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The Top 25 Education Consultants and Leaders of 2023

The Consulting Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 Education Consultants and Leaders of 2023. Education consulting plays a vital role in addressing and adapting to the ongoing disruptions within the education sector. Consequently, it has emerged as a burgeoning sub-sector in the consulting industry with potential for significant growth. These consulting leaders found in this year's awards cater to various areas such as education policy, higher education, and K-12 education. Their expertise aims to enhance operational efficiency in educational institutions and related companies, leading to improved student outcomes, optimized governance, and increased fundraising success. Furthermore, the exceptional men and women on this year’s list are frequently sought after by educational institutions to strategize and prepare for long-term transformations and changes within the industry.

One of the top-notch education consultants featured on this year's roster is Roy Mathew, a Principal at Deloitte, where he leads the Higher Education Consulting practice for his 175 year-old firm. With more than 20 years of consulting and industry experience across both private and public sector clients, Mathew has led many of Deloitte’s largest Higher Education transformation programs that span strategy, implementation, and operations. Similarly, this year we have Dayna Aravich, the VP of U.S. Education Industry at Gartner. Notably, Aravich also serves as the Chair & Board Operations for Women in Sales at Gartner, where she empowers over 2,000 women in sales. Meanwhile, Jean Demchak, the Global Leader of Marsh's Education Industry Practice, has dedicated the last 29 years to specializing in the education industry.

Please join us in celebrating The Top 25 Education Consultants and Leaders of 2023.

Andre Dua is a Senior Partner at consulting giant McKinsey & Co. His expertise lies in company transformation, higher education, economic development, innovation, the future of work, and state and local government. In higher education, he has served more than 35 public and private universities and systems in the US and across the world. His higher education work includes: board governance; academic medical enterprise governance and performance improvement; system, university, and school strategy; center and institute design; research strategy; access and completion; and administrative operations improvement.

Additionally, he was a member of the McKinsey Global Institute Council, McKinsey’s globally renowned think-tank, and he also founded McKinsey Academy, which designs large-scale capability-building programs to unlock the potential of people in leading institutions. Dua was also the convenor of the Taskforce on Higher Education and Opportunity, a group of 37 organizations representing 2.4 million students across the US (including 4-year, 2-year, public, private and HBCUs) focused on expanding opportunity for America’s post-secondary students. He currently serves on the Board of the College Advising Corps and previously served on the boards of the Citizens’ Budget Commission, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and the United Way of New York City. Dua holds an LL.M. from the Yale Law School, and holds dual bachelors in economics and law from the University of Sydney.

At KPMG Sam Sanders is a Partner. He also leads the consulting business’s Higher Education (HE) Advisory team and KPMG’s Education Consulting practice in the UK. Sanders has over 20 years of experience working with high profile public sector clients – both in the UK and Australia – delivering large scale organizational redesign, process and customer journey improvement, core systems selection, and change management projects. Notably, KPMG is a leading UK provider of tax, audit and advisory services. It employs 14,000 people in 22 offices across the country.

The work that Sanders and his team are currently delivering – in partnership with a broad range of UK universities – is helping these important institutions survive and thrive in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive environment. In addition to Education, Sanders has worked extensively across the Criminal Justice sector, Defence, Health and with a number of other Central Government clients.Before joining KPMG, Sanders was a Consultant at Accenture. He received his MA from Kings College London and a BA from University College London.

Dennis Morrone is the National Managing Partner of Grant Thornton's Not-for-Profit & Higher Education Practices. In this capacity, Morrone has overall responsibility for the services performed by the firm for clients in this sector nationwide, along with all related marketplace initiatives. Notably, Grant Thornton is one of America’s largest audit, tax and advisory firms, boasting revenues of $2.3 billion for the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2022. There are almost 50 offices nationwide, employing more than 9,000 problem solvers.

Prior to joining Grant Thornton in May of 2002, Morrone was previously part of Arthur Andersen’s Metro New York Not-For-Profit Practice. On top of that, Morrone recently completed a 3-year term on the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC). Over his career, he has developed and taught numerous courses on not-for-profit accounting and compliance topics, has been a prolific presenter in various industry forums, and has written extensively for Grant Thornton's not-for-profit industry letters and many other industry publications. Morrone earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from Villanova University.

Louisa Menne Brøndsted is partner in Implement Consulting Group. She has a strong passion for creating behavioral and business impact through learning. She is the program manager of large academies and is experienced in making sure the training sticks. She has designed and facilitated over 1,500 workshops and training sessions and has recently focused on digital and blended learning. The last 8 years Louisa has been the director of Implement Learning Institute and is furthermore the dean of Implement University, which offers internal training with more than 35 masterclasses and 5 learning journeys.

Implement Consulting Group AG is a consultancy firm specializing in sustainable change and transformation. Based in Copenhagen, with additional offices in Aarhus, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Oslo, Zurich, Munich, Hamburg, and Raleigh, their team of over 1000 colleagues collaborates with clients worldwide on a diverse range of projects. Previously, Brøndsted was an analytical consultant at STRATEGOS A/S. She earned her master’s in sociology at the University of Copenhagen and another master's in leadership and management at Griffith University.

