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Abhinav Mital

Co-founder and Managing Director
LINC Education

Abhinav is passionate about the confluence of technology and services in education and firmly believes that both are critical to delivering results. Abhinav is pursuing this passion at LINC Education that is a technology cum services company that enables universities improve retention amongst online learners.

Abhinav comes with more than a decade of experience in the education sector as a founding member and former Partner of Parthenon-EY’s international education practice. He has worked with a number of global higher education institutions on growth strategy, international expansion and improving student experience as well as advised PE investors, publishers, education companies and edu-tech ventures. He currently serves on the operations advisory board of The Education Fund, Australia. Prior to Parthenon, Abhinav worked in corporate strategy at Himatsingka Seide Ltd, where he setup India’s first textile manufacturing facility in a Special Economic Zone, followed by multiple acquisitions in Europe and US.

Abhinav is an avid squash player and loves to spend time with his young son. Abhinav holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

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Amit Garga

Managing Director
LINC Education Services

LINC provides education support services to help higher education institutions retain and grow their online students. Their services are customised for each institution to deliver an effective student learning experience.
Prior to this, he worked as a Partner with Parthenon's Education Practice, Mr. Garga has worked closely with the leadership of various companies on market-opportunity assessment and sizing, growth forecasting, pricing strategy, competitor analysis and market share evaluation.
Mr. Garga has led teams on the evaluation of potential acquisition targets for education companies as well as investors. He has advised a number of large private equity companies on investments in the education sector across segments. Case examples include investment prioritization, and due diligence and integration. Mr. Garga holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore.

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Amit Goyal

South East Asia Head
edX

Amit heads South East Asia Business for edX – world’s largest open-source free learning platform founded by MIT & Harvard University. edX is a not for profit organisation with a mission to provide free online access to high quality education for everyone.

Amit holds a MBA from Oxford Brookes University-Oxford. He has managed various roles in Telco and Ed-Tech companies across UK, Europe and India. Amit is a firm believer of frugal innovation and his profile includes projects that attained significant limelight and disrupted the market. While heading the Education Solution Business for Samsung India he launched various solutions which are currently being used by major test-prep companies and private universities in India. He is also credited as the man behind launching Cheapest Taplet PC of the world ‘Aakash’ with Government of India.

Amit is based in New Delhi – India and has been instrumental in making India as second largest market for edX after US.

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Andrew (Dajie) Yang

Executive Director
Shanghai Xin Nanyang Corp.

Executive director in charge of investment and asset management in Shanghai Xin Nanyang Co., Ltd, the first A share public company in China specialized in education and controlled by Shanghai Jiaotong University (STJU), one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in China. Used to work in the private equity fund jointly established by Sailing Capital, STJU and Xin Nanyang. In the education field, led multiple acquisition and investment projects in K-12 after-school tutoring, early childhood education, teacher training in China and international studies in UK etc.

Took a variety of positions in M&A, equity investment in investment banks and Fortune 500 companies.

MBA from Duke University, MA from Fudan University and BS from East China University of Science and Technology.

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Andy Little

SVP & Chief Product Officer
McGraw-Hill Education International & Professional

Andy has over 20 years of high technology, international business development and management experience in corporate and start-up technology companies. Andy joined McGraw-Hill Education in 2014 to transform the global product organization and support their digital transformation into a learning science company that improves student outcomes around the world. Previously Andy held senior product and technology positions at Wolters Kluwer, Gartner Inc and management consulting positions. Andy is a Fellow of the Institute of Analysts and Programmers and Member of numerous professional organizations. Andy has lived and worked in the UK, South Africa, Hong Kong and now resides in the USA.

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Anip Sharma

Partner
L.E.K Consulting

Anip Sharma is a Partner at L.E.K. Consulting. He is a founding member of the Global Education Practice at L.E.K. where he leads the team with over 8 years of dedicated education sector experience. Anip advises C-suite clients on market entry strategy, investment decisions and revenue and profit-uplift strategies across all education segments including K-12, Higher Education, Transnational Education and Edtech. Within Asia, Anip focuses his advisory efforts in China and Southeast Asia, where he has supported multiple education deals for leading private equity clients. He is frequently invited to speak at industry-leading education events, including the Global Education Summit and EdTech Asia.

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Caroline Essame

Social Entrepreneur and Managing Director
CreateCATT- Singapore

Caroline Essame is a social entrepreneur and managing director of CreateCATT- Singapore. A British trained occupational therapist and creative arts and play therapist with a Masters in education specialising in play based learning in Asia she has worked for over 30 years in the field of creativity, human development and inclusive practices for children. Pioneer of Developmental Play a new paradigm for Asia she trains, consults and offers child focused services across the Asian region.

