Joining the New models of education panel

LSBU Global is led by Stuart Bannerman, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor International. Having taught at the universities of St Andrews and Glasgow, he launched the first International Study Centre in the UK at Queen Margaret University in 1998, introducing Graduate Diplomas for the first time as a pre-masters award for international students. He was also Head of EFL and Director of the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the University of Dundee, and worked at the University of Essex, setting up and running the International Academy, and followed this with the advancement of international for the launch of the new University of Suffolk.

Joining the Country Spotlight: Australia

Steve is a member of the top team at Victoria University, a world-ranked public university based in Melbourne, Australia, with a powerful vision to provide opportunity and success through its education, research and engagement activities. He leads a number of areas, including marketing, communications, advancement and engagement provision in domestic and international contexts, including a significant global footprint through major transnational education programs in Asia. Steve has over twenty years’ experience in education leadership roles in the UK and Australia. He joined Victoria University in 2011 from the University of Westminster in London, where he was Director of International.

Joining the Country Spotlight: Canada panel

Larissa Bezo presently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Bureau for International Education. Ms. Bezo has served in senior leadership positions in both the public and not-for-profit sectors, including as the youngest Deputy Clerk in the history of Saskatchewan, Senior Advisor to a Federal Royal Commission and most recently, as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer for the Canadian Bureau for International Development. After a distinguished public service career, Larissa pursued her longstanding commitment to international development and solidarity through senior-level assignments with the World Bank and the International Centre for Policy Studies in Ukraine. Larissa Bezo has worked successfully with Boards of Directors and Executive Committees to define strategic priorities and oversee their implementation. She possesses 25 years of professional experience, including 15 years in the international development and education sector. Ms. Bezo is an accomplished senior executive with a proven ability to provide effective leadership to build organizational capacity and resilience, foster durable partnerships, navigate sensitive political, intercultural and international issues and mobilize resources to achieve organizational priorities. Larissa graduated from the University of Regina with a Master of Arts in Political Science.

Joining the Country spotlight: India panel and Q&A with ETS TOEFL

As an associate director for ETS Global Client Relations for over eleven years, Sandy Bhangal is responsible for all outreach and communications in the UK & Ireland, and has oversight of CR activities across China, Australia and Europe, working closely with institutions of higher education and further education, educational advisors, government departments, and English-language teachers. In this role, Sandy has worked predominantly within the TOEFL® client relations team to raise visibility among test takers, educators and admissions officers that accept the TOEFL test to meet their English-language assessment needs. She has more than 20 years’ experience in working with government bodies, careers services, university academic departments, international offices, marketing and admissions offices as well as graduate recruiters, aiding these groups in attracting and recruiting both domestic and international students. Sandy also has a wealth of knowledge of the domestic and international recruitment markets, including managing and developing education portfolios as well as sales teams. Prior to joining ETS, Sandy worked at Hobsons Plc in many capacities, such as publisher of the Equal Opportunities Guides, head of Business Development and sales director of the International Student Recruitment division. Her work involved planning global marketing campaigns for UK universities and colleges.

Joining the International student support panel

Sarah has worked in the Higher Education sector for the last decade, coming by way of the third sector. With extensive experience in Transnational Education, both in terms of developing programmes and delivering them successful within a dynamic university environment, and in business transformation in HE, Sarah has developed a strong knowledge of the student journey, whether home or international, sole delivery or TNE. Sarah's current role is as Covid-19 Wellbeing Manager at Teesside University, working with colleagues across the institution, and in the local authority, to manage pandemic response and deliver on student support and wellbeing initiatives.

Joining the Quickfire Questions panel 

Kayla is an MBA, keynote speaker, panelist and network builder in education technology and student recruitment. Formerly at Kaplan and currently at GUS, Kayla created and launched GUS Gateway (#PIEOneer Awards 2021 Finalist for Digital Innovation of the Year - Technology) the platform powering thousands of student recruitment businesses globally. Kayla's expertise in leveraging partnerships to connect students to opportunity, paired with her own studies abroad, helped develop the fresh, dynamic perspective which has enabled her to send over 10,000 students internationally on to higher education in her career. A passionate advocate for diversity & accessibility, Kayla believes technology democratizes education.