Martha Laboissiere is a Partner of the Education Practice at McKinsey & Company. In this role, she serves clients in higher education, workforce training and workforce development. Laboissiere works extensively with higher education clients, advising institutions and systems on strategy, growth, technology, research, operational improvement, and organization transformation. Her firm, McKinsey & Co., is a renowned global management consulting firm, serving as a trusted advisor to leading businesses, governments, and institutions worldwide. With a wide-ranging presence across private, public, and social sectors, McKinsey leverages its vast scale, expertise, and global reach to tackle unique and complex challenges for clients.

Laboissiere also leads efforts to transform workforce systems supporting public and private entities with mapping the supply and demand of labor and designing strategies to close the gap. Furthermore, she brings experience in launching new businesses in the workforce training space, including Generation USA — a not-for-profit recruiting, training, and employment program for young adults and displaced workers. Laboissiere graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a PhD in biochemistry and an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Brasilia.

Mark Krafft is a Partner and a leader of the Performance Improvement and Higher Education practices at Bain and Company. While he works across industries, Krafft is also a core member of the firm’s Consumer Products practice. He brings 15 years of consulting and professional services experience to his clients in the US and abroad, having worked in the firm’s New York, London, and Washington,D.C. offices.

Bain & Company is a leading global consultancy that empowers ambitious changemakers to shape the future. Operating in 65 cities across 40 countries, Bain collaborates closely with clients as a unified team. Prior to joining Bain, Krafft worked in M&A investment banking in Los Angeles. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was granted the R.C. Kopf Fellowship and Shuchman-Hulbert Memorial Award in Marketing. He also earned a BA from Amherst College.

A Partner based in Oliver Wyman’s Singapore office, Claudia Wang leads the Asia education practice. During her career, she has finished around 100 education engagements, advising leading private equity firms, operators, and government bodies globally on policy drafting, opportunity identification and assessment, market entry and expansion, commercial due diligence, and operations strategies in pan-Asia regions. She specializes in K-12 school, after-school tutoring, English language training, and vocational education segments. Apart from the education industry, Wang also has had over 20 project experiences in industrial and consumer sectors.

Oliver Wyman is a prominent global management consulting firm with a strong presence in over 70 cities across 30 countries. They offer specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organizational transformation. Employing over 6,000 professionals around the world, they help clients optimize their business, enhance operations, manage risks, and seize opportunities for accelerated organizational performance. Before joining Oliver Wyman, Wang was an Associate Partner at EY-Parthenon. She holds a bachelor’s in Business Administration from Shanghai International Studies University.

Rajeev Kalachaveedu is the Managing Partner & Business Leader of Education, Media & Information Services at Cognizant. He has over 26 years of experience in the IT Services industry and remains focused on delivering transformational outcomes to customers. Cognizant education is a digital-first connected learning model that paves the way to the future of higher education.

The consulting firm’s education business is backed by the idea that emerging technologies such as analytics, AI, and machine learning will be key to hyper personalizing the student experience: helping to identify at-risk learners and provide the most effective support for each person. Notably, Kalachaveedu graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University with an undergraduate degree in technology.

At BDO USA, Andrea Espinola Wilson is a Managing Partner of Industry Specialty Services and co-leads the company’s Nonprofit and Education Advisory Services practice. In these roles, she advises organizations on a wide range of issues, including compliance matters, cost allowability and recovery issues, cost accounting, procurement, internal control, and operational assessments. She is an accomplished finance and operations advisor with more than 18 years of experience providing leadership in: compliance, financial, procurement, operations, human resource, budgeting, and management systems.

Wilson’s vast industry knowledge ensures that solutions are grounded in practical, operational experience. She is also a member of BDO’s Institute for Nonprofit Excellence. Before joining BDO, Wilson was a Deputy Chief Management Officer at Management Systems International and a Director of Contracts at the Academy for Educational Development. Earlier in her career, she was an Auditor at KPMG. Wilson earned a Graduate Certificate in Procurement and Contracts Management at the University of Virginia and her undergraduate degree in Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley.

Patricia McGowan is a CohnReznick Partner and co-Leads the Not-for-Profit and Education Industry practice in New England. She is also a member of the Affordable Housing Industry practice in New England. Through a public accounting career that began in 1989, McGowan works with all types of not-for-profit organizations, including social service organizations, developers of affordable housing, arts and cultural organizations, independent schools, and private and community foundations. Her firm, CohnReznick, is a well-established professional services organization with a rich history spanning a century. With a global workforce of nearly 4,000 team members and a presence in 25 locations, including global subsidiaries, CohnReznick is dedicated to serving clients across 30 diverse industries.

Moreover, McGowan has lectured on various not-for-profit issues. She is responsible for developing CohnReznick’s national not-for-profit continuing education curriculum. In addition, she is a national instructor with CohnReznick’s Leadership and Development team, teaching not-for-profit and affordable housing technical courses and staff development programs. Previously, McGowan was a Partner at Kostin, Ruffkess & Company, LLC. She graduated from the University of Connecticut with an undergraduate degree in accounting.

A Partner at RSM, Dan Bonnette is a firm-designated higher education, government and not-for-profit specialist with more than 31 years of experience. For RSM, he serves as the National Education Sector Leader; and previously served as the Higher Education and Not-for-Profit Industry Leader for the Northeast Region and as the Public Sector Industry Leader for the New England market. Previously, Bonnette managed the audits of numerous higher education, not-for-profit, and public sector organizations, including many with international operations. He’s also provided technical assistance on accounting and financial reporting issues to these organizations.

