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Board & Management

Directors

Peter Polson Non-Executive Director and Chairman

Peter was appointed Non-Executive Director and Chairman of IDP Education in March 2007 and became Chairman of IDP Education Limited when the company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in November 2015.
Peter has broad experience in the financial services industry, first as Managing Director of the international funds management business with the Colonial Group, then as an executive with the Commonwealth Banking Group with responsibility for all investment and insurance services, including the group’s funds management, master funds, superannuation and insurance businesses and third-party support services for brokers, agents, and financial advisers.
He is currently Chairman of Avant Group Insurance Limited and Very Special Kids. Until October 2022, Peter was Chairman of Challenger Limited (ASX: CGF, listed company director from November 2003 to October 2022) and Challenger Life Company Limited.
Peter is also a Director of Avant Mutual Group Limited, Avant Group Holdings Limited and Copia Investment Partners.

Ariane Barker Non-Executive Director

Ariane was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education at the completion of its IPO in November 2015 and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Ariane is a Board Member of Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (CSC) since September 2016, where she chairs the Governance Committee, is a member of the Remuneration and HR Committee and chairs ARIA Co Pty Ltd (a subsidiary of CSC). She is also a member of the Investment Committee at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute since 2011; and a former Board Director of Atlas Arteria (ASX: ALX, listed company director from March 2021 to December 2022) and Emergency Services & State Superannuation (ESSSuper).
She has extensive experience in international finance, risk management, debt and equity capital markets and venture capital, with over 20 years in senior executive roles at JBWere (part of National Australia Bank), Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC in the United States, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. She was previously the CEO of Scale Investors from 2017 to February 2021.
Ariane is Fellow and graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

Professor Colin Stirling Non-Executive Director

Colin was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education in February 2018.
He is the President and Vice-Chancellor of Flinders University and brings more than thirty years of experience in international education in Australia, the UK and the USA.
Colin is a Director of Education Australia Limited and has held various other board positions across health, academic and community organisations.
Educated at the University of Edinburgh and with a PhD from the University of Glasgow, Colin began his award-winning scientific career at the University of California, Berkeley.

Greg West Non-Executive Director

Greg was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education in December 2006.
Greg is on the Council of the University of Wollongong and a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of UOWGE Limited, a business arm of the University of Wollongong with universities in Dubai, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Greg is also a Director and Chair of Education Australia Limited and Education Centre of Australia Limited and Director of St James Foundation Limited and Fertoz Limited (ASX: FTZ, listed company director since February 2022).
Previously, Greg was Chief Executive Officer of a dual-listed ASX biotech company. He was also formerly a Director of Tiny beans (ASX: TNY, listed company director from March 2022 to October 2022). He has worked at Price Waterhouse and has held senior finance executive roles in investment banking with Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, NZI and other financial institutions.
Greg is a Chartered Accountant with experience in the education sector, investment banking and financial services.

Chris Leptos

Chris Leptos AO Non-Executive Director

Chris was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education at the completion of its IPO in November 2015.
Chris is also the Chairman of Summer Foundation, Chairman of Liverty Housing, and the Independent Reviewer of the Food and Grocery Code under the Competition and Consumer Act.
He was previously a Senior Partner with KPMG and Managing Partner Government at Ernst & Young where he had national responsibility for leading the public sector and higher education practice.
In 2000, he was designated a Member of the Order of Australia for services to business and the community, and in 2022, he was designated an Officer of the Order of Australia for services to the public sector and education.
Chris is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Fellow of the AICD.