Joining the International student support panel

Chantal is a builder-of people, businesses, and community. This started with her own building in leaving home (Bermuda) to come to Saint Mary’s University to study Psychology, Business, and Human Resources. Following university, she made NS her home and began supporting leaders as a Consultant. This led to a role with a North American technology company, where she led the development and execution of their human capital strategy for four years as they tripled in size. After reconnecting with her passion of helping others find careers that they love in 2015, she started the journey to what would become EnPoint.

Joining the Remote delivery and cyber security panel

Fraser has been involved in international education for more than 25 years across three continents. He has experience in the setup and auditing of TNE programmes, high stakes exam delivery, channel management and English language exams (IELTS, PTE & LanguageCert). He has worked with UTS Insearch, IDP, Pearson, EduWorld and in his current role with PeopleCert, he oversees a global team of partnership & recognition professionals.

Joining the Remote delivery and cyber security panel

Dr John Chapman has responsibility for the security analysts who help protect the Janet network and connected organisations. He has a particular focus on strategy, policy and compliance and have written or contributed to a number of Jisc's strategies and plans, including Jisc's cyber security strategy. He has a background in education technology strategy and policy and experience of working with schools, colleges, universities, suppliers, local and central government departments on the use of information and communications technology. He has an MBA in Cyber Security and am CISSP and CISM certified.

Joining the Country Spotlight: China

A global digital thought-leader, Nicolas Chu is the CEO and founder of Sinorbis, the multi-award-winning company that revolutionises the way businesses and organisations enter the Chinese market through technology. He is an active mentor for a number of technology and digital initiatives in Asia Pacific and also serves as a Professor of Practice at the UNSW Business School in Sydney. Prior to founding Sinorbis, he was the global President of HotelClub and Ebookers, two leading global online companies operating in more than 30 markets with an annual turnover of US$2.5 billion. HotelClub and Ebookers were part of Orbitz Worldwide, which was acquired for US1.6bn in 2015. Nicolas also spent eight years at Expedia, holding executive positions in Europe and Asia Pacific. For several years he led the APAC retail and product strategy for the group and then was the Managing Director of Expedia Australia and New Zealand. Under his leadership, the company became the leading online travel agency in the region.

Joining the Q&A panel

Caroline has over 15 years in leadership roles in the Hospitality industry. She is a corporate strategist and sales innovative leader who has extensive experience with global hotel companies, most recently with IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) working in Canada and in the USA. She has studied at both McGill University and the University of Ottawa and as her career brought her and her family to the United States she is now recently back in Montreal her hometown. As Vice President, Strategic Enrolment Management for LCI Education Network she leads the admissions and marketing teams globally. Her global edge and experience enable LCI Education Network to reinforce its global mindset, attract, admit, and retain successful students in 23 select higher education institutions offering instruction to over 17000 students throughout the world.

Joining the Next generation marketing and recruitment panel

Stephen Connelly is Vice President Business Development at Adventus.io and Director of i-graduate Australia. Stephen has worked in international education for 30 years, including senior international education roles at La Trobe, Swinburne and RMIT universities in Melbourne. Stephen was a board member of the International Education Association Australia (IEAA) for ten years, including four years as President. He is currently Chair of the Finance Committee of the ISEP (International Student Exchange Program) board of directors, USA. He was recognized for his achievements in international education when awarded the IEAA Distinguished Contribution Award at the 2016 Australian International Education Conference.

Joining the Country Spotlight: USA panel

With 20+ years of experience, Christopher currently serves as Assistant Dean and Chief Enrolment Officer in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UB. During his tenure, enrolment has risen 47% to the highest in school history, including a 28% increase in International enrolment. Connor, recognised for his work in enrolment management has received several awards and distinctions. Most recently, Chris was awarded the 2019 Chancellor’s Award for Professional Service by the State University of New York (SUNY) system and the operations under his direction were awarded the 2020 IELTS USA Best Practices Award in International Enrolment Management.