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Cathalijn Naafs

Investment Officer
FMO

Cathalijn Naafs is working as an Investment Officer within the Private Equity department of FMO with a focus on private equity funds and corporates in Asia, specifically Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Philippines. Prior to becoming an Investment Officer she worked at FMO as a Portfolio Analyst and Capacity Development Officer focussing on Africa.

She has a back ground in African studies and business economic.

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Dr. Christensen

Chairman of the Board & CEO
Area9 Learning

Dr. Christensen is recognized worldwide as an expert in learning technology. He has pioneered adaptive learning, data-driven content development, simulation and debriefing technologies. He is responsible for the strategy of Area9 Group’s businesses, that span from purpose-built platforms for optimization of business processes for large corporations over digital product design to corporate training based on intelligent, adaptive learning.

He founded his first company, Sophus Medical, in 1997 while still in medical school. Sophus Medical was acquired by Laerdal Medical in 2002. Dr. Christensen was responsible for Laerdal’s global learning technologies initiatives from 2002–2006. Dr. Christensen co-founded Area9 Group in 2006, which has been at the forefront of adaptive and personalized learning with more than 1500 adaptive learning products based on the Area9 technologies and millions of students using the systems every semester. Area9 Education was sold to McGraw-Hill Education in 2014 and Area9 Learning was established to focus on adaptive learning in corporate and organizational environments.

Dr. Christensen was part of the McGraw-Hill Higher Education leadership team from 2011 to 2014 and the MHE Executive Leadership Team from February 2014 to 2016, where he stepped down to focus on the rapidly growing Area9 Innovation and Area9 Learning enterprises.

He is currently the chairman of Cortrium (a wearable ECG and vital signs monitoring device developer) and Altus Care (precision compliance software platform). He is also on several other boards. In 2017, Dr. Christensen was appointed expert in residence at the new translational accelerator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital-Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Christensen is on the boards of numerous organizations in education, incl. LEAP Innovations and Mastery Transcipt Consortium. He is also on the advisory board for Transcend Education, CharacterLab, Center for Curriculum Redesign at Harvard University and is the co-chair of the advisory board in emergency medicine at Brigham and Womens hospital in Boston.

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Dr. CJ Meadows

Director of i2i - The Innovation & Insights Center
SP Jain School of Global Management

Dr. Meadows is the Director of i2i - The Innovation & Insights Center @SP Jain School of Global Management, a Forbes Top-20 International Business School. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and was a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). She has over 20 years’ experience in Asia, Europe, and North America as an entrepreneur, dot-com builder & innovation lab co-founder, and Accenture IT & business strategy consultant. She has designed and delivered executive education programmes individually and in conjunction with top business schools like INSEAD, AIM, NUS, and SMU.

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Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea

President and CEO
Mapua University

Dr. Reynaldo Banzon Vea is currently the President and CEO of the Mapua University, Malayan Colleges Laguna, and Malayan Colleges Mindanao. He is also the President of iPeople, Inc. and is a Director of House of Investments, Maibarara Geothermal, Inc. and Petrogreen, Inc. All entities operate in the Philipppines.

He is the Chairman of the Engineering Sciences and Technology Division of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and is a Director of the Fulbright Commission of the Philippines. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the UNESCO National Commission for the Philippines. Dr. Vea was formerly Dean of the College of Engineering of the University of the Philippines (U.P.), and he once served as the President of the Association for Engineering Education in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (AEESEAP).

He was a former Chairman of the Technical Panel on Engineering, Architecture and Maritime Education of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and was a member of the CHED Task Force that recently formulated a typology- and outcomes-based quality assurance system for higher education. He was a key player in the successful drive of the Philippines to gain membership in the Washington Accord.

Dr. Vea worked as a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer at the Hudson Shipbuilders, Inc. in Mississippi and the Herbert Engineering Corporation in California in the early 80’s. He was also the Administrator of Manila’s Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) during its transition to a privatized set-up in the late 90’s.

Dr. Vea has a PhD in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, an SM in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering, magna cum laude, from the University of the Philippines.

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Dr. Sapna Masih Advani

Managing Partner
MasihWhite Pte Ltd

Sapna is a CEO Coach and Global Leadership and Culture Consultant to multinationals. She works with organizations on culture-creation and leadership development, particularly in a post-M&A phase, helping them to maintain productivity levels during times of stress and change.

Having lived and worked in Singapore, Japan, and India over the last 20 years, Sapna has deep experience of business practices and leadership culture around the Region. She is based in Singapore and Japan, and travels extensively to deliver high-value programs for her clients.