Tracey Horton, AO Non-Executive Director

Tracey was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education in September 2022.
Tracey is an experienced company director with extensive international experience in leadership and senior management in the education industry and management consulting.
She is currently a Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee of the GPT Group (ASX: GPT, listed company director since May 2019) and is on the board of IMDEX (ASX: IMD listed company director since November 2023). She is a Non-Executive Director of Campus Living Villages Pty Ltd and Acting President of the Australian Takeovers Panel
Tracey has previously served on the Boards of leading listed companies, including as Chair of Navitas and Non-Executive Director at Automotive Holdings Group, Skilled Group and Nearmap. She has held several leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector, including President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA and Deputy Chair of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Michelle Tredenick Non-Executive Director

Michelle was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education in September 2022.
Michelle is a company director with extensive experience in businesses operating in a broad range of industries, including banking, insurance, wealth management, education services, health insurance, superannuation, and technology. She also runs her own corporate advisory business advising boards and CEOs on strategy and technology.
She currently serves on several listed and private company boards. She is on the board of Insurance Australia Limited (ASX: IAG, listed company director since March 2018), Urbis Pty Ltd, and First Sentier Investors Holdings Pty Ltd.
Michelle served as a Non-Executive Director of the Bank of Queensland (ASX: BOQ, listed company director from February 2011 to September 2020), Cricket Australia from 2015-2022 and was also formerly a director of the Ethics Centre and a Senate Member of the University of Queensland.

Andrew Barkla Non-Executive Director

Andrew was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of IDP Education on 12 September 2023.
He has extensive experience in the technology, services, and software industry, with more than 20 years of senior management experience in roles across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America.
Andrew was CEO and Managing Director of IDP Education from August 2015 until September 2022. Prior to joining IDP Education, Andrew worked for SAP as President of Australia and New Zealand. Before this, he held leadership roles at Unisys, including Vice President of Unisys’ Asia Pacific Japan operations covering 13 countries, Member of Unisys’ Global Executive Committee, and Chairman of Unisys West: a technology services joint venture between BankWest and Unisys.
Earlier in his career, Andrew was Vice President and General Manager of PeopleSoft’s Asia Pacific region prior to the company’s acquisition by Oracle.
Andrew is currently Chair of Capsifi and on an Advisory Board Member at Guroo Learning.

Senior management team

Tennealle O'Shannessy

Tennealle O’Shannessy Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director

Tennealle was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of IDP in February 2023.
Tennealle has over twenty-five years of professional experience, including scaling online education and employment platforms and e-commerce businesses.
Prior to joining IDP, Tennealle was CEO of Adore Beauty, Australia’s number one online beauty retailer, where she led the successful listing of the company on the ASX in 2020.
Prior to this role, Tennealle spent almost ten years with SEEK, a global market leader in online employment marketplaces and education services, where she held the role of Managing Director – Americas. Whilst at Seek, she also held a number of global strategy-focused positions, including the start-up and scaling of Online Education Services, a public-private partnership between SEEK and Swinburne University.
Earlier in her career, Tennealle was a consultant with global tier-one management consulting firm Kearney, focusing on strategic and operational CEO-agenda issues.

Kate Koch Chief Financial Officer

Kate was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of IDP in October 2024.
Kate is an accomplished senior finance executive with broad international experience, including in the education and technology sectors. Prior to joining IDP, Kate was the CFO of SEEK Limited since June 2021.
Previously Kate was CFO at RMIT University and held senior finance leadership roles at Tesco Plc and Pearson Plc in London. Through these experiences, she developed a deep understanding of the needs of international students and educational institutions, as well as leading global teams, including large shared services functions.
Kate holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of NSW, is a Chartered Accountant and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Harmeet Pental Chief Operating Officer

Harmeet joined IDP Education in March 2009 as Regional Director, South Asia, and moved to his current role as Chief Operating Officer in October 2017.
He has overall responsibility for IDP‘s operations across North Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, Middle East & Africa, Canada, Australasia and Latin America operations, and Customer and Operations Transformation.
Before joining IDP, Harmeet held general management roles with Avon Products and VLCC, and national marketing and sales roles with Lakme Lever and Reckitt's.
Harmeet holds an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University and a BA (Hons) in Mathematics from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

Georgia Murphy Chief People Officer

Georgia commenced work with IDP Education in April 2009 as the General Manager, People and Culture
Prior to joining the Company, Georgia served in senior human resources management roles where she was responsible for the management of complex, multi-site human resources operations, organisation development, strategic planning and change management
Georgia holds a Masters in Business from Victoria University of Technology, a Graduate Diploma in Organisation Development from Deakin University and a Bachelor of Applied Science from RMIT

Matt Toohey Chief Information Officer

Matt commenced work with IDP Education in February 2022, as Chief Information Officer.
He is responsible for the overall strategy and direction for technology at the company.
Prior to joining IDP, Matt worked as the Chief Information Officer of ME Bank. He has also held CIO roles at iiNet and Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers.
Matt holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia.

