Alumnae spotlight: Dr Bev Adams

Dr Bev Adams, Class of 1992

Congratulations to Dr Bev Adams, who was recently recognised as ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) female consultant of the year by Consulting Magazine.

As Consulting Director and Practice Leader at Marsh Advisory in London, much of Bev’s time is spent supporting the world’s largest organisations; helping their boards and coaching leadership to think through the “so what” and act wisely as they embrace climate, sustainability and ESG risk, resilience and adaptation. Bev currently chairs the Green Finance Institute’s Natural Flood Management programme and is a founding member of DEFRA’s property flood resilience roundtable.

Proud Mum to Joel – now 16 and a maths, physics and guitar fan – Bev lived in California before moving back to the UK. Before Marsh McLennan, she previously worked for the World Bank. She has PhD and MSc degrees in risk management and remote sensing from University College London (UCL), where she also earned a 1st class BSc in Geography.

We caught up with Bev recently for a Q&A session:

What aspects of Croydon High School did you enjoy and find most rewarding?

So many enjoyable and memorable moments…

Great friends – as I recall, we were class 1-7 (Dr Dorgan), 2-9 (Mrs Matthews), 3-13 (Mrs Edwards), 4-22, 5-22 (Mrs C?), 6-1-11 and 6-2-23 (Mrs Evans).

Great teachers, including Miss Robertson, Mrs Lee, Mrs Shermer, Mrs Gittins, Mrs Caseborne, Mr Woodley, Mrs Sharp, Mrs Young, Miss Plant, Madame Williams, and Mrs Wilsher. Miss Mark and then Mrs Davis as our head teachers.

Netball – winning the nationals twice (I was GS). And being selected to play for Surrey and then England schools.

Adventures and fun – fashion show, dance shows, ski trips to Austria and France including 80s disco, Mosel German trip and geography field trip to Slapton.

What did you aspire to whilst at school?

Sounds geeky, but I’m curious by nature and loved learning, especially geography – I was inspired by Mrs Lee, who remains a dear friend today. We both studied at UCL and I’m proud that my career relates to geography. Other than that, I wanted to be great at netball and unexpectedly discovered I enjoyed debating and public speaking, so wanted to do more of that.

How did Croydon High School empower you for your future?

CHS was the making of me academically – as well as learning the subject material CHS taught us how to study, revise and do exams well. The methods I learned at CHS carried me through Uni and influenced my early years at work. I learned critical thinking and the art of communication, which on reflection, have set me up in life.

I also think CHS helped us become confident, plus we learned how to get along with others. That’s just fundamental in life and super important work-wise for me, as much of my time I’m helping smart and switched on people get up to speed on tricky new topics like climate. I’d be the first to humbly recognise that I’ve become a lot more self-aware, appreciative, empathetic and understanding as I’ve gotten older.

And worth mentioning that through netball and sport more widely, I learned about the power of the team and the importance of hard work, commitment and emotional resilience. These days I’m truthfully doing more gardening than high impact sport but that’s an age/menopause thing.

What has been your proudest moment?

Wow, that’s a tricky question. Can I give you a non-CHS and a CHS one? First and probably because it’s quite recent, how happy Joel felt getting his GCSE results in August. He did himself proud. Another that has to be called out was winning the netball national final after three years of trying, with our brilliant CHS team and Liz Robertson. Oh, and perhaps memorable rather than proudest and to make you smile, in the Sixth Form, appearing on the TV show Blockbusters with my great friend Nat (Natalie Gale) who did have the chance to say “Can I have a P please, Bob?”.

What are your hopes for the future?

That Joel has a wonderful life, and I, my partner James, and our family and friends remain healthy and happy. Sadly my Mum Rita has Alzheimer’s, so I hope she continues to remember me and be my mum for as long as possible.

Professionally, I am passionate about helping my brilliant team of consultants at Marsh Advisory succeed and grow in their careers, while doing what’s in my personal gift to innovate and tackle the climate crisis, plus enabling my clients and colleagues to become fluent in the languages of resilience and sustainability.

Also, I hope to see more of the world and meet lots of interesting new people…

What would you say to your 15-year-old self?

Grow your hair – what is that 80s/90s bob all about? Nightmare!

We have really enjoyed interacting with Bev and thank her for her valuable time.

Mrs Karen Roe
Alumnae Relations Manager