Moreover, Bonnette is an expert in Single Audits performed in accordance with the Uniform Grant Guidance (previously OMB Circular A-133) and has performed hundreds of audits pursuant to those standards. Prior to joining McGladrey, he spent 18 years at Deloitte & Touche. During this time, in addition to his client service responsibilities, he served as the National Learning Leader for Deloitte’s Public Sector Practices, responsible for developing the training curriculum for all public sector professionals nationally. Bonnette graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with an undergraduate degree in economics.

Samantha Fisher is a Managing Director with Accenture’s Education Practice, with a focus on the US market. She has nearly 20 years of experience in management and strategy consulting, including on projects with 50+ colleges and universities, associations, and education agencies. During her career, Fisher has worked across the spectrum of education in the US and abroad. She has worked with nonprofit to for-profit, private to public systems, small to large, and at all ranges of selectivity.

Her areas of focus include strategic planning, market entry and growth (particularly online), higher education mergers and acquisitions, digital and analytics strategy, and performance management, among others. In addition, Fisher has supported the research and written publications around many of the above topics – and presents regularly at industry conferences. She started her career as a Regional Manager of Asia Operations at EF Educational Tours. Fisher was also Vice President of Education at EY-Parthenon. She earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Brandeis University.

Lane McBride is a member of Boston Consulting Group's Public Sector and People & Organization practices, in addition to serving as a member of the firm’s education leadership team in the US. His firm, BCG, has been a pioneer in business strategy since its establishment in 1963.

Since joining BCG in 2003, McBride has focused primarily on the education sector, spanning topics such as strategy, organization design and transformation, change management, cost efficiency, performance management, and consumer insight. He earned his undergraduate degree in government from the University of Virginia.

Erin Covington is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Public Sector Services in Washington, D.C. As PSS’s Co-Leader and Education Leader, Covington leads a team of 100+ to provide management and advisory services for public sector and commercial clients, with a focus on performance improvement opportunities across the education sector. With a presence on four continents and a team of over 7,500 professionals, Alvarez & Marsal specializes in serving corporates, private equity firms, law firms, and government agencies facing complex challenges.

Prior to joining A&M, Covington served as Chief Financial Officer for numerous organizations, including the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. and Friendship Public Charter schools, where she led the completion of a public bond offering; resolved material weaknesses in federal grants management; and significantly improved working capital management. Covington earned a BBA in accounting from James Madison University.

As the Managing Director of FTI Consulting, Jason Reed brings over 20 years of experience providing consulting services to a diverse range of mid-market and global companies, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions. Reed’s expertise extends to various industries, including financial institutions, biotechnology, healthcare, and national defense. FTI Consulting is a prominent global consulting firm that offers a comprehensive range of capabilities and expert services to guide clients through their most critical opportunities and challenges. Each practice within the firm is led by accomplished experts known for their deep knowledge and proven track record of delivering impactful solutions.

Prior to joining FTI, Reed served as the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for the University of Maryland Global Campus, the world's largest public online university. During his tenure, he collaborated with Amazon and academic leaders to revolutionize the digital student experience, particularly in the university's acclaimed nursing and cybersecurity programs. Reed also previously ran his private practice as a management and technology consultant. He holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from George Washington University.

Frank Kurre is the Managing Director and Global Leader for Protiviti’s Higher Education and Not-for-Profit practice. Notably, Protiviti is a global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective insights, a tailored approach, and unparalleled collaboration to help leaders confidently face the future. Kurre also serves as the company’s Global Account Management lead. An industry veteran, he brings over 36 years of experience providing consulting solutions in audit, technology, business process, controls, analytics, risk, compliance and strategy.

Prior to joining Protiviti, Kurre served for many years as the National Managing Partner of a global accounting firm’s Not-for-Profit Practice. Furthermore, he has provided audit and consulting services to over two hundred not-for-profit organizations over his 36-year career. Kurre graduated from the Seminary of Immaculate Conception with a master’s and from St. John’s University with an undergraduate degree in accounting.

Roy Mathew is a Principal at Deloitte, where he leads the Higher Education Consulting practice. It is worthy to note that Mathew has more than 20 years of consulting and industry experience across both private and public sector clients. Previously he’s led many of Deloitte’s largest Higher Education transformation programs that span strategy, implementation, and operations. Mathew is also actively involved in developing the firm’s capabilities in new business models and innovative uses of technology.

Deloitte is a prominent provider of top-notch audit, consulting, tax, and advisory services, serving numerous renowned brands, including almost 90% of the Fortune 500® and over 7,000 private companies. With a rich history of over 175 years, Deloitte's vast network of member firms extends across more than 150 countries and territories. Mathew holds an undergraduate degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a graduate degree from Stanford University.

Kasia Lundy is a Principal at EY-Parthenon and leads the Education practice. With nearly 20 years of consulting experience with the firm, she is responsible for overseeing teacher effectiveness and compensation initiatives, strategic resource allocation, portfolio strategy work and race-to-the-top strategies at the state level for students in kindergarten to 12th grade. EY-Parthenon, with a dedicated team of 9,000+ professionals spanning across 120 countries, offers EY clients comprehensive corporate, transaction, and turnaround strategies that are not only actionable but also impactful, leading to sustainable long-term growth.

Lundy’s higher education engagements focus on strategic planning, governance and organization structure design, revenue-generating strategies (such as online strategies, program development and alternative revenues), academic outcome improvement strategies, and operational efficiency improvement strategies. She earned a BA in economics and MBA from Harvard University.