Joining the Employability panel

Linda is Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Kaplan’s university pathways businesses in the UK. Kaplan is a worldwide education company, including operating 10 pathway colleges for international students across the UK in partnership with a range of UK universities. Linda works closes with university partners on a range of areas around their international education strategies. Prior to joining Kaplan, Linda worked in a number of international education markets around the world, including managing an education agency in India and in various international education management roles, including at the University of Newcastle, the University of Birmingham and the University of Abertay Dundee. Linda undertook her Bachelor education at the University of Glasgow and Masters education at the University of Stirling.

Joining the Country spotlight: Australia panel

Callum has worked for 25+ years in International Higher Education & Training in Australia and abroad. At UWA, in addition to his UWA Centre for English Language Teaching leadership responsibilities, Callum was recently seconded to an interim role with the task of transitioning the former Office of the Pro Vice Chancellor International to that of Global Engagement Office. In the role of Director Global Engagement, a key project was leading UWA’s innovative China Learning Centres, a widely recognized successful COVID-19 mitigation response. Callum is continuing to lead the project along with his return to UWA CELT.

Joining the Maintaining Student Mental Health and Wellbeing panel

Dr Neil Cunningham co-founded Elite Journey in 2015 whilst studying for his medical degree at the University of Cambridge. Based in Cambridge and Guangzhou, the company mission is to provide a quality, holistic education to students across the world, and enable them to reach their full potential. Through leadership of Elite Journey, Neil has gained unique insight into the fast-evolving Chinese education system, where the organisation has enrolled over 20,000 students in their extra-curricular programmes. He also contributes unique insights on mental health for young people from both his medical training and a personal passion for student and employee welfare.

Joining the Country Spotlight: USA

Gary Davies is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at London Metropolitan University with responsibility for Student Recruitment and Business Development including recruitment, marketing, communications and collaborations. He has an MBA in Higher Education Management from the University of London and has worked in HE student recruitment for over 25 years at institutions across the capital, including London Guildhall University (a forerunner of London Met), Institute of Education UCL, London South Bank University and Roehampton University.

Joining the Immerse Q&A panel

Sara Davila is the Head of Efficacy and Learning for Immerse. Based in Chicago, Sara is a Learning and Language Acquisition specialist. She is widely experienced in the field of education as a teacher, materials writer, and teacher trainer. At Immerse, Sara utilises her extensive knowledge of 21st century pedagogies and ELT best practices to support the development and implementation of engaging, efficacious, research supported language learning in immersive virtual reality.

Joining the Country spotlight: Canada panel

Mr. Zubin Deboo - Executive Director at KC is a veteran in the overseas education arena. He has honed his expertise in this industry thanks to his dynamic approach in managing the relationship with our 100+ Partner Institutions in Canada, 5000+ Partner Recruitment Agents whose primary destination for Student Recruitment is Canada as well as other key stake holders in the industry. He heads a highly skilled team of 50+ Canada Country specialists. His regular visits to events by NAFSA, ICEF and International Universities have helped augment his international experience. With his impeccable communication skills, he has delivered several seminars and presentations on overseas education.

Joining the New models of education panel

Christina Del Medico is Director of Learning & Teaching Services at Navitas University Partnerships Australasia (UPA). She is a highly effective and experienced learning and teaching expert with a strong practice in strategic leadership in International Higher Education. Christina is committed to delivering results, and adopting innovative and responsive teaching approaches that are rooted in sound philosophical and pedagogical foundations. She has expertise includes teaching, building teacher capability, curriculum and digital transformation, innovation and strategic leadership. Christina is passionate about the student experience and successful outcomes for students.

