As the world’s leading premium international schools organisation, we make every moment of your child’s education count. Our strong academic foundations combine world-class teaching and curricula with cutting-edge technology and facilities, to create learning experiences like no other. Inside and outside of the classroom, we inspire our students to achieve more than they ever thought possible.
No two children learn the same way, which is why a Nord Anglia education personalises learning to what works best for your child. Our approach means that your child leaves school with everything they need to succeed in whatever they choose to be or do in life.
We’re proud that our students achieve some of the best academic results in the world and study at the world’s top universities.
But that’s just part of the story because what we offer is much more than just academic excellence. We help our students get ready for the future. To think creatively and outside the box, to keep trying, and to be team players. Inspired by the world’s best teachers in incredible learning environments, a Nord Anglia education is like no other.
Andrew Fitzmaurice is Chief Executive Officer of Nord Anglia Education. Following his appointment as CEO in 2003, Nord Anglia has established itself as the world’s leading international schools organisation.
Under Andrew’s leadership, Nord Anglia provides personalised learning to c.90,000 students aged 3-18 years old in independent day and boarding schools. Nord Anglia’s schools are located in 30+ countries across Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Europe.
Andrew graduated from the University of Wales Cardiff, Magna Cum Laude, with a degree in Economics. He also holds a master’s degree in international education from King’s College.
In August 2023, Andrew was appointed Chairman of IMG Academy, the global sports education brand. As Chairman, Andrew also oversees IMG Academy’s global collaboration with Nord Anglia which provides a wellbeing programme for the international schools organisation’s students and colleagues.
Prior to Nord Anglia, Andrew held a number of executive appointments across different sectors.
He has more than two decades of experience in the hospitality sector, including senior finance leadership roles across Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Ton previously led the financial direction of hotels, commercial real estate, retail operations and education at the Jumeirah Group based in Dubai. Prior to that, he was based in Singapore as Head of Finance for Asia Pacific at Hilton Worldwide, where he was accountable for the region’s financial delivery across more than 20 countries. Ton’s career history includes a number of international postings within the Hilton group.
Ton holds an Executive MBA from the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland and a bachelor’s degree in Finance from “Hotelschool The Hague” in the Netherlands. He also studied at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in London.
Dr Elise Ecoff is Nord Anglia Education's Chief Education Officer. Under her leadership, the Education Team ensure that our schools' educational practice, curricula and programmes are second to none. Comprised of senior education experts, the team drives a research-led approach to educational excellence. In addition to providing specialist support to our principals and teachers, they lead best practice and continuous improvement programmes informed by the latest thinking in teaching and learning, ensuring our schools offer the finest educational experience.
Prior to taking up this role in 2020, Elise was Principal at North Broward Preparatory School from 2012 where she had served since 2004 as a division leader, curriculum specialist, and Assistant Head of School. She also spent fifteen years working in Broward County Public Schools in Florida.
Serving more than 34 years in education in teaching and leadership roles has enabled Elise to learn much from students, families, teachers, and education experts. Her time leading schools fulfilled a lifelong dream and taught her more than she expected about the power of education, and the many and various ways learning empowers.
Elise is also committed to helping schools on their continuous improvement journey and as such spent four years as a member of the board of directors of the Florida Council of Independent Schools.
As the founder of MNT2LEAD, a website designed to serve as a ‘digital mentor,’ Elise strives to build community and pathways for aspiring female educational leaders.
Elise holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Lynn University, a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, with a minor in Special Education and certification in ESOL, from Florida International University.
Vanessa Nicholls is interim Chief Human Resources Officer and Group Strategic Programmes Director for Nord Anglia Education.
Vanessa joined Nord Anglia in January 2023 in the newly created role of Group Strategic Programmes Director. She provides executive leadership for both the group’s education digital portfolio and data insights programme. In October 2023, Vanessa was also appointed as interim Chief HR Officer (CHRO).
Prior to her 25-year career in the civil service, she worked for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as well as within a secondary school in London. Her civil service career began in the Department for Education where she worked on programmes to support parents, children in care, and access to Higher Education. Vanessa has held various senior leadership positions in government, overseeing the delivery of major programmes on improving opportunities for young people, international partnerships, and HR and organisational performance.
Vanessa cares deeply about encouraging leadership development, creating environments where people flourish, and supporting younger women to develop their careers.
Richard has over 25 years of experience, across a wide range of sectors, helping organisations transform and evolve by using technology.
Richard joined from International SOS, the world’s leading medical and security risk management organisation, where he was the Group CIO. Prior to that he led technology transformation programmes in the banking and logistics sectors. At DeutschePost-DHL he performed Business Unit, Regional & Global CIO roles, working in the UK, Singapore and Germany. He qualified in Electronic Engineering from the City University, London and then started his career as a software engineer for the UK Ministry of Defence before moving into consulting with the Big Four firms.
Richard is a recognised authority and frequent speaker on how to blend traditional and emerging technologies to achieve significant outcomes. His remit includes the technology that runs the organisation as well as the Education Technology in the classrooms.
Richard Seymour is the Chief Marketing Officer for Nord Anglia Education. He joined Nord Anglia in 2015 as the Group Head of Digital Marketing before being appointed Regional Director of Admissions and Marketing for China in 2018, and Europe in 2020.
Richard has over 20 years’ experience in international marketing, spanning multinational organisations across education, music, media, sports and logistics sectors. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing Design from Southampton Solent University.
Patrick Watt joined Nord Anglia Education as Chief Admissions Officer on 1 October 2022.