Sapna is one of the earliest interculturalists in the Asia-Pacific, centering her work around the cross-cultural aspects of talent acquisition, deployment, development, and retention. Today, she consults, facilitates, and takes on public speaking assignments, evangelizing to large audiences about developing a cross-border talent pipeline, and recognizing the centrality of culture to integration success.

As an executive coach, Sapna coaches C-suite executives on managing complexity and effectively leading change.

Sapna is now heading MasihWhite - a consulting and executive coaching practice focused on helping multinationals develop global leaders with an Asia focus. MasihWhite also works with business schools around the world to design and deliver Asia immersion programs that allow mid-career executives to deep-dive into the Asian business environment.

Sapna holds a PhD in American Literature and two Masters degrees, in Literature and Zoology. She is a certified Executive Coach, and a qualified administrator of key global leadership assessments.

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Dr. Scott Bolland

Founder/CTO
New Dawn Technologies

Dr Scott Bolland is the founder of New Dawn Technologies, a high-tech start up devoted to improving education through artificial intelligence.

Scott’s background is in Cognitive Science – an interdisciplinary study of how the mind works, spanning such fields as neuroscience, psychology, and computational science. Specifically, he has spent the last 20 years researching human problem-solving, learning and creativity, and developing computer simulations that mimic human performance. His PhD work involved the creation of a general framework for modelling human intelligence, and he received a University Medal for outstanding scholarship, graduating in the top 1% of students at the University of Queensland.

With the birth of his own children (now aged 8, 12 and 14), he quickly realised the inherent limitations in the current school system, and is now devoting his time to the creation of artificially intelligent tools for teachers that help better personalise education and unlock student potential. This work received the backing of Australian entrepreneur, Sean Howard AO - one of the leading pioneers in the Australian IT industry.

Scott believes that artificial intelligence will no doubt disrupt education, providing personalised, effective and affordable tuition for all, which in itself has profound positive economic and social implications for the future.

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Dr. Sridhar G

Managing Director
Ace Creative Learning

Dr Sridhar G graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 1989 with a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics from The Johns Hopkins University, USA. After a 3 year stint as a research scientist at American Standard, a strong desire to do something for the country prompted him to return to India. Dr. Sridhar and Mrs. Lalit Sridhar always felt that the greatest impact on society is through education. So they founded The Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) in 1998. The first Deeksha College (DCFL) was later established in 2004.

Dr. Sridhar is a very loved Physics teacher and he teaches Physics regularly even today. His classes are very engaging and humorous. He often says, the main objective of education is not to just help children score marks but to get children to think for themselves. Deeksha was started with the vision of providing an academic environment that nurtured original thinking and created young confident individuals with a sense of responsibility towards society. A visionary and a thought leader in education, he is amongst the most respected and value-oriented educationists in the country. Dr Sridhar loves to be amongst children, whether teaching them or playing with them. From a humble beginning of 40 students in 1998, Deeksha now has 36 campuses and over 10,000 students.

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Dr. Sridhar Pappu

Founder
INSOFE

Dr. Pappu has donned various roles, from an engineer in Silicon Valley to a scientist in the Indian Defence establishment to a senior IT executive in a mid-tier Indian IT company to being an entrepreneur. He has over 20 years of experience in industry, government R&D and academia.

Prior to co-founding INSOFE where he is in-charge of maintaining the highest quality standards in education content, pedagogy and assessments, he managed many large Data Science, Web 2.0, Defence R&D and semiconductor fab-automation projects while working with companies like Prithvi Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Axaya Cybertech Pvt. Ltd., Defence Metallurgical Research Labs (a unit of Defence Research and Development Organisation, Govt. of India), and KLA-Tencor Corporation, USA.

Dr. Pappu also teaches subjects in Data Science / Machine Learning.

Competencies

•  Six Sigma Black Belt trained, Statistics, Teaching

Education

•  Ph.D. – Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at El Paso, USA
•  M.S. – Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, The University of Texas at El Paso, USA
•  B.E. – Metallurgical Engineering, REC (now NIT) Trichy, India

Publications

•  34 publications in refereed journals and international conference proceedings

Awards and Recognitions

•  Inductee – Worldwide Lifetime Achievement by Marquis Who's Who in the World (2017)
•  Member, Editorial Advisory Board: Handbook of Materials Structures, Properties, Processing and Performance by Dr. Lawrence E. Murr

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James Croft

Editor
EducationInvestor Magazine

James Croft is Editor of EducationInvestor magazine, global providers of specialist business information services for investors in education.

He is also Chair of the Centre for Education Economics (CfEE) - a think tank which he founded in 2012 to bring economic research to bear on the international conversation about education reform. James has authored and co-authored a number of policy reports for CfEE and its partners, and is a regular speaker and commentator on education and skills policy.

