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Board & Management

Directors

Peter Polson Non-Executive Director and Chairman

Peter was appointed Non-Executive Director at IDP Education in March 2007
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 Chairman of Challenger Limited, Challenger Life Company Limited, Avant Group Insurance Limited and Very Special Kids
He is also a director of Avant Mutual Group Limited and Avant Group Holdings Limited

Andrew Barkla Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director

Andrew was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at IDP Education in August 2015
Andrew has extensive experience in the technology, services and software industry, with over 20 years of senior management experience in roles across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America
Prior to joining IDP Education, Andrew worked for SAP as President of Australia and New Zealand
Prior to his role at SAP, Andrew held leadership roles at Unisys, including as Vice President of Unisys’ Asia Pacific Japan operations covering 13 countries, as Member of Unisys’ Global Executive Committee and as 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.

Ariane Barker Non-Executive Director

Ariane was appointed as a Non-Executive Director at IDP Education at the completion of its IPO in November 2015 and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
As the CEO of angel investor network, Scale Investors, Ariane works to support female entrepreneurs and gender balanced startups who are in early stage businesses. She is a member of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) Investment Committee and Development Board as well as a former Board Member of Emergency Services & State Superannuation (ESSSuper)
Ariane has extensive experience in international finance, risk management, and debt and equity capital markets, having worked in executive roles with JBWere, National Australia Bank, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and HSBC in the United States, Europe, Japan and Hong Kong
Ariane is a graduate and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD)

Professor David Battersby AM Non-Executive Director

David was appointed as a Non-Executive Director at IDP Education in February 2011
He was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Federation University Australia in early 2014 and was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ballarat, a position to which he was appointed in 2006
David’s previous senior appointments have been at universities in Australia and New Zealand. He has undertaken consultancies for UNESCO, the OECD and various government agencies
He was foundation Chair of the Australian Regional Universities Network and the board of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka and is currently on the board of directors for Business Higher Education Round Table Board, Committee for Ballarat and Melbourne Institute of Technology
David is also Chair of the Board of Education Australia Limited

Professor Colin J. Stirling Non-Executive Director

Colin was appointed as a Non-Executive Director at IDP Education in February 2018.
Colin is the President and Vice-Chancellor of Flinders University and brings over thirty years of experience in international education in Australia, the UK and the USA.
He also holds a number of other board positions across health, academic and community organisations and is the current Chair of the Innovative Research Universities (IRU) group and a board member of the Business/Higher Education Round Table (BHERT).
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 at IDP Education in December 2006
Greg is a Chartered Accountant with experience in investment banking and financial services. Greg is Chief Executive Officer of the ASX listed biotech, Benitec Biopharma Limited.
He is a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of UOWD Limited (a business arm of Wollongong University)
Previously, 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 also a Director of Education Australia

Chris Leptos

Chris Leptos AM Non-Executive Director

Chris was appointed as a Non-Executive Director at IDP Education in November 2015
His other Board roles include Chairman of .au Domain Administration Limited, Deputy Chairman of Flagstaff Partners, and Non-Executive Director of PPB Advisory and Arete Capital Partners. Chris retired as Deputy Chairman of Linking Melbourne Authority in December 2015. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of The University of Melbourne Faculty of Business & Economics, the Advisory Council of Asialink, a Professorial Fellow at Monash University, a Governor of The Smith Family, and a Fellow of the AICD.
Chris 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.
Earlier in his career, Chris was General Manager of Corporate Development for Western Mining Corporation and Chief of Staff to Senator John Button. He was a member of the Infrastructure Planning Council of Victoria and the Australian Information Economy Advisory Council.
Chris has lived and worked in Jakarta, Shanghai, Tokyo, London and Toronto, and in 2000 he was designated a Member of the Order of Australia for services to business and the community.

