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Valerie Torevell

Val Torevell
  • Job title: Member of the Governing Body since September 2022
  • Department(s): Governance
  • Specialism(s): Governance, Governors

Valerie was born, brought up and educated in Cardiff and at Bristol University where she studied French and History of Art and gained a first class honours degree in 1991.

After graduating she worked as a bilingual Internal Auditor for a multinational firm and travelled extensively to the States, Europe, Africa and the Far East, auditing the local business accounts.  She subsequently trained as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in London from 1992-1994 and after qualifying continued to work as an auditor in their practices, including 6 months working in their Geneva office and 15 months in their Manchester office, eventually achieving promotion to Audit Manager.

Her next post was as Finance Director at Eldercare, a company which provided a call centre and emergency response service for the elderly, based near Burnley.  She implemented a new accounting and management reporting system, assisted in the drafting of new business tenders and reported to the monthly Board meetings on all aspects of company finance.

Following the birth of her 3 children she continued her involvement with the business for a further 2 years on the Board of Directors and then as a shareholder, the business was eventually sold in August 2020.

She has held various voluntary Treasurer roles, notably for the PTAs at Lady Barn House School and more recently for Withington Girls’ School where she is responsible for the PTA finances and for the organisation of various fundraising activities throughout the academic year.

Along with her husband Martyn she is a keen supporter of the arts in Manchester.  Together they share a love of fine art, music and theatre and for the last 10 years have set up and run a sponsorship programme for a young and emerging artist to help them financially at the beginning of their career when they need it most.  They are proud to have helped 3 young artists so far, one of whom has gone on to gain international renown.