Joining the New Models of Education panel

Ankur has 15 years of rich experience building new businesses at Buddy4Study.com, PropTiger.com, and Pine Labs.com. Prior to joining upGrad, Ankur was Chief Operating Officer at Buddy4Study.com, India's largest scholarship portal supporting students to complete higher education through scholarships. His prior role includes Chief Business Officer at PropTiger.com and VP, Business Development at Pine Labs.com. Ankur has done MBA from IIM Bangalore and B.Tech from IIT BHU. At upGrad, Ankur is responsible for incubating and scaling study abroad business for upGrad.

Joining the Country spotlight: Australia panel

At ECA responsible for marketing, sales, admissions, university partnerships and online education division. • Extensive experience in student acquisition and developing student-centric organisations. • 20+ years’ experience in the international education sector in UK & Australia • Previously Founder & Managing Director of Go Study – student acquisition business and part of ASX-listed Redhill Education. 

Joining the Employability panel

Owen is a passionate entrepreneur with a mission to revolutionise graduate employability through work-readiness training and work experience programs. Since 2005 he has been a leader in graduate employability in Australia, helping to change the careers and lives of over 30,000 international and domestic students through the businesses he founded, Gradability and Readygrad. Owen is an active speaker in areas such as graduate employability, work experience, internships, Work Integrated Learning (WIL), workplace readiness, job search and career success skills. He holds an MBA and a Bachelor of Economics and is a member of EO (Entrepreneurs Organisation) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Joining the Country Spotlight: UK panel 

Oliver is a student acquisition and international education expert. He has held teaching and student recruitment positions in Japan, the UK and Australia – he worked in the University of Westminster’s international office before moving to Australia where he held senior positions at two universities and was on the executive board member of the Australian Universities International Directors’ Forum including as the President and Chair. Oliver now works with Edified colleagues, consulting for education clients globally. He recently developed the UK’s National Code of Ethical Practice for Education Agents and the Good Practice Guide for Providers Using Education Agents.

Joining the Q&A panel

Emma Froud has over 15 years of experience in higher education, including as Head of Student Recruitment and Widening Participation at Oxford Brookes and Queen Mary University of London. Emma is passionate about the sector and works at Unibuddy to help partners from all around the world create digital peer-to-peer platforms as Unibuddy's Head of Business Development.

Joining the Maintaining Student Mental Health and Wellbeing panel

Christina Furtado, the Mental Health and Wellness Specialist with guard.meCARES and has spent over 25 years building awareness around mental health and wellness. Prior to becoming a mental health counsellor, Christina devoted 15 years to supporting students’ wellbeing as an educator and administrator within the k-12 sector. Christina continues to be a passionate advocate, bringing her expertise to the guard.meCARES platform through the Wellness and Learning Initiatives Program as well as getting involved in various mental health initiatives across Canada. Christina is a practicing member of the Canadian Psychological Association, Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association, and the Ontario Association of Mental Health Professionals.

Joining the Next generation marketing and recruitment panel

Gemma is Head of Global Marketing at Grok Global Services, helping institutions project an authentic voice in regions across the globe, using local platforms and digital techniques. Her experience in the education sector includes marketing and business development for EdTech, international education and digital marketing.

Joining the Country Spotlight: UK panel

Anne Marie joined UKCISA in 2019 from the Association of Commonwealth Universities, where she was Director of Chevening, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s flagship global scholarship scheme. Prior to that, Anne Marie led on a range of educational programmes and projects promoting international mobility and intercultural exchange. At Universities UK International, she developed the first government-funded UK Strategy for Outward Mobility and established the Go International programme to build capacity and influence institutional change in UK universities to increase the proportion of UK-domiciled students with international experience.

Joining the Maintaining Student Mental Health and Wellbeing panel

Abhishek Gupta is the Founder of India's biggest High School Parent, Student and Educator Community - High School Moms and International Alliance of Counselors and Educators. Alumni of University of California Los Angeles, Abhishek Gupta has counselled over 60000 students and conducted over 500 career workshops in 300+ schools across India and abroad. He has been providing probono career and college advisory to thousands of students year after year through various online initiatives of High School Moms. Abhishek Gupta is also the recipient of prestigious Times Education Icon in 2019.