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Jaspal Sidhu

Founder & CEO
SIS Group of Schools

Jaspal Sidhu is a Singaporean. He has a degree in Civil and Structural Engineering and an MBA. After more than 15 years in the construction and mining sector in Indonesia, Jaspal left to pursue his passion in education in 2004. Securing a strategic partnership with the International Finance Co-operation (World Bank Group) Jaspal established several K-12 schools for different income levels across the archipelago using the Singapore curriculum as its core, under the brand name Singapore International School (SIS).

In 2015, the SIS Group of Schools formed another exciting partnership with the Abraaj Group, a leading private equity group that manages more than USD 12 billion world- wide. Together with Abraaj and IFC (World Bank), the SIS Group of Schools is on an expansion phase through acquisitions and the establishment of new schools across Asia. The SIS Group of Schools is also in the fore front of several PPP (Public Private Partnerships) initiatives within Indonesia.

Jaspal speaks and moderates regularly in regional investment and education conferences.

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Jessica White

EdTech Consultant
EdTech Partners (EDT)

Jessica is an EdTech Consultant at EdTech Partners (EDT) as well as a Researcher & Mentor at UCL for Educate, the 4.5 million EU backed initiative with Nesta, Besa and F6S, that supports EdTech Startups in efficacy led improved services and products by combining research expertise with innovation. In addition to her wealth of experience as an EdTech Consultant, in this capacity she identified renewed strategies and improved products & services at McGraw Hill Education. She spear-headed beta testing, education strategies and media exposure with EdTech startups in Germany as well as founding Thinc, a charity in Austria, managing several EU projects reforming education with technology and creativity. With her charity she collaborated with Google Arts and Cultural Institute empowering women in India through Arts, Education and Technology. In Germany she founded Te(a)chology, a series of events that are facilitating discussions on Education, Technology and society. She speaks publicly on how EdTech, creativity and AI impacts learning environments and society.

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Jia En Teo

Jia En Teo is a private investor and one area of her investment interests is in early childhood education. Previously, Jia cut her teeth as an entrepreneur in the travel and technology space, and she brings her operational insight when evaluating investments and companies.

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Jun Lin

Incharge of Business Development and Business Intelligence
17zuoye.com (a.k.a Homework Together)

Jun Lin is in charge of Business Development and Business Intelligence at 17zuoye.com (a.k.a Homework Together), the largest online homework platform, also a unicorn company for K12 students in China. Jun has 3 years of experience with China market expansion and partnership strategies in EdTech field. Jun is also a Global Shaper under World Economic Forum, where she takes part in different projects to create positive social impact. Jun receives her education from the London School of Economics and has prior experience in management consulting and building startups of her own.

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Laetitia Lienart

Vice President - APAC Corporate Citizenship team
Credit Suisse

Laetitia has worked in the philanthropy/non-profit sector since 1999 in Africa, Asia and Europe, leading a wide range of challenging projects and multi-cultural teams. Her main skills are grant making, monitoring & evaluation, and impact assessment (forecast and evaluative).

Before Credit Suisse, where she is currently working as VP in the APAC Corporate Citizenship team, she worked as full time staff and freelance consultant for various UN agencies, NGOs and social enterprises, private foundations and other development actors. She also created Boost-e consulting in 2014, a consulting business registered in Singapore.

She holds a Master in Political Science/International Relations and a Master in International Humanitarian Aid.

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Lucy Schulz

Director - Cloud Campus
Deakin University

Lucy Schulz is Director of Deakin University’s Cloud Campus providing online education to over 13,000 students. Prior to this she was Program Director for the LIVE Agenda, Deakin University’s vision for 2020 overseeing a range of projects focused on enhancing the student experience at each stage in their journey. 

Before commencing at Deakin University Lucy was Executive Director: Regulation and Review at TEQSA, the Australian regulator for higher education.

Lucy has lead numerous strategic projects including large scale business change and technology projects particularly in university administrative and service areas. She is very focused on creating value for customers and is passionate about the value and difference an education makes.

Lucy has worked in the higher education sector for a number of years in both academic and administrative positions, as well as in higher education regulation. She has a number of qualifications including in Communication Studies, Legal Studies, Education, and Management Research. She has also completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) diploma and is a Fellow and Meritorious Service Award winner of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM).

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Mark Parkinson

Chief Executive Officer - Tenby Educare Sdn Bhd
Regional Managing Director - South-East Asia, International Schools Partnership

Since May 2016, Mark Parkinson has been CEO of the Tenby Schools Group. It comprises of six schools across Malaysia (Penang, Ipoh, Setia Eco Park, Semenyih, Johor Bahru and Miri) with a seventh to open in September 2018 in Tropicana Aman, KL. 

