Bishop Mackenzie International School is a non-profit organization run by a Board of Trustees. The Board consists of nine elected members, three of whom are Malawian taxpayers, three non-Malawian taxpayers, and three non-taxpayers. Each of these three groups shall have three voting members on the board. Board members are elected from the parent body by the Parents Association. The Director and Head Teachers of Primary and Secondary schools, an elected teacher representative from the Primary and Secondary schools, and the Chair of the PTA are ex-officio members. The board may also appoint ex-officio members with particular skills in order to fulfill its obligation to facilitate the smooth running of the school.
The Board holds an open meeting on the last Tuesday of each month that school is in session. Times are advertised in the school newsletter, Tikambe. An AGM of the Parents Association is scheduled to be held in March of each year (completed audited reports permitting) where audited accounts and annual reports of the previous financial year and the provisional budget for the forthcoming financial year are presented. Vacancies arising in the Board during the year may be filled through co-opting a suitable parent and shall fill the vacancy until the next election cycle.
The structure of the BMIS Board of Trustees is laid down by the Articles of Association and is made up of nine parent members. The board is broadly representative of the different groups of parent members and is comprised of three Malawian parents, three non-Malawian taxpayers, and three non-taxpayers.
The term of office is three years, but with a highly mobile parent body, it is not uncommon to have a higher turnover. Elections are held annually, following the AGM and before the end of the academic year.
Arie is Kenyan born and has lived, studied and worked in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, United States, UK and South Africa. Arie’s background is in agriculture and industrial engineering. Co-opted to BOT in August 2021. Serve at large and facilities committee. He is married with 3 children, the eldest daughter is a 2020 graduate of BMIS, and 2 other children are currently in secondary at BMIS.
Bouke has two daughters in secondary school. He works in the Agricultural sector and runs a consulting business. Bouke has been on the Board 2019 and is the current Chair.
Heidi Schellenger, U.S. Embassy Management Officer in Malawi, has a child at BMIS. With a civil engineering background and an MPA from Harvard, she’s devoted to her role after 12 years in non-profits. The Schellenger Family’s stay in Malawi is for three years.
Meet Ken, a chartered accountant and MBA with 18+ years of international experience. He’s a system development and fraud prevention expert, now leading Emere, a cloud-based B2B platform fighting fraud in procurement. Proud dad of two BMIS girls in Malawi.
Chi Chi is passionate about community development, education, and equity. As US Embassy staff, she moved to Malawi with her family January 2020 after 17+ years of working in international HIV/AIDS and health threats in America and Africa with a focus on health diplomacy. She joined the BMIS Board March 2021 and serves on the Facilities Committee. Her daughter is in upper primary.