Joining the Remote Delivery and Cyber Security panel

Tim has been Executive Dean at QA Higher Education since 2014. Prior to this he was Executive Dean for a number of years at Kaplan Holborn College and before that he held a number of Programme Director roles. He holds an undergraduate degree from Oxford and a PhD from Cambridge. At QA Higher Education, Tim has overall responsibility for the academic aspects of all of our programmes. 

Joining the Quickfire Questions panel 

Patrick Hayes is Chief Development Officer at THE (Times Higher Education), the data provider underpinning university excellence in every continent across the world. Hayes has responsibility for THE Student, the student-facing division of THE’s business. THE’s World University Rankings, combined with THE’s unique content, attract 30m users to its website each year – the majority of which are prospective international students. Hayes was formerly the Director of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), the industry body representing 400+ companies with a combined revenue of £2.4bn; and an Executive Director of EdTech Exchange, the largest network of EdTech founders in Europe.

Joining the Country Spotlight: Australia panel

He was a Member of the Victorian State Parliament, Australia, for 18 years (1988–2006). During this period Phil served as the Victorian Minister for Tertiary Education, Training and Multicultural Affairs and was Deputy Leader of the Opposition 2002–2006. Since 2006, Phil was Marketing Director and CEO at Stott’s Business College and Cambridge International College, Melbourne. He also served on the Governing Council of Swinburne University of Technology. Phil is Convener of the National Council for International Education and a member of the Higher Education Standards Panel, New Colombo Plan Steering Committee and the Education Visa Consultative Committee. He is also chair of the Australian Government’s Global Reputation Taskforce.

Joining the New Models of Education panel

Vitaly Klopot is Arden University’s Chief Commercial and Innovation Officer, overseeing the objectives and implementations of all commercial strategies. With over a decade’s experience in higher education, he specialises in online learning, digital transformation, and international marketing for education technology. Vitaly was previously Chief Operating Officer of InterActive Pro, creating delivery methods for online education with a focus on new ed-tech solutions, and partnering with over 20 higher education institutions. He also sits on the board of Dignity Health Global Education, mentors start-ups in the Data, Analytics and Education space and hosts a podcast on the Business of Education.

Joining the Employability panel

Ben Knight is Director for Language and Pedagogy Research at Cambridge University Press. He leads on using high quality research to develop more effective learning materials and programmes. He has used his expertise in curriculum development and pedagogical research for educational reform projects in countries from Mexico to Japan. He worked as a teacher, trainer and lecturer, in schools, universities, and the British Council, in various countries around the world – both in academic and vocational contexts. He worked with assessments and qualifications for Cambridge Assessment and City & Guilds.

Joining the Maintaining Student Mental Health and Wellbeing panel

Doug Little has worked in a range of universities and different roles, ranging from project management, partnership development and operations. Doug attended the University of Essex (2008-11) and the LSE (2011-12) studying politics. Doug has gained a keen understanding of the HE sector and a passion for supporting mental health. Doug leads the International Student Mental Health project. This Office for Students funded project seeks to establish what the sector is doing to support international students in the UK effectively. The final goal - bringing this together into a toolkit setting out best practice and illustrative case studies.

Joining the Country Spotlight UK panel

Steve Lowy has been connected with youth and educational travel his whole career. Currently, Steve is CEO of Anglo Educational Services, a full-service study abroad & student accommodation provider based in London, UK. With a great passion for promoting the sector and its importance in the wider ecosystem) of travel, Steve is also Chairman of BETA (British Educational Travel Association) and board member of the Tourism Alliance, promoting the importance of youth, student and educational travel to the UK.

Joining the Country Spotlight: India panel 

With over 10 years of experience in the education sector and not for profits (including CSR), Anwesha has established strong ties and worked with Indian and international stakeholders including world recognised education institutions, government organisations of different countries and leading corporates. For her contributions in bringing about change in the education sector at the grassroots of India, she received prestigious scholarships namely, International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) by US government and Young Connectors of the Future Program (YCF) offered by Swedish Institute. Her strength lies in public policy, business development, networking, developing strategy to position the cause of national or international organisations, strategic alliance, preparing proposals and facilitating agreements for funding and engaging with government agencies.