Currently providing education to around 5,150 pupils the schools have over 500 teachers, 700+ total employees. Of these, around 140 are expats, the remainder locals.

Tenby Schools were initially built up as a family owned business, until sale to Ekuinas in 2015. In January 2018 the group was bought by the International Schools Partnership (ISP).

From 2012 to 2016 he was involved as Executive director in setting up two new schools – one in Sharjah, UAE and one in Gurgaon, India – the first school for Swedish concern, Kunskapskolan.

From 2007 to 2012 he was Director of the Shri Ram Schools, India. The schools were ranked number one day school in 2008, 2010 and 2011 in independent surveys. He grew the schools group from 2,800 to 4,500 pupils over 5 years.

From 2005-2007 he turned around a struggling international school in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Prior to 2005, as well as being Head of Schools to set up a new school in Ahmedabad, India he was also a visiting faculty in Business Communications at the Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA) and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) – India’s number one rated institute of post graduate management learning.

From 1985 to 1996 he worked for Lloyds Private Banking, UK eventually holding the position of Senior Manager of City of London branch. At the same time, he was an active member of the British Junior Chamber (BJC), culminating in serving as President of Junior Chamber of Commerce for London.

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Michael Choy

Director

Dioworks Learning

Michael Choy is an experienced adult educator and researcher in the area of facilitation, learning design and development. Having been a trained teacher and a psychologist in the Ministry of Education, he has experience in working with students with learning difficulties. He has also trained more than 5000 adult educators and teachers across China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the area of learning styles, design skills and pedagogy. In his last position as Assistant Director and Head, Design and Development Unit at the Institute for Adult Learning, WDA, he was managing curriculum and MOOC (Massive Online Open Courseware) development.

Currently, Michael is running Dioworks Learning, his own e-learning company, designing MOOCs. He is also facilitating enterprises to adopt e-learning as part of the workplace learning initiative. He was also part of the winning team for the InnovPlus Nov 2017 competition organised by the Institute for Adult Learning, with the development of Chatbot for Learning.

Besides practical experience, Michael has also published numerous articles in academic journals and conference publications. His most recent articles in Educational Media International and Cogent Education discussed the impact of pedagogical beliefs of teachers on technology adoption in the classroom.

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Mike Michalec

Managing Director

Edtech Asia Limited

Mike has a keen interest in the use of mobile and Internet technologies for improved social and economic development outcomes coupled with a strong passion for innovation and entrepreneurship within the education sector. He has extensive experience working for multilateral and private sector organizations as an international development consultant for education and technology initiatives.

Mike is currently the managing director of EdTech Asia Limited, a consultancy, research, and event company that provides industry insight and serves to catalyze growth for the edtech ecosystem throughout Asia and beyond.

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Namita

Principal
Omidyar

Namita is a principal at Omidyar Network where she leads education investments in India. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Namita spent five years as associate director at Central Square Foundation, where she led the education technology vertical. She helped to incubate and invest in non-profit organizations and partnered with the government.

Previously, Namita was a design analyst at Education Elements, working closely with the engineering and consulting team to design a hybrid learning management system.Before Education Elements, she worked with the National Knowledge Commission, supporting the Prime Minister’s Office to develop policy encompassing education and related areas.

Namita received her MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and received a dual degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

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Neel Broker

Chief Executive Officer, EMEAA segment

Laureate Education

Neel Broker serves as CEO of our EMEAA segment (Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa), a position he has held since January 2018.

Over the past 10 years at Laureate, Neel has served as CEO of our Asia Pacific business, Head of Global Strategy, CEO India, and SVP Asia Pacific Business Development.

Neel has over 20 years of experience in international markets; he started his career with Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking Unit in New York and London, served with McKinsey’s management consulting practice in SE Asia and the US, and was a Director at Merrill Lynch’s Private Equity investing arm in Hong Kong.

Neel holds a Master of Science degree from BITS Pilani in India, and an MBA from The Wharton School. In his current role, Neel is based in Singapore.

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Nirav Khambhati

CEO
Tata ClassEdge

Nirav is the Chief Executive Officer of Tata ClassEdge since 2014, and Tata Interactive Systems since 2015. He was previously Vice President – Chairman’s Office at Tata Sons, a position he held from October 2005 to February 2014. During his tenure at Tata Sons, Nirav led a number of international projects and collaborations in the fields of telecommunications and aerospace. He has served as Director on the Boards of a number of companies within and outside India.

Prior to joining Tata Sons, Nirav led the telecom practice of TCS in the Asia Pacific region and worked as the head of control or repair center at Tata Teleservices. He was appointed an officer of the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1997.

