IQ, UK. Lisa Hayward recently joined IQ as head of international partnerships. IQ is one of the largest private student accommodation providers in the UK with over 30,000 beds across 77 properties in 29 UK cities. Lisa will be working with international partners around the world to help students book accommodation and ensure that they have their best year yet. Before joining IQ , Lisa spent many years working in the international education space in student recruitment and marketing roles and recently at StudentCrowd helping operators and institutions leverage the power of reviews. Lisa said of her new role: “My experience in international student recruitment has taught me how life changing studying overseas can be for international students. Accommodation is a major part of the study experience, having a great environment to live in can have a major impact on the overall student experience and I’m excited to help more international students access private student accommodation.”

UMBC, US. Katherine Heird was recently appointed the inaugural director of education abroad and global learning at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in the US. In this role, she is overseeing the transformation of UMBC’s Education Abroad Office to establish a holistic model of programming and funding opportunities for UMBC’s diverse student population. Heird has served as International Programs Coordinator at the Centers for Interamerican Studies (CEDEI) in Cuenca, Ecuador, as the assistant director for international education at UMBC, and then as Associate Director for Study Abroad & Away at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Her current contributions to the profession include serving on the NAFSA Trainer Corps and as a board member for the Association of Academic Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean (AAPLAC). “I am so grateful to rejoin the UMBC community as we fundamentally reimagine education abroad. There is so much opportunity and our future is bright!”

Pearson, Global. Siddharth Parnerkar has been recently appointed as an international sales director to lead the Workforce Skills VQ business across Europe (outside UK), India hub, MENAT, Greater China and APAC regions. Pearson Workforce Skills has exciting opportunities and ambitions to significantly grow their global business for vocational qualifications and services. Siddharth joins Pearson after 16+ years with Vodafone Group, having handled senior level positions in Business development, Strategy, B2B Sales and Operations in Oman and India. His new role will be based in Mumbai, India and he will be a part of the Pearson India Leadership Team. Siddharth said of his new role: “It’s an exciting time to be joining Pearson Workforce Skills at a crucial stage in the company’s growth phase.  As businesses evolve and plan for talent needs, upskilling and reskilling employees will play a very crucial role and become an integral part of any organisation in the future.”

FutureLearn, Global. Ian Howell has officially joined the FutureLearn team bringing a wealth of experience accumulated during his extensive tenure in the higher education sector. Prior to joining FutureLearn, Ian held the position of CEO for Higher Ed Partners in the EMEA region. Ian joined HEP as a founding member in 2017 and played a pivotal role in establishing the company as a leading online degree business in the UK. Before his time at HEP, Ian served in key leadership roles at The Open University  for six years, overseeing international student recruitment, corporate sales, strategic partnerships and apprenticeships. Commenting on his appointment, Ian said: “During my time at The OU, I worked alongside colleagues who established the FutureLearn operation over 10 years ago, so I’m familiar with the company and excited by the opportunities ahead. I see FutureLearn as being uniquely positioned to work with governments, university partners, industry participants and learners to address critical skills deficiencies prevalent across all economies. I am thrilled to join the FutureLearn team and lead the business through its next phase of development.”

AECC, Global. Victoria Steele recently joined AECC as its director of partnerships, Canada. With a father who worked in sales and a mom who was a dedicated teacher, Victoria didn’t fall far from the tree in finding a true home in the international recruitment industry. After graduating from the University of Victoria, Tory moved to China for seven years, working in higher education and gaining her first exposure to the myriad of study abroad opportunities for students globally, specifically supporting articulation agreements with Australian universities. After completing her MA from McMaster University and returning to Canada, Tory quickly began working at the Goodman School of Business before moving into full-time international recruitment for Brock University at large, eventually as associate director, international market development. Working in the private sector from 2021, she then took up the role as director partnerships for Canada in March 2023.

Malvern International, UK. Barney Sandell has joined the Malvern International senior management team as head of operations. Barney started out as a teacher and then teacher trainer, and has since fulfilled a range of business roles in a 25-year international career. Barney has been a manager in Italy and the UK, and his most recent ELT position was as a director at the London School of English. Using his extensive operations experience and postgraduate qualifications in management and systems thinking, he will oversee Malvern’s ELT centres and help shape and realise the organisation’s strategic objectives. Malvern CEO Richard Mace said: “We are delighted to welcome Barney to our dynamic team at Malvern as we continue to build a group that looks to the future”. Barney commented on his new role: “I’m really excited to be here and to help Malvern grow and achieve its mission of being the best possible partner on our students’ journey to success.”   