Joining the Country Spotlight: UK panel

Bobby is the Director of UoP Global at the University of Portsmouth (www.port.ac.uk) and he is also the Chair of BUILA (www.bulia.ac.uk).

Joining the Country Spotlight: India panel 

Abizer Merchant is a management professional with over 15 years' experience in international marketing, business development, corporate relations, strategy and policy development with particular expertise in managing diverse teams in the South Asia and Middle East region. Since 2014, he has been working as the Director (India & Sri Lanka) for Macquarie University, Sydney based out of Mumbai, India. In recognition of the University's export success in the Indian market, the University was awarded the Premier of New South Wales Export Award in the Education & Training category in 2019. Previously Abizer was the Associate Director, International Marketing, at La Trobe University, Melbourne (2005-2014) where he played a lead role in driving the university’s international marketing and recruitment strategy across a range of markets. Abizer has an advanced understanding of the international education sector from a student and education provider perspective. He has a Master of Marketing from Monash University, Australia and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Mumbai. His interests lie in the development of new and emerging markets/segments for international education, internationalisation of Indian academic institutions and edtech.

Joining the Country spotlight: Canada panel

Keith Monrose is the Executive Director of Seneca International where he leads global post-secondary initiatives. Keith held previous leadership positions in the post-secondary, health and technology sectors at McMaster University, Mohawk College, Merck Canada, Canada Health Infoway and Telus. Throughout his career, Keith led and implemented transformation initiatives focused on organization alignment, performance and growth strategies. He is a frequent speaker on the future of work and volunteers on a number of sector advisory groups, committees and community boards.

Joining the Employability panel

Phyllis earned both her Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate degrees from Seton Hall University. Following several years of legal practice in her home state of New Jersey, she began what would become a 20 year long, very satisfying insurance career in downtown Manhattan. First in her family to attend university, she deeply appreciates the transformative power of higher education especially with regard to one's career and income. This experience impelled her to join Pace University as their Executive Director of Career Services in 2011.

Joining the International student support panel

Tathiana is originally from the Amazon, in Brazil, and has been in Australia for 4 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business and a postgraduate degree in Teaching in Higher Education. She has 15+ years of experience with training and student mentoring and is currently the Student Engagement Manager at Study Cairns, where she coordinates employability programs and provides career advice to help international students land their dream jobs. Tathiana is also an independent researcher who is passionate about the future of education and has written articles and one book on Education and self-development.

Joining the Q&A panel

Ganesh Neelanjanmath is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Neel-Tech, a mobile application and technology development company in Canada. He came to Canada as an international student and studied Computer Systems Technology at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. He has over 16 years of experience in entrepreneurship, management, business planning, financial analysis, software engineering, operations, and decision analysis. His clients appreciate and benefit from the breadth and depth of his experience that results in the crafting of expert solutions in a number of industries. Ganesh held various management positions in India, Spain, Canada and the US.

Joining the Country Spotlight: Canada panel

Mr. Ness has over 30 years of experience in post-secondary success around the world. He has numerous accomplishments and awards in enrolment, marketing, student success and internationalisation. He currently leads the International Education division at Humber College, Canada’s largest polytechnic institute. During his time at Humber, he has presided over unprecedented international enrolment growth and expansion of international projects and educational partnerships around the globe. He has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Rotman School (University of Toronto), and an undergraduate degree in music, his avocation.

Joining the Country Spotlight: USA panel

Joann Ng Hartmann is the Senior Director for International Enrolment Management-International Student and Scholar Services and Volunteer Engagement at NAFSA: Association of International Educators. In her capacity, Joann provides strategic staff leadership for professional development, publications and programs related to IEM-ISS. Prior to NAFSA, Joann spent 18+ years at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville managing and overseeing the student and scholar services unit, including institutional compliance, orientation, and student/scholar advising support services. Joann was a former volunteer leader for NAFSA serving in various regional and national capacities. She has written training curriculum, presented workshops and sessions at many conferences. She holds an MS in communication from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.