Patrick has over 20 years international experience in senior commercial leadership roles. Most recently at Bupa, the global healthcare provider, he was responsible for sales and distribution for its UK and global businesses. Whilst at Bupa, Patrick led the strategic development of market leading cover for mental health and gender dysphoria, and the launch of two award winning virtual health and wellbeing propositions. Patrick has also held leadership roles at Goldman Sachs and Mercer UK.
He is a proud advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and is a founding member of the City Mental Health Alliance in London. He has chaired Business in the Community’s task force on mental health and served as Board Director of Headspace Health and Mindapples, two digital businesses which help people achieve better mental health.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Glasgow.
Our regional leaders bring a wealth of experience to the management of Nord Anglia schools, no matter where they are around the world.
John McCall is Regional Managing Director, the Americas at Nord Anglia Education
John McCall is Regional Managing Director, the Americas at Nord Anglia Education.
The founding member of the British International School Shanghai (BISS), Jian has commissioned, opened and provided strong operational management for each school opened in the region.
Previously, Jian has worked as an independent business consultant and as China Desk Manager for Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland. Jian has a BA in management studies and an MA in industrial economics.
Jerome de Meyer is Advisor for SEAME and non-executive Chairman of Nord Anglia Switzerland.
Jérôme de Meyer is an advisor on boarding and out-of-classroom activities and the non-executive Chairman of Nord Anglia Switzerland.
After completing a Master’s Degree in Business and Economics at the University of St Gall in Switzerland and becoming an officer in the Swiss Army, Jérôme started his career with Swissair as a Marketing Director.
In 1991, he succeeded his father and became the third generation of the family to own and run the Collège Beau Soleil, in Villars sur Ollon, Switzerland. In 1995, Jérôme started the foundation “le Solstice” which helps close to 1,200 children all around the world to have access to free education.
The Education Advisory Board provides valuable external perspectives to develop our offering. Working closely with Nord Anglia’s leadership team, they support the continuous development of programmes, curricula, teaching and learning to deliver outstanding academic, social and personal outcomes for students.
Lord David Puttnam is the Chair of Atticus Education, an online education company founded in 2012 that delivers audio-visual seminars to students all over the world.
In addition to this, he is a former member of the House of Lords where he pursued an active role in a variety of areas, from educational and environmental issues to digital skills.
He spent thirty years as an independent producer of award-winning films including The Mission, The Killing Fields, Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, Bugsy Malone and Local Hero. Together these films have won ten Oscars, ten golden globes, twenty-five Baftas and the Palme D'Or at Cannes.
President Emeritus Dr. Joseph W. Polisi led The Juilliard School for 34 years, from 1984 to 2018. Upon stepping down, he was appointed Chief China Officer and supervised the development of The Tianjin Juilliard School in Tianjin, China. Prior to Juilliard, he was Dean of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Dean of faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, and Executive Officer of the Yale University School of Music.
Joseph holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale, a degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, and a degree in political science from the University of Connecticut.
This world-leading team ensures our schools' educational practice, curricula and programmes are second to none. Comprised of senior education experts, the team drives a research-led approach to educational excellence with specialist support for principals and teachers.
Dr Leslie Williams began her career in education in 2002 as an English teacher in both public and private schools before transitioning into the role of High School Director at Windermere Preparatory School in August 2013.
During the summer of 2020, whilst High School Director, Leslie became the NAE Chairperson for Global the Equality Programme's Steering Committee, which was responsible for creating an EDI Policy and an EDI Vision with key organisational goals. She continues to lead the organisation’s efforts in ensuring everyone understands their role in creating inclusive environments that instill a sense of belonging in each community member.
In July 2022, Leslie began her role as the Senior Programme Lead for Social Impact and Giving which focuses on the NAE collaboration with UNICEF, Social Impact Grants, and Student Leadership. Through this role, she aims to connect with schools and to connect schools with one another as they work through the UN Sustainable Development Goals and student leadership opportunities.
Graham joined Nord Anglia in September 2018 bringing his wealth of experience within the international sector and educational and leisure industries. As a Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner, with a track record of over 25 years of delivering value-added risk management to prominent organisations, he is passionate about building a best in class service for all our schools.
Following his undergraduate science degree and early career in construction, Graham realised his true vocation. After returning to university to attain his Postgraduate Diploma in Health and Safety, he was appointed Her Majesty’s Inspector of Health & Safety in the UK, where he was responsible for workplaces in the education, leisure and healthcare sectors. Moving to the private sector, he combined a successful role as a Director in a specialist agency advising the film and television industries, whilst lecturing on a university Masters Safety degree and managing safety for a complex multi-site NHS healthcare trust.
Graham’s international career took off at the British Council where he led on safety and security across an estate spanning 110 countries. Following this, Graham took up the challenge of extending his skills within the emergency services, as Head of Health & Safety and Internal Assurance.
Jenny joined Nord Anglia Education in July 2015 with over a decade of experience in education and is currently the Assistant Director, Professional Development. She has previously managed Nord Anglia's Global Campus along with our collaborations with The Juilliard School and UNICEF.
Her career has included senior roles leading local, regional and national school improvement programmes in the UK. Before joining Nord Anglia Education as Assistant Director of Student Services, Jenny led school improvement in Academy Trusts, where she was responsible for developing and delivering strategies to turn around historically underperforming schools. Prior to these roles, Jenny spent nine years working in the Department for Education leading key initiatives. Jenny was the Head of the Greater Manchester Challenge, which helped to significantly increase the number of outstanding schools in the region, and led key elements of the London Challenge. Jenny played a key role in expanding the London Challenge to the Three City Challenges, and the National Challenge.
With across the globe and tens of thousands of students worldwide, we are a truly global community that spans both continents and cultures. By joining us as a student and parent, you become part of our international family.
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