Rachel Carrell

CEO and founder

Rachel was working as the CEO of the world's largest online doctor service when she had her first baby and experienced first-hand how difficult it was to arrange childcare (thus inspiring Koru Kids). Before that job, Rachel spent 6 years at McKinsey, and did a stint in the NHS. She has a DPhil in Development from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and was elected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2014. Rachel lives in North London with her husband and toddler, and can be found in Highgate Wood almost every weekend. Rachel recently won the 'Best Business Woman in Technology' award at the Best Business Women awards for her work setting up Koru Kids.

Rebecca Matthews

Head of Marketing

Rebecca is the former Head of Ecommerce at Lloydspharmacy Online Doctor, where she ran large marketing campaigns and successfully launched the business in two new countries. Before that, Rebecca worked at KPMG as a management consultant. While Rebecca will frolic happily in a spreadsheet for hours, her favourite bit of working at Koru Kids is when she gets to chat to parents about their kids and help them sort out the right childcare. Rebecca has a degree in Accountancy and Finance from the University of Glasgow and grew up just outside Belfast, but these days hangs out mostly in Tooting, Clapham and Balham.

An Nguyen

COO

An was previously the interim CTO and led Strategic Operations at BIMA - a global InsureTech startup with over 30 million subscribers - where he led the development of tech platforms to improve operations. He has lived/worked in over 10 countries, including several years consulting with BCG in Europe and Australia, impact investing with Acumen in Kenya, and endeavours with BIMA across a number of emerging markets. An has been known to brew a pretty good american pale ale in college, and was one half of a 2-person folk band that played across pubs in London. He is, unfortunately, rubbish at languages - though he has studied a few just to be sure. An has an MBA (Dean's list) from the London Business School, a grad. degree in Arts (PolySci) and a B. Comm with honours (Finance) from the University of Melbourne.

Michael Baird

Head of Engineering

Michael hails from Dunfermline in Scotland. He has been interested in technology and problem solving from a very early age - his first taste of programming was with ST Basic on the family computer before he even attended secondary school. He graduated from the University of Dundee in 2013 with a first class honours degree in Applied Computing. Michael worked initially for Outplay Entertainment in Dundee before moving to London in 2015 to join the engineering team at Appear Here, the world’s leading marketplace for retail space. He's a rare developer with genuine full stack skills, a passion for development in Ruby, and a natural talent for front end design. Outside of work, he's a keen swimmer and an ardent hillwalker. He enjoys travelling having toured and explored Iceland twice in recent years, as well as visiting the USA, Vietnam and Japan.

Andreas Herr

Andreas is a qualified teacher with a Master's degree in Theatre Studies. He did his PCGE in Brighton, then worked as a drama teacher before joining Koru Kids to lead our nanny training programme. Ever since Andreas borrowed a 'Cats' CD from a school friend at the age of 12, he's felt drawn to the stage, and has worked on and off-stage in his native Germany including at Theater Baden-Baden, at the Bavarian State Opera and with the Bayerische Philharmonie, where he supervised events and workshops. His drama background enables him to come up with interesting ways to convey ideas and make them stick.

Loren Meade

Loren is a highly-qualified and experienced primary school teacher now using her skills to support families and nannies. She's worked as a KS1 teacher in both Oxford and London, has trained teachers in Darjeeling, India, and is a particular expert in the teaching of phonics. Loren has a first-class drama degree from the University of Manchester – where she led drama workshops at a prison and was an enthusiastic member of the university's pantomime society – and a PGCE from the University of Cambridge. Whenever a nanny or a parent needs some informal advice, she's at the end of the line.

Susie Carr

Susie is the driving force behind our after school nanny community, bringing her extraordinary energy and dedication to make it the best student job on the planet. She should know—she supported herself with nanny jobs through her university days. Susie has a first class honours degree in Philosophy from the University of St Andrews, where she also received the Dean's award for academic excellence. She's also a keen hockey player—at university she was in the Scotland team, as well as Vice Captaining the St Andrews team—and still plays regularly in London.