Joining the Language travel sector - where next? panel

Languages Canada is the national representative of over 200 accredited language language programs in Canada. Members include French and English programs from universities, colleges, private schools, and non-profit organizations. My work focuses on advocating for the sector to ensure a balanced and positive policy environment, raise the visibility and opportunity of and for Canadian language programs, and lead quality and innovation initiatives.

Joining the International student support panel

Baiba Pētersone is Director of International Department at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU). She is responsible for the University’s internationalisation strategy, including international admissions and collaborations. Her experience in higher education spans 15 years. Before joining RSU, she was at Middlesex University in London, Zayed University in Dubai and the University of Maryland College Park in the United States. She has worked in the non-profit sector in Washington, D.C. Baiba earned a master’s degree at the University of Maryland, College Park and holds the doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Georgia, both in the United States.

Joining the Language travel sector - where next? panel

International Education professional with both academic & commercial skills focused on the Mexican market.

Joining the Country spotlight: US panel

Vincent Powell is a strategically minded and results-oriented business development professional with more than 20 years of experience in the international education industry. He has a proven track record in consistently achieving sales targets, revenue and EBITA via B2C and B2B sales channels. He is a highly effective leader and team builder, having recruited, led, mentored, and managed remote, high-performance recruitment teams across diverse geographical regions.. He has extensive experience working with agents, government sponsors and international schools.

Joining the Maintaining Student Mental Health and Wellbeing panel

Alex has 12+ years experience leading diverse teams and major projects to sustained success across the Sporting, Medical and Educational industries. As GM, Student Experience, he is responsible for leading all aspects of the student experience for over 3,500 international students across 5 campuses: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. This involves managing multi-million-dollar budgets and leading over 50 indirect and direct reports to deliver innovative solutions to proactively maximise KBS’s student experience. Most recently, this work led to being the recipient of the ANZ and Global Kaplan Way Awards for Student Success in 2019.

Joining the Q&A panel

Adam Roberts is the Senior Vice President of EduCo Accelerate and has over 20 year's experience in the international education space across public and private institutions worldwide. He has led the digital transformation of EduCo's global marketing and recruitment operations and overseen the creation and launch of the intelligent digital platform known as Accelerate. Using 10 year's data from student outcomes, combined with an in-market presence in 20 countries, Accelerate is designed to improve international student conversion, retention and graduation rates.

Joining the Language travel sector - where next? panel

10 years experience in 3 completely different fields (Transportation, Engineering, Education) and a passion for Meeting people - Sharing knowledge - Discovering new technologies

Joining the Country spotlight: Australia panel

I have studied Masters in English Literature from Delhi University and PG Certificate in Migration Law from ANU ( Australia ). I am the president of AAERI Australia Chapter since 2018. I am the Founder and Managing Director of SIEC Education founded in 1995 in India . An international student recruitment Agency based out of India and Australia with 26 Branch offices across India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Nepal , Canada and UK. At SIEC we recruit for Institutes across Australia , Canada , Dubai , Japan , Europe , Singapore , UK and USA managing approximately 500+ partnerships. I also lead an Edtech team at SIEC to make it a truly global company going into the 21st century and beyond. 95% of SIEC Team is comprised of young , motivated women and I have helped create training and mentoring programs that would empower them with life skills at both professional and personal level. I have regularly presented at AIRC ( American International Recruitment Council ) and hosted a number of events for AAERI Australia chapter. International Education is my passion and we are now advising the next generation of students and parents who challenge us to become better at what we do on a daily basis. We have transitioned successfully from a stage of no information to information overload , keeping our services highly personalised to factor in the future demands of the Industry.