19. Chris Schwyter Company: Willis Towers Watson Title: Senior Vice President and Client Advocate for The Higher Education Industry Practice

Chris Schwyter is the Senior Vice President and Client Advocate for The Higher Education Industry Practice at Willis Towers Watson. Schwyter is a leading professional in the commercial insurance brokerage industry, where he is focused on the risk management needs of colleges and universities. His firm, WTW, provides data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk, and capital. With a global presence spanning 140 countries and markets, WTW leverages its local expertise to help clients sharpen their strategy and maximize performance.

Before joining WTW, Schwyter served as a Senior Vice President at Marsh, where he was responsible for middle-market client executives for the higher education industry practice. He is a graduate of Temple University.

Andrew Slapp is the Senior Director of Public Sector and Higher Education at Capgemini, a global leader that partners with companies to transform and manage their businesses through technology. Guided by its purpose of unleashing human energy for an inclusive and sustainable future, Capgemini comprises 360,000 diverse team members across more than 50 countries.

Previously, Slapp spent over four years at DXC Technology, where he most recently served as CEO of Salesforce Prace-DXC Systems Partners. Before that, he also spent more than 11 years at Fuji Xerox Australia. He started his career as a consultant at POS Solutions, where he worked with retail organizations to provide consulting and guidance on installing retail management systems and the best practices. Slapp earned his MBA from Macquarie University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Technology Sydney.

Dayna Aravich is the Vice President of U.S. Education Industry and Chair & Board Operations for Women in Sales at Gartner, where she empowers thousand of women in sales to connect, learn, lead, and drive exceptional business outcomes. Gartner, Inc. is a trusted provider of actionable, objective insights that enable smarter decisions and stronger performance in an organization's critical priorities. With a workforce of over 19,500 associates, Gartner offers expert-led, practitioner-sourced, and data-driven research to guide clients in over 100 countries. In North America alone, the company has 98 associates dedicated to serving its customers in Education; has 250 Education Industry Practitioners and SMEs; and is empowering over 440 unique education organizations through Gartner’s insights platform.

Before taking on her current role, Aravich held several positions within Gartner, including Area Vice President, Americas High Tech, and Manager, Large Enterprise Accounts - Technology & Service Providers. Notably, in January 2021, she took leadership of the Education Industry Practice within Gartner, to better serve this important community of customers – and partner to advance the mission of Education. Aravich earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Florida Gulf Coast University.

Richard Sadler is a Vice President for Consulting Delivery at CGI. Sadler is responsible for leading the Empowered Learning education team in CGI. He has many years of experience in delivering and managing technology projects across a wide range of key business sectors. Moreover, in recent years, he has been at the forefront of both the Connected Learning program in Glasgow City, and Inspire Learning in Scottish Borders. Currently, Sadler is leading the drive to deliver similar benefits to other partners and projects across the UK and elsewhere. Before joining CGI, Sadler was the Head of Infrastructure Deployment Support.

Notably, CGI is a major global IT and business consulting services company, known for its insights-driven and outcomes-focused approach. With a presence in 400 locations across 21 industries worldwide, CGI offers comprehensive, scalable, and sustainable IT and business consulting services, combining global expertise with local delivery.

At Tata Consultancy Services, Ankur Mathur is a Vice President and also leads the Education Unit. With over 30 years at TCS, Mathur is driven by a purpose of bringing a positive change in the lives of Learners through Digital Transformation of Educational Institutions. He has led strategic relationships and provided technology & transformation services to clients in US, Europe, UK, South America, Israel, India and Australia. During his lenghty tenure with Tata, Mathur has built expertise in business transformation, technology strategy & deployment, and building strategic relationships with Clients & Partners.

Mathur holds a post-graduate diploma in Management and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He is also certified in Governance of Enterprise IT and is a Six Sigma Green Belt. He has participated as a Local Ethics Counsellor, and is a proponent of leadership, inclusion & diversity, besides being a Gold Certified Mentor at TCS.

Shawn Rodriguez is the Vice President of State & Local Government and Education at World Wide Technology. He leads a talented team of functional leaders and is responsible for developing and executing go-to-market strategies, including field sales hiring and enablement, integrated field marketing, contract capture, vertical business development, partner and solution execution, and overall growth. Prior to joining WWT, Rodriguez held leadership roles at Forescout Technologies and Splunk. He began his sales career in various positions focused on state & local government and education at NetApp and Nortel Networks.

With over 20 years of experience in the SLED sector, Rodriguez actively serves on numerous boards and committees for organizations like NASCIO, COVITS, and the Commonwealth of Virginia Joint Commission on Technology and Science. He is also a member of the State & Local Government and Education Executive Council for CompTIA. Rodriguez earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Jean Demchak is the Global Leader of Marsh's Education Industry Practice, overseeing the integration of Marsh McLennan's business operations into the higher education and K-12 sectors, including public, private, and for-profit institutions. In her role, Demchak manages and coordinates the firm's resources, addresses emerging issues in local offices, designs products for not-for-profits, serves as a liaison with the marketplace, and customizes specialized services to meet client needs. As the world's leading insurance broker and risk advisor, Marsh operates in 130 countries with over 45,000 colleagues, providing data-driven risk solutions and advisory services to commercial and individual clients.