Senior management team

Andrew Barkla

Andrew Barkla Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director

Andrew commenced work with IDP Education in August 2015 as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Refer to the Directors section above for a summary of Andrew’s professional credentials

Murray Walton Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary

Murray commenced working with IDP Education in March 2010 as Group Financial Controller and is currently Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary, positions which he has held since May 2010
Prior to joining the Company, Murray held senior finance and management roles with Kodak and SC Johnson in Australia, New Zealand and across Asia Pacific
Murray started his finance career with Fisher & Paykel before spending the next 25 years working for United States based multi-nationals
Murray is a chartered accountant and a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand

Warwick Freeland Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director IELTS

Warwick commenced work with IDP Education in November 2008 as General Manager, Strategy and Business Development and is currently Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Director IELTS, a position which he has held since July 2011
He is responsible for strategy, marketing, acquisitions, information services, project management and IELTS
Prior to joining the Company, Warwick worked for Carl Zeiss Vision in Germany as VP Global Product Marketing and Innovation. He has also previously worked with high-growth electronics and machine tools companies
Warwick has also managed the Victorian Government’s economic development for Europe and North America
Warwick holds a Graduate Diploma, Marketing from Monash University and a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) from Swinburne University of Technology

Harmeet Pental Chief Operating Officer

Harmeet joined IDP Education in March 2009 and was, until recently, Regional Director, for South Asia, North America, UK and Network Shared Services
In October 2017 Harmeet was appointed as IDP's Chief Operating Officer
Harmeet currently has overall responsibility across IDP's South Asia, South East Asia and Middle East regions, the US and Canada client relations teams, Canada/Latin America IELTS business activities and Customer and Operations transformation
Prior to joining IDP, Harmeet held general management roles with Avon Products across India and Vietnam and VLCC (India’s leading health and beauty services company).
Harmeet holds an MBA and BA (Hons) in Mathematics from Delhi University

Georgia Murphy General Manager, People and Culture

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

James Cauchy Regional Director, Australasia

James commenced work with IDP Education in January 2008 as Regional Manager Australia and is currently Regional Director, Australasia based in Melbourne, Australia
James is responsible for IDP Education’s onshore operation in Australia including Student Placement and IELTS. James also manages the Australian and New Zealand client relations functions as well as the web development team for IDP Education websites across its global network of countries. James is also responsible for the operation for IELTS and Student Placement in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea
Prior to joining the Company, James worked in operational management positions for a number of different brands at major Australian retailer Coles Myer

Imad Chaoui Regional Director, Middle East

Imad commenced work with IDP Education in 2017 as the Regional Director responsible for the company's Middle East operations in 17 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.

Varaporn Dhamcharee Regional Director, South East Asia

Varaporn joined IDP Education in January 2015 as Regional Director, South East Asia
She is based in Bangkok, Thailand and in her role Varaporn is responsible for IDP Education’s offices in five countries in the South East Asia region: Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines and Cambodia
Varaporn has over 20 years of sales, commercial and general management experience gained across Asia. She previously held senior leadership positions with Kimberly-Clark as General Manager for Thailand and Managing Director for Taiwan and Vietnam
Varaporn’s most recent role was as Managing Director for Green Spot, a Thai FMCG business that employed over 1,500 staff and exported to 45 countries
Varaporn holds a BA (Hons) from Chulalongkorn University and an MBA from Sasin Graduate Institute, a partnership between Chulalongkorn, Kellogg and Wharton

Allen Jiang Regional Director, North Asia

Allen commenced work with IDP Education in 2007 as Country Manager and is currently Regional Director, North Asia
He is based in Shanghai and, in his role, Allen is responsible for all aspects of the Company’s business operations in North Asia, which currently covers China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
Prior to joining IDP Education, Allen was the Business Unit Director leading sales and marketing with a United States-based medical device company (Stryker) and prior to that spent 10 years with Johnson & Johnson in both their consumer and professional product divisions
Allen holds a Bachelor of Medicine from the Medical School of Zhe Jiang University and an MBA from Shanghai Jiao Tong University

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.

Craig Mackey Director, Corporate Development

Craig joined IDP Education in 2013.
As the Director of Corporate Development, Craig is involved in many aspects of strategy, M&A and investor relations.
With an investment banking background, Craig brings to IDP a broad perspective on corporate strategy and finance, and leads all of the company's acquisitions and investments.
Craig holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and is a member of the Financial Services Institute of Institute of Australasia.

Simon Emmett Chief Executive Officer, Hotcourses Group

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.

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