Navitas, Global. Raveena Balani has joined Navitas (Brunel Pathway College – BPC) as their new director of marketing and admissions. With close to a decade of experience in education, most recently as the head of UK marketing and partnerships at SI-UK, a global education agency, she comes with a wealth of knowledge and expertise in HE marketing, partnerships and student recruitment events. Raveena has an MEd in International Education and an MSc in Child Development and Education from the University of Oxford. Raveena said: “It’s so interesting to be on the other side of the spectrum now. I’m excited to be joining Navitas, BPC, they were clients of SI-UK and I’ve always admired their pace, dynamism, and student centric approach. I look forward to learning from the team who have already achieved so much in some challenging times in HE and to contribute towards BPCs continued growth and success.”

Globeducate, Global. Liza Humphrey joined Globeducate in 2019 and took on the role of chief marketing officer in February 2023.  Liza has more than 20 years’ experience in the education sector having worked previously at Nord Anglia Education based in China heading up their marketing and admissions operations for international schools and leading growth for the bilingual school’s development.  Prior to this Liza worked with Laureate International Universities for almost a decade where she held senior leadership roles in marketing and admissions as well as Campus Leadership. Liza brings a wealth of experience with working with multi-national remote based teams worldwide and is passionate about providing the best possible family experience when joining our schools and helping them in making the right choice for their family.   Liza is fluent in Spanish as well as her native English and has lived and worked in Spain, China, Switzerland and Turkey.

London Metropolitan University, UK. Nona McDuff OBE was recently appointed as a pro vice-chancellor of student experience. Throughout her 30-year career, Nona has led the debate on race, racism and the academy, shining a light on the degree awarding gap and the need for a whole institution approach to improving social mobility. In 2017, she was awarded an OBE for her work in this area and received the Guardian Teaching Excellence award. As well as creating change within institutions, Nona has helped shape the national agenda. She is a national teaching fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Advance HE Peer Review Quality Committee and has participated in several sector committees such as the UUK’s Racial Harassment Advisory Group and the ministerial group to create step changes in social mobility. Before joining London Met, Nona was the founder and first Director of Student Achievement at Kingston University, and more recently served as pro vice-chancellor, students and teaching, at Solent University.

Studyportals, Global. Jennifer Bruce has joined Studyportals management team as the new global commercial director. She has worked in higher education since 2007 and joined Studyportals in 2013. During her time at Studyportals she has gone from leading regional teams to managing large business units for the UK and EMEA. In this new role she will continue to build the global commercial organisation, together with a team of over 60 spread across the globe from Vancouver to Melbourne. Jen and the business units will continue to focus on providing long-term partnerships, data-driven solutions and diversity strategies to the ever-changing Higher Education landscape. Of her time at Studyportals, she said: “It’s been a privilege to have spent the past 10 years contributing to Studyportals outstanding growth and successes. Together we have helped change and improve the lives of many international students, and continue our mission of global education transparency, choice, and access across borders.”

ETS, Global. As the newly named global CMO for ETS, Michelle Froah is responsible for building the ETS brand, marketing and innovation globally across enterprise functions, product innovation, business marketing and community engagement. Froah leverages her extensive experience in building brands and driving growth across industries. Prior to joining ETS in 2023, Froah served as senior vice president of global brand & marketing at MetLife and previous to that led marketing, sales and operations functions across the globe for Samsung Electronics America, Kimberly-Clark, and Procter & Gamble. Froah contributes to the industry by serving on The Marketing Society board as co-chair and Fellow, Brand Innovators Advisory Board, ANA CMO Growth Council and Rye Art Center board.

Enroly, UK. Saphia Williams née Akbari has joined Enroly as Head of Business Development to lead on the sales process for new university clients. Saphia joins the edtech scale-up after 10 years at Swansea University, most recently as Head of Marketing, Recruitment & Internationalisation. Saphia said of her new role: “It’s an exciting time to be joining Enroly at a crucial stage in the company’s growth. Having seen CAS Shield in action as a partner, I’m looking forward to playing my part in helping Enroly’s prospective university clients understand the international compliance, admissions and recruitment benefits the platform can offer.”

Australian Institute of Business, Australia. Iain Hay will be taking up the position of academic dean at the Australian Institute of Business, it has been announced. With an extensive background in higher education and holding senior university positions, Iain brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the role. Most recently, as the Matthew Flinders distinguished emeritus professor of geography at Flinders University, Iain has made significant contributions to the field of education. He also currently holds positions on both the HCi (Health Care Insurance) and the SACE Boards. “I am very excited to be joining AIB. I look forward very much to taking up the wonderful legacy of Professor Ingrid Day and to working with everyone at AIB in shared efforts to ensure excellent online postgraduate business education, with a practical focus,” he said of the new role.