Nirav is an Engineer and MBA (Gold Medalist) and had stood first in state in the Higher Secondary Certificate Examination. He has attended leadership development programmes conducted by INSEAD, Michigan Business School and IIM, Ahmedabad, and was one of the twelve mid-career professionals selected by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK for the first batch of the Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Innovation Leadership Programme at the University of Oxford.

Nirav was recognized as a Young India Leader by the British High Commission in 2013. In 2016, Jagran Lakecity University conferred upon him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts (Management) for his contributions in the space of management, education and technology. Nirav is a member of the CII’s Council for Primary Education.

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Oh Hwei Ting

Senior Principal
Joy Little Schoolhouse

Hwei Ting, a Senior Principal at Joy Little Schoolhouse, has decades of extensive experience and research in the early childhood field and the childcare industry for various regional and quasi-government preschool brands.

Hwei Ting is a multiple award-winning Preschool Principal in Singapore and has maintained an excellent reputation in this industry. She has helped preschools in Singapore with her knowledge and ability in obtaining all the appropriate and stringent licensing requirements and government certifications to operate a quality preschool.

Hwei Ting believes in research-based learning, as it allows for more in-depth acquisition of concepts and knowledge than the typical teaching methods in the same time frame, for learners ranging from very young children to adults.

Before Hwei Ting made the decision to dedicate her time to young children, she was designing and implementing online learning portals, learning management systems and instructional design for curriculum resources in the problem-based learning approach, an inquiry methodology for adult learners. She also used to specialise in knowledge and content management, instructional design methodologies and human-computer interfacing for global MNCs and various government and military defence agencies in Singapore.

Hwei Ting also lectured at various higher institutes of learning for adult learners.

Hwei Ting holds a Master of Education in Early Childhood Education from Monash University, Australia, and a Specialist Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education – Leadership, from SEED Institute, Singapore. Prior to this specialisation, she was trained as a Software Engineer and Systems Consultant, receiving her Master in Information Technology from The University of Newcastle, Australia, after her Bachelor of Computing from the Central Queensland University, Australia. She graduated in 1991 with a Diploma in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Singapore Polytechnic, with a Post Graduate Certificate in Computer Animation and Visualisation from Singapore Polytechnic.

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Pranjal Kumar

Principal
Bertelsmann India Corporate Centre

Pranjal Kumar is currently a Principal at Bertelsmann India Investments and Corporate Centre. He drives investments in the education sector for Bertelsmann in India, as well as steers portfolio management for BII investee companies. In his Corporate Center role, he supports Bertelsmann’s divisions in evaluating the innovation landscape and helps them execute their growth plans.

In his 16 years+ of professional career, Pranjal has spearheaded several strategic and operations related assignments across B2C and B2B sectors, especially in the area of education, telecom, media, retail and real estate. His domain expertise lies in investing in “aspiring leader” assets, shaping growth strategy (market assessment, go-to-market), its operationalisation (organisation strengthening & redesign, functional strategy), and in driving large-scale operational excellence programs.

Prior to Bertelsmann, Pranjal has spent most of his professional career with management consulting firms such as A. T. Kearney, Accenture and KPMG. He holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Bangalore, and a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from IIT Delhi. He loves playing indoor sports, and enjoys traveling with his family.

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Priya Krishnan

Founder & CEO
Founding Years Learning Solutions

Priya Krishnan is the CEO of one of the most prestigious and trustworthy prep school and daycare brands in India, KLAY, The Little Company (TLC) and WeCare. She is a business graduate from London Business School and has worked in various leadership positions with companies like Anderson Consulting and PWC. Before moving to India from the UK, Priya was the Vice President – Sales at Mphasis. Her decision to give up such a lucrative job was driven by her passion to make a difference in the educational sector along with her desire to resolve the limitations of existing daycare centres in Bangalore.

Under her leadership, the school has been the recipient of many prestigious awards from Brands Academy, Education Today and Silicon India for its contributions in the field of education and child care. The schooland daycare chain has also created a niche for itself. Today, whether it is in the established Bangalore or in the emerging Gurgaon, KLAY Preschools and DayCare is the most common neighbours of IT Parks in India. Parallel to its sister brand, The Little Company has a strong presence in the Corporate daycare sector with clients such as Hindustan Unilever Ltd, L'Oreal India Pvt. Ltd, Genpact and Johnson & Johnson to name a few.

At present, the prep school chain has nearly 4000 children learning and playing in over 80+ centres. Thus it goes without saying that KLAY, TLC & WeCare under the parent company Founding Years Learning Solution Pvt. Ltd. is a clear reflection of everything Priya stands for. She is the quintessential example of a driven, focused and successful woman entrepreneur.

