and becoming confident, active and resilient learners. We as parents, staff and Old Girls must set an example by actively participating in their journey.

I possess the right skills and experience to support the Board in ensuring all our girls become Old Girls that are shining examples in our community, that reflect the values we celebrate at EGGS.

Ms Lina Montero Soto - Deputy Board Chair - Parent Representative

Bio coming soon.

Mr Andrew Patrick - Board member - Parent Representative

My wife and I are blessed with two daughters, the eldest is currently at Epsom Girls Grammar with our youngest following in her footsteps shortly. Our whānau links to Epsom Girls go back to the early 1900s, with our daughters being the fourth generation to attend the school.

Personally, over my career I have been drawn to operational roles at the forefront of technology interfacing between traditional and digital, working in both large multi-national companies and globally focussed tech start-ups. As a leader in these organisations, I’m passionate about growing people through coaching, opening pathways and sharing knowledge with an international mindset.

I'm keen to bring my knowledge and passions together for Epsom Girls Grammar, which is why I’m privileged to be on the Board and helping in that journey where I can.

Mr Neville Gibbs - Board member - Parent Representative

Bio coming soon.

Mr Yi-Lin (William) Ho - Board member - Parent Representative

Bio coming soon.

Mr Murray Burt - Board member - Parent Representative

As a father of three daughters, I am passionate about empowering young women to fulfill their dreams and reach their full potential. I have a long history of association with Epsom Girls Grammar School, with both my sisters and my wife being 'EGGS old girls', and now my daughters are the second generation of our family currently attending the school.

I trained as a civil engineer and my wife is a teacher (IB, British and NZ curriculum). As a family we lived and worked overseas for 15 years, first in Sri Lanka (post Tsunami reconstruction), then Kenya (British Govt and United Nations contracts) and finally Switzerland (United Nations Refugee Agency - UNHCR). My work involved leading global infrastructure teams to successfully deliver projects in the world’s most politically complex and challenging environments. We recently returned to NZ two and a half years ago for the high school years and I am currently managing engineering projects in Auckland.

I have a heart for serving the community and have a broad range of governance experience with a focus on property, buildings, facilities and infrastructure master planning.

I am an authentic values-based leader, with significant experience in developing and maintaining effective relationships with governance boards, and community stakeholders, and a demonstrated ability to develop, drive and implement a clear vision and strategy in different cultural contexts and across a broad range of sectors.

I am a member of the NZ Institute of Directors, and and hold qualifications in civil engineering (BE, Auckland), environmental management (MSc, Loughborough) and business administration (MBA, Edinburgh).