Kitty Green

Kitty is a rare person who combines a love of scientific enquiry with a talent for great customer service—meaning she acts as a one-woman improvement engine for Koru Kids, talking to parents and nannies then digging into the data to come up with insights and actions that constantly make things better. Kitty graduated with a Masters of Science from University College London, following an undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences and along the way receiving the Michael D. Kopelman award from King's College, London for her work.

Romilly Beddow

Romilly graduated with a degree in history from the University of Cambridge. Whilst she was there she was also involved with 19 theatre productions including a show at the Edinburgh Fringe, producing the largest student opera of the year, and tour managing a production of Romeo and Juliet around Japan. At Koru Kids Romilly looks after the nanny recruitment process. Like our nannies, she’s had lots of child-related jobs - as a nanny, at a school and for a children's party company - the high point of which was dressing up as an icicle for a Christmas party at 10 Downing Street.

Matthew Arnold

Matt left a career as a broker, trading commodity futures in the largest brokerage in the UK, to join Koru Kids. Before he started, he took time off to drive a camper van around the entirety of New Zealand and achieved his life’s goal of hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru. Matt has a first class degree in Economics, and in his spare time runs a mattress review website (seriously!).

Alex Hayden

Alex studied Education Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, then worked as a Koru Kids nanny for two children aged 6 and 2. Alex now brings all this experience to her work making perfect matches, and is always at the end of the phone ready to support our nannies. Outside of Koru Kids, Alex loves baking, and is trying her hand at writing young adult fiction.

James McNeilis

James graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in Psychology (and published work in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry), going on to complete a master’s degree in Research Methods at UCL. Alongside working at Koru Kids, he continues to study, now for a master’s in Data Science. Here at Koru Kids, the team really values James’ skills in data analytics, helping us use data to improve our processes and make our matches even better. Outside of Koru Kids, he enjoys visiting craft breweries all over south London.

Marcus Martin

Marcus has enjoyed a gloriously circuitous route to Koru Kids. His first love was music, which took him to the Royal Academy of Music & KCL where he studied performance & composition, before going on to do a research master’s in the psychology of music at the University of Cambridge. Enamoured by the uni’s vibrant theatre scene, he pursued further study at Cambridge and, in-between stand-up comedy & acting, did a postgraduate diploma specialising in political Islam. This, naturally, led to a job teaching musical theatre in New York, followed by a move to Heidelberg, Germany. In 2014 he returned to Cambridge and founded a theatre company. After writing and producing a series of acclaimed plays, he turned to books. His debut novel, Crisis, won three book awards, and he’s since released two others in the same series. It was through his work in professional marketing that Marcus entered the world of compliance, and through luck that he discovered an amazing ethos fit with Koru Kids. (And, breathe.)

Mark James

Koru Kids is Mark's 43rd employer—he's been around the block a few times! At 21, having never before used a computer, Mark started his journey into the world of software development. Over the past 17 years he's been fortunate enough to lead Design, UX & Product teams in multiple continents, with tiny startups, huge startups and medium-sized corporates. Over the past 2 years, he's developed a keen interest in metaethics, consciousness, child development and artificial general intelligence. He's also the co-founder of wepul.com. Here at Koru Kids, Mark works on all things Product related.

Nick Maher

Nick studied Software Engineering at Aberystwyth University, with a focus on web technologies. He’s always been curious as to how things work and enjoyed tinkering with technology, so software development was a natural fit. Since university, Nick has applied his skills at various startups, including Appear Here and Fitzdares bookmakers. Unusually for a full stack developer, Nick actually enjoys writing Javascript and can often be found finessing CSS Animations. He has a keen interest in long distance walking and is currently planning a walk from Land's End to John o' Groats, while aspiring to walk the 2600 mile Pacific Crest Trail!

