by yvelasco | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Group Chief Executive Officer
Steve has over 20 years of experience operating in senior commercial roles internationally. A dedicated advocate for the transformative power of education to society, Steve has been an integral part of the sector since 2008.
Under his leadership, ISP has grown from a small start-up to one of the largest international education groups.
“We founded ISP because we believe that education is the key to creating a better world. We want to help students become collaborators in the learning process and develop the confidence, knowledge, and life skills that will help them thrive now and throughout their lifetime.”
Steve joined the International Schools Partnership (ISP) in 2015 when it was a small start-up and assumed the leadership of ISP in 2016. He has steered its trajectory from a small start-up to a global community of over 80 schools, establishing ISP as a leading international schools’ group worldwide.
Prior to ISP, Steve served as Chief Financial Officer for international education group World Class Learning (WCL) for over five years before its sale to Nord Anglia Education.
Steve’s vision for ISP has been to provide a high-quality transformative education for students and families that is focused on learning and continuous improvement. He thinks that education should support students to thrive throughout their lifetime, not only during their time at school.
Firmly rooted in the belief that successful organisations are built upon strong values and an environment conducive to effective team building, Steve has woven these principles into ISP’s organisational fabric.
Steve commenced his career in applied physics. After qualifying as an accountant, he served in several senior finance roles specialising in change management and team development. Steve holds an MA in Physics from Oxford University. With three young boys, Steve divides his spare time between his family and his other two passions, long-distance walking, and classical music.
by yvelasco | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Group Chief Financial Officer
Darren grew up in Yorkshire, UK and was the first of his family to go to university (Loughborough), where he studied Physics.
Despite finishing with a first-class degree in Physics, he opted to become a Chartered Accountant, and over 30 years ago moved to London to start his career with PwC.
Since qualifying as a chartered accountant, Darren has worked in several senior finance roles in different sectors and has had the privilege of working with many people around the world and getting to know and understand different cultures. He has significant experience in tax, M&A and global portfolio management and has been in senior Finance Director roles at both divisional and Plc level in FTSE100 and FTSE350 companies and been through an IPO process floating Easyhotel Plc. Darren joined the International Schools Partnership (ISP) in September 2016 as Chief Financial Officer.
Darren’s wife owns a pre-school forest-based nursery for 70 children where you can find him most weekends enjoying the outdoors being the handyman and looking after the ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs. When not working, Darren enjoys spending time with his wife, four children and two dogs and is an active runner and keen 5-aside football player.
by Orianna Quintero | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Group Chief Education and Innovation Officer
Emily joined the International Schools Partnership (ISP) in 2018. With over 25 years of experience in K-12 education, she has helped ISP develop into one of the world’s largest and most successful K-12 school groups.
In her role, Emily directs the group strategy to inspire innovation and improve learning at scale through fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
ISP is known for developing the world’s most curious and confident minds by creating Schools of Choice. Prior to joining ISP, Emily served as the Vice President of Consulting Services for the National Association of Independent Schools in Washington, D.C. As a Director at World Class Learning, she designed the International Middle Years curriculum for Fieldwork Education. Her passion revolves around empowering people to develop high impact learning experiences for students and colleagues.
Under her leadership, ISP has innovated and grown initiatives such as: the ISP International Learning Opportunities for Students; ISP’s professional develop platform “The Learning Hub”; ISP Teacher Professional Learning and Leadership programmes; ISP Lab Schools Initiative; The ISP Learning Improvement Process; and ISP Future Pathways programme.
Originally from Virginia on the east coast of the U.S., Emily has lived in DC, Buenos Aires, London and Madrid. Fluent in both English and Spanish, she holds an MA in Systems Design from the University of Maryland. In addition to her work in education, Emily enjoys being with her family, traveling, practicing yoga and being outside, especially on the beach.
by Orianna Quintero | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Group Chief Investment Officer
Richard grew up in Leicestershire in the UK and following boarding school graduated from the University of Edinburgh.
He went on to complete a Masters degree at the University of Cambridge and attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, before working and travelling extensively in Asia Pacific where he was based in Hong Kong.
Richard spent several years living in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and worked alongside International Schools Partnership (ISP) for a number of years assisting with their development in the Middle East and Asia. He joined ISP as Group Chief Investment Officer, and is based in Madrid.
Richard has taught and volunteered in colleges in India and has lectured at the Cambridge Judge Business School, as well as speaking at various education conferences around the world.