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Raj Shastri

Partner
Kaizen Private Equity

Raj joined Kaizen in 2010 and works closely with portfolio companies to help drive significant increases in revenues and margins, post-investment. Prior to Kaizen, he spent 7 years in private equity investing including stints at Guggenheim Partners and Helix Investments. With experience investing across sectors, Raj’s most successful exits were with education companies, one of which is now listed. He maintains close relationships with education entrepreneurs, investment advisors and research professionals, and brings his extensive network and operational experience to bear in his board roles at portfolio companies. Raj has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi.

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Richard Qiu

VP of Business Development
Udemy

With decades of experience in business development and sales, Rich currently drives and manages key content, distribution, and strategic partnerships between Udemy and organizations around the world. He’s also responsible for the company’s initiatives to expand into new international markets. Rich previously held leadership roles at TRUSTe, 4INFO, and BeVocal. He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago.

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Salah-Eddine Kandri

Global Head of Education
IFC

Salah-Eddine is currently the Global Head of Education leading IFC’s Education Practice since April 2014. In this role, Salah-Eddine oversees IFC’s $800 million active portfolio and investment program in the education sector globally and across all levels of education. Prior to that, Salah-Eddine was the Regional Manager for Consumer Services for four years covering Europe, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa region (EMENA).

Salah-Eddine’s experience spans 20+ years in international development investing in emerging markets in a wide range of sectors with a primary focus on education and health sectors.

Prior to IFC, Salah-Eddine spent six years at the IsDB in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in charge of the Infrastructure and ICT private sector division. Salah-Eddine is a Fulbright Scholar and holds an MBA and a MSc. in Finance from the University of Maryland College Park. He also has an undergrad degree in Chemical Engineering from ENIM, Rabat, Morocco.

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Sandeep Aneja

Managing Partner
Kaizen Private Equity

Sandeep's passion for investing in innovative companies drove him to establish Kaizen Private Equity. As the Founder of the fund, he has been instrumental in driving the overall strategy and building the firm's knowledge and client network across the globe. His investing thesis stems from the belief that investors that bring sector expertise will differentiate themselves and be in the best possible position to assist the portfolio companies in their growth.

He believes in forming trusted partnerships with companies and their management teams on a shared commitment to achieve excellence and growth. Sandeep’s passion is to work closely with entrepreneurs who have a deep sense of purpose and a solid plan for identifying and owning emerging white spaces and leveraging initial ownership to build highly valuable differentiated and sustainable companies.

One of his professional commitments is to promote and improve the overall human wellbeing in emerging markets by investing in opportunities such as education, wellness and smart living. These sectors have a long-lasting impact on the economic growth of societies especially with lessons learned from developed markets. Kaizen Private Equity’s first foray in education is a step towards the realization of that overall commitment. Over time, cross-border opportunities with developed markets are expected to drive greater value in emerging markets.

Sandeep has been a part of the venture capital and private equity industry since 2002 and has been credited with numerous successful transactions the United States and in Asia. He sits on the boards of various education companies and is a frequent speaker on emerging education trends globally.

He has an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

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Sarita Bartlett

Head of ESG
Obviam

Sarita Bartlett’s career spans 40 years of groundbreaking work on a wide range of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) related issues. For the past 25 years, her work has focused extensively on the influence of ESG risk management, value creation and impact on companies’ financial performance, spanning from SMEs and MNCs to financial intermediaries.

Sarita is currently the Head of ESG at Obviam. Prior to joining Obviam, she was the Investment Manager-ESG at the Norwegian Development Finance Institution (Norfund), the Head of Socially-Responsible Investments at Norway’s largest asset manager (Storebrand) and Head of Sustainability at KMPG Norway. Sarita has held numerous board and advisory committee positions. Throughout her career, she has also held the following research positions: Senior Research Fellow at The Norwegian School of Management (BI), Research Economist at Statistics Norway (SSB), and Senior Research associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Sarita holds a B.A. and M.A. in Economics.

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Shamin Mehrotra

Director
Ummeed Child Development Center

Shamin Mehrotra is the Director- School Outreach Services, a Senior Mental Health Therapist and a member of the Senior Management team at Ummeed Child Development Center for over 14 years.
Over the years, Shamin has been instrumental in developing, designing as well as delivering several training programs in the space of inclusive education and mental health.
An integral part of Shamin’s work is her passion for working with children with disabilities (and their families), and providing them with ongoing mental health and counseling support to enable their overall journey in a positive direction.
Her interests have driven her to build the School Outreach Team at Ummeed that works within the broader space of education and supports schools to promote and facilitate the inclusion of children with diverse learning needs within mainstream settings. Shamin and her team collaborate with schools and work toward creating cultures and practices that are more accepting of diversity, thereby creating a safe space to support children reach their maximum potential in both the academic and social arenas.