With over 34 years of experience in the brokerage community, Demchak has dedicated the last 29 years to specializing in the education industry, focusing on risk retention groups and pooling programs, consortia programs, and innovative product design and customization of coverage documents. Demchak holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an MBA from the University of Connecticut.

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Copyright: The Top 25 Education Consultants and Leaders of 2023 publication is copyrighted material, produced and published by The Consulting Report. For information pertaining to content permissions, please refer to The Consulting Report’s award usage regulations .

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Bain has decades of experience helping higher educational institutions of all types address strategic issues such as performance improvement, operating efficiency, cost management and reduction, growth strategy, organizational effectiveness and funding strategy.

U.S. Higher Education Faces a Moment of Truth

Covid-19 may be the last straw for many long-struggling schools. Survival will require extreme steps in the near term, and plenty of innovation over the longer term.

Faster by Design: New Models for Financing the Food Transition

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Universities are reacting with determination and creativity to the new challenges they face. Budget deficits have mushroomed following sudden declines in endowment values, deep cuts in education funding and limits on tuition increases.

Competition in the global job market is making new programs, new training and new models of instruction essential in order for students to obtain gainful employment after graduation. And amidst a fluctuating student population, universities are harnessing new technologies, such as e-learning, as a way to reach even more students.

These pressures place core academic missions of teaching, research and outreach at risk. To help bring the focus back to schools' core missions , Bain is helping institutions get back on the path to success:

• We are working to redesign the university model to make higher education a reality for more students across the US.
• We closely examine school operations and organizations to determine which administrative support functions, and redundancies, are diverting scarce resources away from higher education's core purpose.
• We are finding ways to rationalize traditionally decentralized and highly complex organization structures with widely disparate service levels and unworkable spans of control.

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Since the turn of the 21st century, according to Credit Suisse’s global wealth report , the world’s middle-class segment has seen the biggest growth, with population size nearly trebling during the 2000-2019 period. Meanwhile, the rate of internet penetration shot up from 16.8% in 2005 to 53.6% in 2019 , according to the Telecommunication Development Sector (a special agency of the United Nations). Ready for one more statistic? According to a UNESCO-sponsored report, the global population of college students has more than doubled since 2000.

Increasingly affluent, connected and academically ambitious: That’s the modern world in a nutshell.

All this might seem like an ideal environment for growth in the education sector. The reality, however, is significantly more complicated. Public and private organizations alike face challenges in selecting the right geographical markets for expansion, creating the right educational offerings for each locality and making the appropriate digital investments for education delivery. The upshot is that in education, a robust strategy is more critical than ever.

L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice (GEP) serves public, private nonprofit and private for-profit educational institutions. We also work with investors and foundations that are involved with the education industry. As one of the world’s foremost education consulting firms, we have led on-the-ground engagements in numerous countries and industry subsegments.

From Botswana to New Zealand, from China to the United Arab Emirates, from Poland to Paraguay, our 100-plus specialists travel around the globe to provide education-sector consulting services to investors, operators and philanthropists across various markets. We’ve led multiple on-site engagements in all education segments: early childhood, K-12 and higher education. We also offer specialties in English-language training, transnational education (TNE) and education technology (edtech).

We combine primary research with advanced analytics and strategy consulting to help clients realize growth opportunities in new sectors and geographies, including untapped developing countries. Our knowledge bank contains the lessons from over 700 engagements in 90 countries — lessons that we bring to bear in helping you formulate strategies of your own.

Guide To Investing in KSA's Private K-12 Market

Discover success strategies in Saudi Arabia's locally driven education market with Danish Faruqui , Partner in L.E.K.'s Global Education Practice. Explore insights on tailoring product configurations, understanding demographic shifts and exceling in a competitive landscape.

Investing in Saudi Arabia's Private K-12 Market

Last year, private K-12 schools accounted for a significant 16% of K-12 enrollment in Saudi Arabia, outpacing public institutions. In this excerpt from his December 2023 keynote session at EdEx Saudi, L.E.K. Partner Danish Faruqui delves into the driving trends, potential investment opportunities and transformative shifts shaping the kingdom’s education sector.

Gateway to Growth: KSA's Private K-12 Market

In this video, Danish Faruqui and Chinmay Jhaveri of L.E.K.’s global education practice delve into Riyadh's private K-12 sector. Driven by Saudi Arabia's ambitious giga projects, burgeoning hosting initiatives and unwavering commitment to global prominence, the kingdom has embarked on an extraordinary journey — one in which we're poised to play an instrumental role.

Key Themes to Watch Out For in 2024

Join Ashwin Assomull , Head of the Global Education Practice, as he takes you through the latest global and Dubai-centric education trends. Gain insights spanning M&A deal activity to developments in the K-12, Higher Education, and EdTech sectors. Whether you're an investor seeking strategic opportunities or an education operator navigating the landscape, Ashwin's keynote address from last year's EdEx MENA conference promises invaluable perspectives.