He is a keen sportsman and has played competitive international rugby, though now enjoys the injury free spectator side of the game. His spare time is dedicated to improving his Spanish in order to be able to communicate fluently with his in-laws!
by Orianna Quintero | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Divisional CEO – Middle East and Europe
Bharat is the Divisional CEO for the Middle East & Europe, having previously held the position of Regional Managing Director – Middle East, where he oversaw the acquisition, build and growth of the ISP schools in the region.
Bharat is an experienced senior professional with twenty years of experience working in Private Equity, Investment Banking and Education Management. Prior to joining ISP in 2015, he was a Vice President at NBK Capital Partners, a Dubai-based alternative investment firm in the MENA region.
At NBK Capital Partners, Bharat focused on growth equity and middle-market investments and played an active role in managing portfolio companies in the education and consumer space. Bharat was directly responsible for the fund’s investments in Newton Schools in Qatar and Heriot-Watt University in the UAE. He was also instrumental in exiting several other portfolio companies through strategic and sponsor sales.
Bharat began his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Bank of America Securities in Chicago, working on large M&A transactions across a variety of sectors including food & beverage, consumer services and business services. Bharat received his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from The University of Michigan, USA in 2003.
In his spare time, Bharat likes to read biographies and memoirs. He is a big sports fan and follows tennis and his favourite teams, Michigan Wolverines and Manchester United. He met his wife in Dubai and they have two boys and a dog.
by yvelasco | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Divisional CEO – Asia
Having joined the International Schools Partnership (ISP) as Regional Managing Director for Malaysia, Andy is now our Divisional CEO for Asia.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Politics, and a Master’s degrees in both Russian Studies and International Marketing.
Prior to joining ISP, Andy enjoyed a successful time at QS as Managing Director of the Enrolment Solutions division, helping universities with student attraction, enrolment, and retention services. Prior to that, Andy was Managing Director for Asia and Middle East for Hobsons, leading on strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and k12 and higher education sales and services.
Over the last nine years he has mostly lived in Malaysia but also spent two-years in New Delhi, India. Andy also spent 12 years working for a range of UK universities in a variety of senior international development roles, such as International Director at Coventry University. Andy has held several board and chair positions over the years with international education organisations, including EAIE and NAFSA.
by yvelasco | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Divisional CEO – Iberia, USA and Canada
Jeremy joined the team as Divisional CEO for Iberia, USA and Canada.
He has worked in global education for over 25 years; initially in the UK in university student recruitment and then supporting universities and schools worldwide to solve business challenges in student enrolment, retention, career readiness and learning management.
Jeremy has also lived and worked for 9 years in the USA running businesses for Hobsons, Blackboard and RM Education. He is passionate about the sector and looking at ways to improve outcomes for children and young adults by helping education teams create the best learning environments.
Jeremy sees his role in ISP as supporting the regions to deliver ‘schools of choice’ that will provide the best environments for children to grow and thrive. He has a Bachelors and Master’s degree and when not working enjoys sport and exercise. He has four children and spends most of his free time driving them to various sports and clubs!
by Orianna Quintero | 4 December, 2023 | Executive Committee
Divisional CEO – Latin America
Juan oversees the acquisition, build and growth of ISP schools in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.
Juan has held CEO positions in education and media in the US, Latin America and Europe and has a strong track record in leadership, general management, scaling business, M&A and business transformation.
Prior to joining ISP, Juan spent over 25 years in senior leadership roles at Pearson, GEMS Education, Scala Learning, Thomson Reuters, Metro (a Kinnevik company) and Booz Allen among others. As CEO of Scala Learning, he led the creation of one of the leading OPM´s in Latin America partnering with universities across the region to launch and grow online businesses.
Whilst at GEMS Global, he was responsible for 11 schools across Europe, Africa and Asia and led the successful acquisition of Pamoja, the only accredited IB online program. In his role as CEO of Pearson Latin America, Juan led the transformation of an $80 million publishing business into a $500 million educational services and content provider through organic growth and acquisitions; this included a JV to launch Utel, the leading online university in Mexico.
Juan graduated with honors with a B.S. in Finance from The Wharton School and an MBA from Columbia Business School. In his spare time, he enjoys podcasts, reading, walking in whatever city he finds himself in and traditional Uruguayan BBQ´s (“asados”). He and his family have lived in New York, Mexico City, São Paulo, London and Montevideo.
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On the radar