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Sophie Chen

Partner
JMDedu

Sophie Chen, partner at JMDedu, responsible for international partnerships, discovering promising ed-tech start-ups worldwide, collaborating with global ed-tech hubs, and introducing great education resources into Chinese market. JMDedu is the No. 1 ed-tech B2B media and community in China, focusing on the latest innovations and trends in the education industry and running the community that supports investors and companies of all sizes across China. Prior to JMDedu, she worked for New Oriental Education Group, the largest private education provider in China, and Roland Berge Consultancy. She holds a master degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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Surya Mantha

Investment Director
Peepul Capital

Surya has over two decades of experience spanning Business Operations, Management Consulting, Investing and Corporate Research. At Peepul, Surya leads investments in the Technology, Financial Services and Education sectors. Prior to joining Peepul Capital, he was the CEO & MD of Saregama India Ltd, India’s oldest and largest music label. Previously, he worked as Director - Investments with Omidyar Network, where he led investments in Consumer Internet, E-commerce, Digital Media, Education and Government Transparency. While at Omidyar Network, Surya served on the boards of Quikr.com (India’s largest online classifieds) and Healthkart.com. In the non-profit sector, among other things, he led an investment into Akshara, one of the most scaled up and impactful not-for-profit organizations in primary Math education in India.

Prior to that, he was the CEO of Web18 (Network18’s Digital and Mobile businesses) and also served on the board of Bigtree Entertainment (which runs BookMyShow.com, India’s largest online entertainment ticketing service). Surya also spent several years with RealNetworks in Seattle and with PRTM Management Consultants in Washington DC, having starting his career with Xerox Corporation in their Research Centre in New York. While at Xerox, he was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Computer Science at SUNY, Buffalo where he advised graduate students and wrote useless papers on Philosophical Logic.

Surya graduated with a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kanpur, an MS from Virginia Tech, a PhD from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City and an MBA from the Simon School at the University of Rochester.

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Vivek Kathpalia

Partner
Nishith Desai Associates

Mr. Vivek Kathpalia is the head of the Singapore office of the multi-skilled, research-based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates(www.nishithdesai.com). He heads the Education, TMT & International Commercial Law Practice Groups.

He has been advising clients from across the spectrum in the education space. This includes regulatory advice, structuring complex cross-border and domestic transactions including joint ventures, private equity, private debt, M&A and dispute resolution. The education team at the firm works with all other practice areas to provide our education clients holistic advice. The team has developed a niche in the space as experts in education law in India. Clientele includes providers and investors. These include K-12 including preprimary, higher education including foreign universities, edtech companies & private equity and venture capital. The team is also involved in education policy and regulatory reform and is constantly engaged with like-minded organizations in this pursuit.

Mr. Kathpalia earned a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Government Law College, Mumbai and is a Solicitor affiliated with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society. He is a member of the Bombay Bar Association, Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa, the International Bar Association and Vice Chair of the TMT committee of the Inter Pacific Bar Association. He is a registered foreign attorney in Singapore with a special license to practice Indian law. He divides his time between Singapore & India.

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Yoshi Okamoto

Founder and Executive Director
SZIV

Yoshi Okamoto is Founder and Executive Director of SZIV, based in Silicon Valley and Greater Tokyo. SZIV is situated within a K-12 learning community as a learning science and engineering research venture, as well as an innovation fund.

SZIV works in partnership with startups and researchers around the globe, and brings innovative approaches to understanding and changing the way the world learns. A critical aspect of these collaborations is a focus on practical and scalable outcomes that can impact students' academic performance and empower teachers, even after the research is completed.

A veteran of three startups and one IPO, Yoshi has been a key driving force in forging alliances with leaders in the Internet, Communication, Technology and Education industries in Southeast Asia, North America and Europe.

His global career accomplishments in the US, Japan and Southeast Asia have included business development, integration, product incubation and communication functions, in the role of Executive Director, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager and External Advisor. He has served companies in the Internet, mobile and academic research industries, including Microsoft, Dwango North America, Rozetta, DLE, SZIV and University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS).

Details of his analytical work can be found in numerous publications around the world, including Cognitive Science Quarterly and American Association for Artificial Intelligence. Yoshi’s academic milestones include appointment as a doctoral research fellow in Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction and Computational Linguistics at the University of Maryland at College Park, an M.S. in Computational Linguistics from Georgetown University and an honors liberal studies B.A. from Maryville University of St. Louis.

Yoshi acts as an EdTech Advisory Board Member, Advisor, Ambassador as well as Mentor for startup communities in the US, Southeast Asia and Europe, and advises multiple startups.