How we help

Clients engage us to:

• Identify and characterize opportunities. With sustainable growth and profitability as strategic imperatives, we provide an aggregated overview of both regional and global education markets, local market demand, and the competitive landscape. This helps reveal commercial opportunities and relationships, which is an essential step in establishing and strengthening regional and global presence.  
• Assess potential investments. There’s a rapidly growing appetite for investment in the education sector, which has proved to be one of the most resilient industries. At the same time, more education companies are using acquisitions as a way to scale. We work closely with our private equity and corporate clients throughout the transaction cycle. Our support ranges from identifying attractive companies to performing commercial due diligence, as well as increasing portfolio company value growth and providing exit support.  
• Define winning strategies. We help clients transform insights into actionable, tactical initiatives that are in line with their goals and objectives. We accomplish this by conducting deep-dive market assessments, using powerful analytics and combining an understanding of local markets with an awareness of global trends in the education industry.  
• Evaluate key areas for potential growth. We assess opportunities for clients aiming to increase their offerings via expansion into adjacent education subsectors such as edtech. With our understanding of the education industry size and its magnitude, we also help clients create business plans for new opportunities, taking into account specific objectives and priorities.  
• Create value from the ecosystem. We tap into our partnerships across the education network — in innovation, talent, capital and impact. Our deep global network puts us in a unique position to support our clients in strategy development, private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, and other areas.

Success stories

We have helped clients achieve growth and strong returns on investments via growth strategies, site feasibility assessment, transactional advisory services and more. Here are a few of our success stories:

• Dual curriculum market strategy for a school operator. A prestigious British school engaged us to evaluate and identify high-potential cities across China for a possible dual curriculum endeavor. We provided a detailed market assessment and competitive landscape for each city. Then we prioritized the most attractive cities to enter and created a differentiated proposition for each market.  
• Digital strategy for a business school. We used a three-step approach to help a renowned European business school build its digital strategy. First, we assessed the school’s existing digital initiatives. Next, we conducted in-depth primary and secondary research on digital best practices specific to student recruitment, student engagement and community building. Finally, we prioritized the most effective digital initiatives for our client’s efforts to improve student outreach and sales conversion.  
• International student acquisition for a university system. The higher education institutions of a European country sought our help in finding ways to recruit more students from East Africa. Working closely with the country’s embassy in Africa, we examined the market landscape and student outflow mobility from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. Next, we evaluated the country’s competitive positioning as a study-abroad destination. We followed up by identifying key opportunities and partnerships, and then put together a detailed go-to-market strategy.

Education Technology

Higher education.

• Transnational Education

In Conversation with Dr. Abdulla Al Karam on Dubai's Private Education Landscape (Part 3)

Key trends shaping higher education in dubai, education: 2023 m&a deal roundup and trends to watch for in 2024, education: africa deal round up and themes for 2024, how do we help clients achieve high-impact results.

Ashwin Assomull

Global education practice.

Jitin Sethi

Chinmay Jhaveri

Middle east.

Sudeep Laad

Danish Kamal Faruqui

Aakansha Sethi

Ashwin Goel

Jacqueline Thompson

Learn about how we can help you with your education needs., subscribe to our quarterly newsletter, related industries and capabilities.

K-12 Consulting Services

You have big goals for your district. We have the education consulting services to help you accomplish them.

Our Approach to Education Consulting

We approach each district partnership with the mindset that while we can share what has worked elsewhere, we must seek to understand the current culture and context of each district and school. We honor the goals, priorities, and vision of every leader with whom we work, and we help them to hone, articulate, and make those visions a reality.

Our team leads with equity and leverages deep expertise, design thinking, expert facilitation, a spirit of collaboration, and our extensive toolkit of resources and technology to deliver sustainable results.

Instructional Design & Implementation

Organizational Strategy

Leadership Strategy

Surveys & Analytics

K-12 instructional design is an iterative process. To achieve the best student outcomes, districts must rigorously improve their instruction to meet student needs.

Education Elements can help you identify your district’s biggest instructional challenges and create a student-centered approach to solving them. We provide coaching, support, and facilitated experiences to create meaningful change in instructional practice.

We’ll help your team build the necessary skills to implement instructional shifts, continually reassess instructional practice, and update your approach based on changing needs. Our work is grounded in evidence-based practices that have demonstrable impact on student and teacher success.

• Personalized and Blended Learning

This instructional approach empowers students to take ownership of their learning and get the instruction they need, when and how they need it.

We’ll work with your district to develop and articulate a vision and strategy for personalized learning and/or blended learning, and support its implementation through high-quality professional development for teachers and leaders.

• School Transformation

School transformation is the process of building (or rebuilding) school structures around the needs of students and communities. This includes school design, restart, and school improvement.

We can help your district develop the systems and vision for a new school or program, or rethink and redesign an existing one.

School Improvement

Education Elements designs sustainable solutions that improve student outcomes. We recognize that districts with schools designated as in need of improvement must focus on immediate, compliance-driven mandates while simultaneously investing in leadership and learning practices that lead to long-term, sustainable improvements.

Before you can solve a complex problem, you need to understand the root causes — and sometimes, that process is just as challenging as the problem solving itself. That’s where our education strategy consulting comes in.

Education Elements builds winning strategies through community and staff engagement. We identify core challenges, discover new possibilities with human-centered design, and ensure successful implementation through responsive planning. We’ll help your team establish priorities, sort through options, and align on an effective approach.

• Strategic Planning

Whether your district needs to create a new strategic plan or implement and monitor an existing one, we can help. Working closely with your team, we’ll craft a strategic plan that builds unity in your community, fosters alignment, and is a catalyst for transformational change.

• Talent Strategy

Retaining top talent is an enormous challenge in education. The current climate has led to increased burnout and high rates of exit among educators. While the challenge is great, we can help your district support and grow the incredible talent you have — and make your district the destination for new talent.

