UP Education is supported by a strong governance and quality assurance framework, including multiple Boards, Councils, Academic Boards, and Committees. Our Executive Management Team brings deep educational and commercial expertise, with a proven track record of driving organisational success across Australia and New Zealand. This experienced team is committed to excellence and focused on delivering continued growth across all regions.
Mark joined UP Education in 2018, bringing senior leadership experience in a number of growth-orientated organisations, including 12 years as a CEO …
Prior to joining UP Education, Colm has held multiple CFO roles based in Ireland with Xtralis Group, WElink Group, Thirdforce and Zamano plc …
Tessa joined UP Education in July 2024 as Chief Technology Officer with responsibility for the Group’s IT service management …
Chien Vu leads Acknowledge Education (AE), comprising of Stott’s College, Front Cooking School, and Melbourne Language Centre …
Craig joined UP Education in 2020 bringing 18 years of senior leadership experience across multiple industries …
Suzanne Pearson is a leader that challenges conventional HR paradigms, drives innovative change and uses her expertise to improve UP …
Sandra has over 25 years experience in leadership and management positions in the private tertiary education sector in Australia …
Tim joined UP Education in May 2019 as the group’s new Chief Sales and Marketing Officer …
Ana Maria leads the Yoobee Colleges Ltd group, NZ School of Tourism, Elite School of Beauty and Cut Above Academy …
Kylie leads the NZMA Group inclusive of NZMA, New Zealand Institute of Sport and The Culinary Collective …
James Ward leads the largest private provider of specialist early childhood education and Health and Wellbeing education in New Zealand …
The UP Education Group Academic Board undertakes oversight of academic quality across the Higher Education and Vocational Education private colleges and university partnerships. Current members include former Australian National University and Swinburne University of Technology Vice Chancellor, Professor Ian Young, and former Australian National University and University of Tasmania Provost, Emeritus Professor Mike Calford.
Professor Calford’s distinguished career in university leadership spans senior roles across both research and learning and teaching portfolios.
Professor Young is the Kernot Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne.
Mark joined UP Education in 2018, bringing senior leadership experience in a number of growth-orientated organisations, including 12 years as…
Danny is an influential business leader with interests spanning education, investment management, financial and business consultancy and floriculture
Mark joined UP Education in 2018, bringing senior leadership experience in a number of growth-orientated organisations, including 12 years as a CEO.
Mark was most recently CEO for electronic payments provider Paymark. Prior to that, he was CEO of Pacific Fibre and internet provider ihug and also CEO of the Fixed and Broadband business unit for Vodafone New Zealand.
Living in Auckland, he is currently a non-executive Director on the board of NZ-listed Freightways. He brings technology, sales and marketing expertise, business development, entrepreneurial skills and deep governance experience to the role of Group Chief Executive.
Mark is a graduate of Canterbury University. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and a Masters of Engineering Management.
Colm joined UP Education in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to joining UP Education, Colm has held multiple CFO roles based in Ireland with Xtralis Group, WElink Group, Thirdforce and Zamano plc. Colm is experienced in driving profitable growth through supporting revenue growth, margin improvement and cost management, with extensive experience in M&A, debt and equity funding, contract negotiations and financial planning.
Earlier in his career Colm worked in London and Boston, latterly as Director of Operations & Strategy for Avaya Inc.
Colm is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, has a Masters of Accounting from University College Dublin, a BSc Management (First Class Honours) from Trinity College, Dublin and a Strategic Financial Analysis for Business Evaluation qualification from Harvard Business School.
Tessa joined UP Education in July 2024 as Chief Technology Officer with responsibility for the Group’s IT service management, technology platforms, business applications and cyber defence.
Prior to joining UP Education, Tessa was Product & Technology Director at NZX listed Spark, New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services provider. She was responsible for all leading all-digital, IT and product divisions for consumer, business and government customers. Bringing with her 20 years’ experience spanning local and international markets in telecommunications and technology industries, Tessa has been responsible for leading teams across marketing, sales, customer operations, product and IT. She has extensive experience in business and operating model transformations, service product growth and cost management.
Chien Vu leads Acknowledge Education (AE), comprising of Stott’s College, Front Cooking School, and Melbourne Language Centre.
Chien’s personal story exemplifies the transformative power of education and opportunity. Fuelled by his family’s beginnings as one of the first Vietnamese refugees in Australia, he embarked on a service-oriented career of over 25 years in education and social work. He holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Psychology) from the Australian Catholic University (ACU) and a Bachelor and Master of Social Work from Monash University.
During his almost decade-long work in social services, Chien specialised in working with diverse clients, families, and communities with complex needs, including high-risk offenders in the justice system. This has equipped him with unique cross-cultural engagement skills, effective crisis and conflict management in high-stakes environments, and collaboration with individuals and groups to harness their potential. This also informs Chien’s leadership approach through initiatives that promote employee well-being, inclusion, and productivity while directing AE’s delivery of student-centric educational programs to achieve exceptional learning and employability outcomes.
With almost 20 years of experience in education, Chien provides a nuanced understanding and an informed strategic response to industry trends and challenges, particularly in international education. He has been instrumental in leveraging industry-relevant growth opportunities and implementing innovative practices at AE to drive its evolution as a competitive, multi-sector educational provider across Australia.
Chien is also a Board Member of the International College of Hotel Management (ICHM)
Craig joined UP Education in 2020 bringing 18 years of senior leadership experience across multiple industries including the public sector, technology, media & entertainment, and telecommunications – in both regulated and emerging markets.