Coventry University Group, UK. Coventry University Group has appointed Leena Arora Kukreja as Regional Managing Director of its new India Hub, due to open later this year. Leena will be the most senior representative of the university group in the region and will lead the hub’s opening and the development of new collaborations. Alongside hubs in Brussels, Dubai, Africa, China and Singapore, the India Hub will be Coventry’s sixth global centre. Leena has extensive experience in facilitating bilateral and multilateral higher education, science and innovation collaborations, and was previously Senior Advisor at the Office of Science and Innovation based at Embassy of Sweden in New Delhi. She has also as Senior Advisor to the Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, where she successfully managed the Australia India Strategic Research Fund, as Senior Advisor to the UK Science and Innovation Network for the British High Commission. Leena also established the Newton-Bhabha PhD placements and Newton-Bhabha Researcher Links Workshops as Head of the Newton fund at British Council India.

Honoris, Global. Melindi Britz was recently appointed as managing director of the Honoris Digital Division. She brings twenty-plus years of executive experience in the IT and higher education sectors with a special focus on online learning, operations, and business development. She joined after six years at 2U edX where she held a wide range of leadership positions, most recently as senior vice president for university partnerships. There she was responsible for setting up 2U’s UK operations and establishing many of the company’s prestigious partnerships such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and The London School of Economics.For years, she has been committed to leveraging technology in higher education in Africa and has supported several businesses to grow from a start-up phase to maturity. Melindi is originally from South Africa.

Kaplan International, Global. Chandan Sharma has recently taken up the role of director of application management, US, at Kaplan International. He moves up from his prior position, where he was working with Kaplan on behalf of Arizona State University as its admissions organiser for India. His new role will see him head up the admissions organisation for all of Kaplan International’s US university partners. He will be based in New Delhi, India. Previously, Chandan was the AGM of language learning and market development at Macmillan Education, and held various roles prior to that at the British Council – including as head of partnerships (exams) for India.

James Cook University, Australia. Ruth Law has started a new role as the senior regional manager (Europe) for James Cook University working remotely from Southampton. In addition to contributing to the recruitment and partnership strategy for Europe, Ruth will also be working with JCU’s existing partners in the region in helping to grow the number of fee paying study abroad, exchange and full degree students studying at JCU. She has been working in international education since 1999, when living on the Gold Coast in Australia, she stumbled across a temp job in the international office at Griffith University. Moving back to the UK in 2008, she spent 11 years at the University of Southampton. Since then she has held a variety of positions with the University of Tasmania, Global Study Partners, and more recently the University for the Creative Arts. “I have thoroughly enjoyed working in both the UK and Australian international education sector and especially within student exchange, recruitment and partnership development,” she said.

The Regent Group, Global. Mark Russell has recently joined Regent Institute Middle East as the Academic Dean. Mark brings extensive experience and expertise in education management and leadership to the position. He held full professorial titles at the University of Hertfordshire, King’s College London and Khalifa University. He won the UK ‘e-tutor of the year’, and was awarded a UK National Teaching Fellowship award. In discussing his appointment Mark highlights “the incredible clarity and significant vision of Regent’s leadership team”, and his desire to “foster intellectual curiosity and develop independent and autonomous within Regent’s learners”. Doing so, he suggests, “enables Regent’s learners to create life changing opportunities, be an active part of the ‘Dubai growth story’ and have all the needed attributes and mindset to become leaders of the future”.

ETS, Global. ETS has appointed Patrick Cosh as its TOEFL client relations outreach manager for the UK and Ireland. Previously deputy head of international recruitment at Cardiff University, Patrick has almost 15 years’ experience in the international education industry, and is excited about the opportunity to develop the profile of the TOEFL Test with universities and professional bodies across the UK and Ireland. During his time at Cardiff, Patrick has managed student recruitment activities in a number of regions, including the Americas, Middle East & Africa, and South Asia. He has headed up the international recruitment team on two separate occasions, and worked closely with Cardiff’s Admissions department to develop new processes and services for applicants. He has been a member of a number of UK networks, including the UCAS International Advisory Group and the Russell Group Qualifications Network. Of his new role, Patrick said: “I’m thrilled to be joining ETS at such an important stage in the development of their UK and Ireland liaison activities. I’m looking forward to establishing new contacts, and re-connecting with existing ones across the industry.”

Adventus.io, Global. Siobhan Robinson has recently joined Adventus.io as partnership director for UK and Europe. She brings over 15 years of experience leading international recruitment strategies for UK institutions, most recently as deputy director/head of international recruitment at Cardiff University. Siobhan also spent over three years on the BUILA Executive Committee working to support the needs of Welsh and UK institutions at a sector level. Siobhan will focus on building trusted, valued partnerships optimising the unique Adventus.io SaaS marketplace to drive strategic, sustainable growth. Siobhan said: “Im thrilled to join Adventus.io, bringing my expertise and insight to support partner institutions to build and deliver their recruitment strategies. As Edtech innovations continue to provide solutions to deliver efficiency and growth for the HE industry, so the opportunity to be part of this at such a critical time for the sector is very exciting.”