Leadership is an art, and every artist needs time and discipline to hone their craft. Like any specialist, educational leaders need the opportunity to gain skills and build habits that will help them implement lasting change in their districts.

At Education Elements, we take a systems approach to educational leadership development, leveraging both individual and team learning to inspire innovative leadership and help new leaders emerge.

Organizational Leadership to Support District Operations

We work with states to support district teams, increasing alignment and collaboration.

District teams benefit from support in implementing components of a strategic plan, monitoring progress of initiatives, utilizing funding to strategically support programs, and building practices to bring district and statewide initiatives to life.

Leading Change Through Teams

By building your leadership capacity, you will establish the foundation needed to support teachers and leaders to more fully design, implement, and sustain innovation in their classrooms and work.

Your team will realize a shared vision and learn how to drive equitable outcomes across diverse and complex learning organizations.

Today, many school districts struggle with DRIP syndrome: they are Data Rich and Information Poor. Some may collect data to check a box, others may be inconsistent, or organize the data in silos.

At Education Elements, we help you evaluate your current data culture to help you make more informed and more equitable decisions about how to improve educational experiences and outcomes for all students. We can support you to develop new systems and mindsets around data, elevate student voice and agency through evidence-based data collection, monitor and improve instructional effectiveness, and measure progress towards district strategic plan and school improvement goals.

• Student & Families Surveys

We believe that highlighting student voice can create positive change in districts. Through our student surveys, you can gather students’ perspectives about teaching practices, student engagement and mindsets, peer support, SEL, school climate, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Family and community voice via our Family Surveys provide input from parents and guardians about school climate, diversity, equity, and inclusion, parent satisfaction, barriers to family engagement as well as other key indicators.

Teacher & Staff Surveys

Whether you’re rolling out a new initiative, or trying to gauge how to support your teachers, our teacher surveys capture information about school quality, climate and teacher perceptions of instructional leadership and can gather feedback from beginning teachers about key challenges they are experiencing to support retention.

School Improvement & Redesign: Built On a Foundation of Knowing What Works

A comprehensive list of our services.

Instructional Design and Implementation

• Instructional Capacity Building
• School Redesign
• Hybrid + Virtual School Support
• Curriculum Strategy and Support
• Equity Action Plan
• New Leader Strategy
• Problem of Practice Strategy
• Community Engagement
• Data Culture
• Organizational Leadership and District Operations
• Leading Change through Teams
• Recruiting and Developing Leaders
• Responsive Leadership Series
• Talent Recruitment & Retention
• Equity Leadership Series
• Learning Courses: Building Habits and Mindsets of Effective Instructional Coaches
• Learning Courses: Essential Skills for Leading Learning
• Teachers & Staff Surveys
• System-Level Progress Monitoring Surveys

Our Commitment to Equity

At Education Elements, we partner with districts and schools to design equitable learning environments that meet the needs of every student. We see equity as a choice–a choice that individuals and collective communities make to put students’ individual and unique needs first. Learn more about our approach to embedding equity into our services here.

Insights and tips from K-12 leaders

How Three District Leaders Are Closing the Instructional Leadership Gap

10 Resources You Need to Head Back to School in 2024

Investing In The Right Initiatives and Resources To Create Meaningful Change

Starting and Sustaining a Data Habit in Your School

Comparing the 7 Best Survey Tools

How to Effectively Manage Large-Scale Change in School Districts

Ready to learn more about our education consulting services.

Our team’s relationships lend value. Our experience contributes understanding.

ESG is a mission-driven consulting firm that works with K-12, higher education, and workforce leaders to achieve greater impact. We work across sectors to move the needle on issues that are critical to improving student success and advancing equity.

Partners who’ve been there

The ESG team’s diverse relationships and years of experience help our clients navigate the political and technical challenges inherent in developing and implementing a student success agenda. As a team, we bring years of combined federal, state, and local experience building networks, developing policies, and implementing programs to support students. Individually, we have witnessed the power that an alignment agenda can have for traditionally underserved students – a big reason why we’re in this work.

Committed to dramatic improvement

We are deeply familiar with the challenges that come with this work, and we are not shy about the need to radically redesign our nation’s systems to promote success, especially for those from traditionally underserved populations. We are passionate about quality, scale and impact, and believe our work can make a difference for the future of our country. We stand ready to support communities, states, national partners, and foundations in delivering on a collective vision for student success.

To learn more about our areas of focus and services, visit the Our Work page.

Sign up for the ESG newsletter to learn how we can help you get traction on your next initiative.

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Who has the power  to improve education? Educators do.

Who has the power  to improve education? Educators do .

We are educators, just like you.

We’ll work collaboratively and tirelessly with your team to make positive change happen..

SchoolWorks provides objective insights and specialized expertise to help today’s education leaders make informed decisions, implement initiatives effectively, ensure quality and accountability, and manage change successfully—all with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for students and communities.

Welcome to Schoolworks

LEARN WITH US

View our library of webinars. SchoolWorks frequently shares free resources to illuminate and inspire other educators.

MAKE A CHANGE

The SchoolWorks Changemakers Grant is a quarterly mini-grant awarded to a team of educators seeking to advance student learning and well-being through an impact-focused initiative. Find out more or apply.