Dan Marshall

Dan graduated from the University of Nottingham after studying Civil Engineering. After dipping his toes into the world of advertising and tech innovation, he decided to use his skills to create meaningful change for others and completed a community engagement placement at Year Here, working on social inequality in Tower Hamlets, then founded a social enterprise, The Good Wood Workshop, which funds the education of unemployed young adults through carpentry and joinery. At Koru Kids, Dan works in the matching team with a focus on data analysis. A keen fitness enthusiast and maker, if Dan isn’t at Koru Kids, he’s either running an obstacle race or creating a lot of doise (dust and noise) as a carpenter.

Joseph Hosken

Joe was raised in Newcastle, which explains his obsession with football and all things Newcastle United. Joe studied Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at UCL, where he was awarded the Sir Ivor Cohen Award for his postgraduate project. At Koru Kids, Joe loves solving problems -- he can always be relied upon for an idea and/or opinion -- and strives to make long-lasting relationships between our families and nannies. Outside of Koru Kids, Joe loves pretty much every sport there is. He’d love to travel around Africa and his dream is to go on safari with Sir David Attenborough.

Kellie Helbrough

After a degree in politics at Birmingham University, Kellie spent a decade working in social housing, the civil service and local government, culminating in a role as Head of Policy and Performance for one of London's largest housing associations. During her maternity leave Kellie came across Koru Kids when looking for childcare for her daughter, and decided to make the leap. These days, she’s in charge of letting the world know about Koru Kids. Kellie brings to the team her experience as a working mum, plus her love of problem-solving and continuous improvement. She’s a big advocate of women’s equality and loves working for a female founder and for a company that is making life easier for working parents. Outside of work - when not looking after her toddler - Kellie loves to knit.

Divesh Chandiramani

Divesh was previously a Senior Product Manager at Amazon. Before that he worked as a venture capital associate for the government of Abu Dhabi's renewable energy investment fund, and before that, was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Divesh has an MBA from London Business School and a B.Sc degree (Honors) in Finance and International Business from Indiana University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. Divesh was born in Bangkok and has a special affinity for Thai food, plus a keen interest in cooking, as well as mental wellbeing, and anything sports-related. In his spare time, he can often be found exploring all the theatrical magic that London has to offer.

Josh Sasto

Josh was previously Head of Partnerships at GoCardless, where he led a global team building strategic relationships with other top tier software companies. Prior to this, he spent six years in ecommerce trying to solve online groceries, amongst other things launching several automated warehouses, a biofuel van and click & collect. Josh has two young boys and, upon discovering how painful it is to find childcare, left his job to join Koru Kids and make it better. He loves food -- cooking and eating -- and has travelled extensively, including two years living in Australia. Josh has a first class degree in PPE from the University of Oxford.

Jake Fisher

Jake graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in English, where his special focus was Shakespeare on film and fantasy literature. Before joining Koru Kids, he worked in television production and spent ten months travelling in Europe, Asia, and New Zealand. He has coached football, tennis and cricket to kids of all ages and spent a summer in Turkey helping to run a children’s activity camp. At Koru Kids Jake works in the matching team where his job is to ensure that all Koru Kids families find the perfect nanny for them. Outside of work, Jake loves playing sport, doing pub quizzes and, being half-Kiwi, supporting the All Blacks.

Daisy Wilcox

Daisy studied economics at Bristol, where she also volunteered for Nightline and as a tutor for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. After leaving Bristol, Daisy worked as a teaching assistant and attempted to learn Spanish before travelling from the very bottom of Argentina to the northernmost point of Colombia in a 6 month trip. At Koru Kids, Daisy is in charge of setting up contracts and helps to provide ongoing post-match support. In the future, she hopes to visit central Asia and New Zealand but at the moment can normally be found exploring the pubs and restaurants of Tooting.

Esther Compsty

Esther’s love of fashion brought her from Manchester to London. She is currently studying fashion business at Istituto Marangoni and began her Koru Kids journey as a nanny with us. She now heads up the customer service team where she channels her past experience of nannying into helping nannies and families throughout their Koru Kids journeys. Outside of work, Esther enjoys exploring London, sampling espresso martinis and singing karaoke, although not together, for the sake of her friends' ears!