Jennifer Fleming Chief Strategy Officer

Jennifer commenced work with IDP Education in January 2025, as Chief Strategy Officer.
She is responsible for the overall strategy direction at the company.
Prior to IDP, Jennifer held senior positions with Medibank, the Victorian Government, ANZ, NAB, Lort Smith Animal Hospital, and AT Kearney.
Jennifer holds an MBA from the University of Arizona where she focused on Natural Language Processing, and a BA from the University of Virginia (French and Russian) with a focus in sociolinguistics. She recently completed studies in AI Implications for Business Strategy at MIT Sloan School of Management.

Imad Chaoui Regional Director Middle East Africa, Europe & Commonwealth of Independent States

Imad commenced work with IDP Education in 2017 as the Regional Director responsible for the company's Middle East operations. This has expanded to include Africa, Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States operations across 30 countries. He is based in Dubai.
Imad brings to IDP over 20 years of sales, commercial and general management experience from the pharmaceuticals, consumer and medical devices industries
Before joining IDP, he worked with the Swiss healthcare company Novartis from 2009, leading several of the company's group subsidiaries. Of these, his most recent role was as General Manager of Alcon, overseeing 13 countries across the Middle East.
Imad holds a Doctorate in Pharmacy from Chatenay-Malabry University Paris XI, and an MBA from Ecole Superieure des Affaires in partnership with Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Paris.

Piyush Kumar Regional Director, South Asia

Piyush commenced work with IDP Education in 2015 as the Country Director for India. During this tenure Piyush led extensive expansion into India, and more recently led the successful market entry into Nepal
In October 2017, Piyush joined IDP's Global Leadership Team (GLT) as the Regional Director for South Asia. In his role Piyush is responsible for IDP Education offices in six countries: India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, South Korea and Mauritius
Prior to joining IDP, Piyush was in a leadership position at SBI Cards, a joint venture between GE Capital and the State Bannk of India, where he led the largest new customer acquisition channel for the business across 45 offices in India
Piyush holds an MBA from the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development and an Electrical engineering degree from the National Institute of Technology.

Simon Emmett CEO IDP Connect

Simon was appointed CEO of The Hotcourses Group in 2015 having held a number of senior management roles in the business since joining in 2000.
He joined the IDP global leadership team when Hotcourses was acquired by the business in 2017.
Simon is based in London and leads the strategic direction and operational delivery of the Hotcourses Group. He is also responsible for key partnerships, developing people and culture.
He graduated in Economics from the University of Warwick.

Neil Pearson Chief Digital Officer

After 17 years as the Chief Technology Officer with IDP Connect (formerly The Hotcourses Group), Neil Pearson joined IDP Education as the Chief Digital Marketing Officer in 2017.
In his time at IDP Connect, Neil played a key role in moving the company from a print publication to a world-leading online student engagement and course search platform.
Since joining IDP, Neil has spearheaded the delivery of IDP's ambitious digital strategy, including the launch of a global network of websites, redefining how IDP connects and engages with our connected community around the world.
Neil holds a Master of Arts (Electronic Media) from Oxford Brookes University and a Bachelor of Fine Art and English from University of Exeter.

Raja Sood Regional Director - South East Asia

Raja joined IDP Education in December 2010 as the Head Marketing & Australia Destination South Asia. He was appointed Regional Director for South East Asia in June 2022.
Prior to his current role, Raja led the Global Marketing Operations and was responsible for IDP offices in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.
Raja has over 17 years’ experience in sales, operations and marketing across the business, e-commerce, start-up and auto-hire industries. He worked with Indian multinational company, Berger Paints where he drove high sales growth and built brands for online travel agency Yatra.com and AVIS Rent a Car.
Raja holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Delhi University and an MBA in Finance & Marketing from the Indian Institute of Planning and Management.

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