Meet the team

Owl Tutors was founded in 2011 with the aim of recruiting qualified teachers to provide expert one-to-one tuition. While the team is based in Clapham, South West London, they enjoy working closely with a select group of excellent tutors who are based all over the world.

Lawrence Drew profile picture

Lawrence Drew

Founder and CEO

Lawrence grew up in Switzerland, where he studied the International Baccalauareate (IB) at the Inter Community School of Zurich. After completing his school education he moved to the UK to study biochemistry at the University of Bath. Despite having a strong interest in biochemistry after having worked in oncology and retrovirology laboratories, Lawrence decided to move into teaching. Lawrence was accepted onto the competitive Teach First program in 2004 and taught science for two years in an inner-city school in Islington.After two years of teaching, Lawrence turned his attention to the world of business and joined Lloyds Banking Group where he spent most of his time restructuring heavily indebted businesses as a result of the Credit Crunch in 2007. Lawrence set up Owl Tutors in 2011, allowing him to combine his love for education with his business experience. He spends his days overseeing the growth of the business, learning new technical skills and sourcing the very best teachers from around the world to tutor for Owl Tutors.

Mike Davies profile picture

Mike Davies

Partner - Chief Technology Officer

Mike graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in Physics with Philosophy. After teaching for five years in Manchester and London through the Teach First programme, Mike took a sabatical and spent a year travelling around Asia, where he rode a bicycle from Bangkok to Beijing and went diving with sharks. On his return he took a job at a charity, where he met Lawrence before joining Owl in 2012. Mike is passionate about education, and is a firm believer in life-long learning, teaching himself computer programming. Politely described by the other team members as our resident nerd, he spends his days building our various websites (both front- and back-end) , whilst drinking an awful lot of coffee.

Rita Lindsay profile picture

Rita Lindsay

Sales Development Leader

Rita spent her early childhood in Moscow and her formative years in the UK, where she was the recipient of an independent school scholarship and several academic awards. She graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge with a degree in Modern and Medieval Languages, majoring in French and Russian. She speaks five languages in total, including Mandarin Chinese. Passionate about education, Rita successfully completed a PGCE at the Institute of Education and taught for three years in both a London inner-city school and a leading grammar school. She also worked as a private French and Spanish tutor before joining Owl Tutors in 2021.

Ed Barnett profile picture

Ed Barnett

Head of Marketing / Tutor Agent

Ed graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BA in Philosophy. After a short period working abroad Ed returned to the UK and taught A level Philosophy after gaining a PGCE in Religious Education. Teaching primarily in the Sixth Form sector as an Advanced Skills Teacher Ed enjoyed helping other teachers develop their pedagogy as well as working with students. Ed also worked for a number of years as a private tutor and recognised the difference high quality one-to-one support can make to a student’s education. Although no longer a teacher, Ed continues to work as an examiner. Ed joined Owl in May 2021.

Bilel Azzez profile picture

Bilel Azzez

UX designer

Having joined the ACMOS association in Italy in 2019, Bilel developed an interest in education and active citizenship. Bilel graduated in International Relations from the University of Turin, where he received a 2020 spring-semester scholarship at the University of Wolverhampton. After his graduation, he moved to London to pursue his creative endeavours. In 2021 he became an artist for Serpentine Galleries and, with his team, held multiple events and exhibitions. Bilel joined Owl Tutors in 2022.

Holly Goodwin profile picture

Holly Goodwin

Safeguarding lead & copywriter

Holly graduated from Durham University with a BA in English Literature and Music and then went on to do an MA in American Literature and a PhD in Jazz Autobiography. After teaching in Higher and Further education for a few years she became a school teacher, doing a PGCE and spending thirteen years working in the Independent Schools sector, with four years as a Head of English and five years on Senior Management Teams including working as Designated Safeguarding Lead for two schools. Holly joined Owl Tutors in 2020 as an online tutor and took on marketing and copywriting work in 2022. She currently works as a safeguarding consultant and trainer alongside her roles at Owl.