Prior to joining UP Education, Craig was based in Los Angeles in the role of Chief Commercial Officer for Movio – a marketing technology and data analytics company in the film industry. Earlier in his career, Craig held a range of senior and executive-level roles spanning 10 years at Vodafone, including 2 years leading global account sales in India.
Craig is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honours).
Suzanne Pearson is a leader that challenges conventional HR paradigms, drives innovative change and uses her expertise to improve UP Education’s businesses on both sides of the Tasman.
She leads large, complex change projects, steers the HR/Employment side of M&A, and runs integration projects across the UP Education portfolio. Suzanne’s professional background spans multinational corporations, financial services, manufacturing, and professional services.
In her current role as Chief People Officer, Suzanne sets the strategic direction and execution of Talent Acquisition, ER/IR, Talent Management, DE&I, HR Operational & WHS activities across the UP Education group; and regularly navigates complex acquisition activities and integration projects.
Suzanne joined UP Education in a HR leadership role in 2017. In 2018, she was offered an internal opportunity of becoming GM at the New Zealand Institute of Sport, one of UP’s vocational colleges. There, she gained invaluable operational leadership experience and drove strategic realignments to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of NZIS.
Today, Suzanne is a trusted leader in strategic change management, well versed in the dynamics of large organisations and adept at managing diverse teams and stakeholders.
Sandra has over 25 years experience in leadership and management positions in the private tertiary education sector in Australia. She has spent the majority of this time as the CEO at Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors (AIPC) where she has played an instrumental role in the leadership and direction of the Institute in both vocational and higher education, including the attainment of AIPC’s higher education provider registration.
With AIPC and Endeavour College both joining the UP Education Group in recent times, Sandra’s role has expanded to include the Chief Executive responsibilities at Endeavour College, and membership of the College Board as a Director. Sandra holds post graduate qualifications in business management, and her professional interests include organisational sustainability, leadership development, quality education, and student experience.
Sandra continues to enjoy working in the tertiary education sector due to the positive impact education has on personal growth, life circumstances and professional accomplishments for students, particularly mature-age learners.
Tim joined UP Education in May 2019 as Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, driving strategy and leading the Group’s Sales and Marketing teams.
Prior to UP Education, Tim was Chief Customer Officer at Humm Group, an ASX-listed financial services company, where he drove significant customer-led growth initiatives. With extensive international experience across Payments, Telecommunications, and IT services sectors, Tim has a proven track record in accelerating growth and innovation in both large multinational corporations and agile technology startups.
Ana Maria leads the Yoobee Colleges Ltd group inclusive of Yoobee College of Creative Innovation, New Zealand School of Tourism, Elite School of Beauty and Cut Above Academy.
Yoobee Colleges Ltd is the largest Category 2 Private Training Establishment in New Zealand. Committed to playing a transformative role in shaping the workforce of the future, Yoobee Colleges Ltd offers a wide range of in-demand qualifications through its industry-leading collective of education providers train the next generation of leaders in Creative Industries, Technology, Tourism, Hair, Beauty, and Health.
Born in Colombia and fluent in Spanish, Ana Maria has 18 years’ experience driving high-performing teams. She enjoyed a successful publishing career in the United Kingdom at Penguin Books and HarperCollins. She was a member of the commercial management team, helping shift the business into digital publishing channels and new platforms and was involved in key intellectual property acquisitions. After relocating to New Zealand in 2013, Ana Maria held a range of leadership and executive roles in the education sector including Sales & Marketing Director for NZMA, General Manager Sales and Marketing for vocational and schools, and most recently CEO of Yoobee Colleges where she led the School of Design, School of Animation, School of Technology and School of Film (South Seas Film School).
Ana Maria is a Board Member for New Zealand Tertiary College.
Educated in Colombia, USA, Holland and the United Kingdom, Ana Maria has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in International Relations from Keele University in the United Kingdom.
As Chief Executive of New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) James Ward leads the largest private provider of specialist early childhood education and Health and Wellbeing education in New Zealand. The college supports students throughout New Zealand and globally. NZTC prides itself on holding its Category 1 NZQA External Evaluation and Reviews of Highly Confident in both educational performance and self-assessment capabilities for 12 years.
Born in Canada, James has 34 years’ experience in education across five countries. He has worked in opening up the Middle East for ELS Language Centres out of Abu Dhabi, UAE before moving to run a learning centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. James relocated to New Zealand in 2003, and started an English language centre, and moved into international education in a large tertiary college in Auckland. Since 2006, James has held the roles of Business Operations Manager, General Manager, most recently the CEO of NZTC.
Educated in Canada and Egypt, James has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Manitoba, and a Master of Arts from the American University in Cairo.
Professor Calford’s distinguished career in university leadership spans senior roles across both research and learning and teaching portfolios. These include: Provost of the Australian National University, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) at the University of Newcastle, Provost of the University of Tasmania and Pro Vice Chancellor (Health and Medical Research) at the University of Wollongong. Professor Calford has held research and teaching roles at a number of prestigious universities in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Professor Young is the Kernot Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He previously held the senior administrative roles of Vice Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology (2003-2011) and Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University (2011-2016). Young is an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and became an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2012 for his services to higher education and research.
Danny is an influential business leader with interests spanning education, investment management, financial and business consultancy and floriculture. He is best known for his involvement in Academic Colleges Group (ACG), an education and training company he co-founded in 1995. The company is made up of preschools, schools and vocational colleges and educates more than 13,000 students at 35 campuses across New Zealand, Indonesia and Vietnam.