An education finance veteran with more than 12 years of cross-border experience, Vaibhav Singh is the Co-founder of Leap Finance/Leap Scholar, India's largest one-stop study abroad platform. Leap has raised over $22 million from marquee investors Jungle Ventures, Owl Ventures & Sequoia India. Vaibhav is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur post which he worked at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore. Since returning to India in 2014 he has been an integral part of the Indian fintech story with founding team stints at Capital Float, InCred & now co-founder at Leap. Vaibhav has deep expertise in international education loans, and he founded Leap to provide an affordable loan alternative for Indian students which has expanded to India’s only full-stack study abroad platform offering test prep, admissions counselling, financing, careers support.

Joining the Quickfire Questions panel

Sasidhar is India’s first Fulbright-Nehru Scholar to pursue Master’s in Higher Education and has over nine years of experience in the higher education sector. Currently he’s the Co-founder at GradRight - A global ed-fintech platform for international students. He was awarded the ‘Impact Award’ by the Board of Trustees for his efforts in setting up India’s largest collective philanthropic liberal-arts initiative – Ashoka University. Previously worked with the research department of INSEAD Business School. An alum of University of Pennsylvania, BITS Pilani, and a scholar from the founding batch of the Young India Fellowship.

Joining the Country Spotlight: India panel

Sushil Sukhwani is the founding Director of Edwise International, India’s Leading Overseas Education Consultancy. Sushil spearheaded the concept of an overseas education consultancy in India in 1991 and established Edwise in India which was the primary overseas education consultancy of its kind. Edwise under the management of Sushil is the end to end solution for a student’s complete international study needs. Edwise has a team of over 450+ staff with 24 branches across India & recruits students to study in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, NZ, Singapore, France, Spain, Ireland & so on. Edwise is AIRC certified & Sushil Sukhwani is an active AIRC Board member. Sushil’s professional portfolio - is also the Director of Blue Star Travels, a travel agency which is one of western India’s largest. Apart from this he is also a Director in Micro Solutions Private Limited which is a franchisee of Aptech Limited which deals with training students on various softwares and programming languages. Other positions held include, the president of his school alumni association for 18years & currently a Committee member of the Australian Alumni Association- Western India Chapter.

Joining the Language travel sector - where next? panel

Mike began working with international students in 2008 whilst at University. After graduating he taught English in South Korea for two and half years before returning to the UK. Since then he has worked across several departments in different UK schools, contributing to the successful overall running of both adult and junior English courses. At English Path, Mike is responsible for the overall success of the seven schools focusing especially on student services, operations, sales and administration.

Joining the New Models of Education panel

An experienced educator with an extensive background in curriculum development, instructional strategies, teacher professional development, guidance counselling, and SEL, Pam spent 30 years in public education serving as a Secondary School Teacher, Counsellor, Guidance Department Head, District Level Consultant, and District Secondary Program Coordinator. Her provincial work included Ontario School Counsellors’ Association Director, writer for the Ontario Ministry of Education and University Adjunct Professor. Currently she works in private education as Director of Teaching and Learning for Rosedale Academy. Pam has worked globally with adult educators delivering professional development programs in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Nigeria, and Kuwait and presenting at numerous international conferences.

Joining the Employability panel

Lisa Umenyiora is Executive Director, Careers and Student Life at Imperial College Business School, supporting over 2,000 students across the School’s portfolio of 14 post-graduate MSc and 4 MBA programmes. Lisa oversees all aspects of the student experience outside of academic delivery, with an emphasis on career and professional development, employer relations, community building, global experience, and partnerships. Lisa is a senior leader with over 15 years’ experience driving strategy within higher education. She is engaged in integrating digital tools and technology that support the student experience. She is also leading the student EDI strategy at the Business School.

Joining the Next generation marketing and recruitment panel

Nick Willmer, Head of Education for Net Natives, has worked in digital student recruitment for over 13 years. He has worked across the education sector with a range of universities, business schools and private institutions around the world. He has a passion for using technology to track and understand the student journey and conversion from initial contact to enrolled student. He has pioneered the setup and integration of technology stacks to boost student recruitment numbers for many of Net Natives’ clients.