CONNECT WITH US

Contact us today to learn more about how SchoolWorks can collaborate with your team to support your educational goals. We look forward to talking to you.

Our Education Partners

Baltimore City Public Schools

Cleveland Metropolitan School District

Colorado Department of Education

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Rhode Island Department of Education

Louisiana Department of Education

Ohio Department of Education & Workforce

Client satisfaction.

At SchoolWorks, our priority is our clients and the students they impact. Our project teams consistently earn ratings of 4.8 or higher in overall client satisfaction.

Explore our clients' feedback on our services  here .

We are your partners in the work

Kathryn Koerner

Director of School Developer Supports

What clients are saying about Kathryn

SchoolWorks has been great! Kathryn prepared us like we wouldn’t believe. She’s very responsive and proactive.

Queria Nunnley

Journey Community Schools

Chad Ferguson

Project Manager

What clients are saying about Chad

Sarah Rapa and Chad Ferguson are excellent partners and assisted us in moving the school forward.

Pamela Hokanson

Westminster Community Charter School

Michelle Doane

What clients are saying about Michelle

The partnership gets better and better as time progresses. Immense gratitude to Michelle for making such a dynamic partnership work.

Jonta Morris

Current Collaborations

SchoolWorks is working in close partnership with the district leaders of Providence Public Schools to support the redesign of five district schools.

SchoolWorks is working alongside the school leadership team of The Bridge Academy in Manchester, CT to support an outcomes-focused improvement initiative as part of a 3-year “Getting to Great” grant.

The SchoolWorks team is collaborating with district leaders from Baltimore City Schools to provide capacity-adding support for the district’s charter school renewal process.

National Certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE)

Schoolworks® is proud to be certified by the women’s business enterprise national council as both a women’s business enterprise (wbe) and a woman-owned small business (wosb)., contact schoolworks.

Ready to take your school or organization to the next level? Contact us today to learn more about how SchoolWorks can support your educational goals.

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The EY-Parthenon education consulting strategists are helping clients negotiate a sea change occurring across the education sector: new technologies and the global pandemic are influencing how and where students are taught; globalization is driving the need for new and different skill sets; shifting demographics are compelling new collaboration initiatives. A sustainable world is the new imperative making quality education for all a major priority.

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Government and foundations growth strategy

Covid-19 pandemic quickly revealed the huge inequities in our educational system and pointed to specific societal needs that now can no longer be ignored. Many federal and state organizations and foundations based in the educational sector are now evolving short and long-term strategies to reform our educational system. Known as a leading strategy organization in this space, EY-Parthenon helps institutions develop an overall growth strategy with 1) detailed execution plans to combat these issues; and 2) hands-on support to facilitate success.

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Higher education institutions

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Content service providers and technology

EY-Parthenon teams help organizations carefully determine their unique growth path. Consulting teams provide knowledge and support throughout a process that might include organic or inorganic growth such as acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures, or even divestments. Whatever the growth path, we offer practical, hands-on help during the transition process to help ease the transformation.

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In short, EY-Parthenon’s leading experience can help bring both short and long-term value to your organization. EY-Parthenon teams are dedicated to helping turn today’s students into tomorrow’s leaders.

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Navigating Results Day…And Preparing For All Eventualities!

After weeks of unwinding and putting exams far behind you, the big day is now dawning and it’s time to cast your eyes to the future. Results day will fly by in a blur, so being prepared for all eventualities is essential. We have put together the ultimate step-by-step guide to help with navigating every possible scenario so you can deal with the day without the stress and hassle.

How to make the most of a Gap Year

For some students, taking a year out between school and university has always been part of their plan. They recognise that the experiences they can gain from exploring options outside of a formal studying environment can open their eyes to new perspectives and give them valuable experiences that will ultimately make them better and more focused students.

Preparing to start University

You’ve worked hard over the last two years, picked your subjects with your future career and aspirations in mind and now the time has finally come to start university! University is about so much more than just your course. It’s about your first step to independence and learning valuable life skills that will take you into adulthood.

Preparing for IB Results

IB results will be released today, so as the mixture of anticipation and anxiety mounts, we want to give IB students some guidance on how to prepare for this key moment. Here are some steps you can take to prepare yourself for the day:

Carfax Education is Hiring

Carfax Education is hiring. With the next academic year on the horizon, we are recruiting full time tutors to join our leading private tuition team.

How to Prepare for A Level Results

A Level results for most students, will be released on Thursday 15th August 2024. Many people will wonder why there is so much press around this at the moment, and what the big deal is but for those students (and their families) who are waiting for these results, it is a hugely important day as it will confirm if they are going to the university of their dreams or if they are going to have to come up with a plan B. Things move fast on results day, so what is the best way to make sure you are ready to receive your results?

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AN Unrivalled Global Network

Our world-class specialists accelerate achievement for every individual at every step of their educational journey.

Fiona McKenzie

Head of Carfax Consultants

KATIE SMITH

Senior Education Consultant

MILLIE FARLEY

Client Liaison

Lucy Holland

Oxbridge Applications Specialist

Daniele Labriola

US Admissions Specialist

Lydia Fischer-Dooley

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ANGUS GIBSON

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CLAIRE MORGAN-BUSHER

Head of Carfax Monaco

ANGUS GIBSON

VALERIA BARADA

Director, Carfax Russia

Excellence Without Borders

Access to exceptional education extends beyond borders through our international team and online learning capabilities.

While our roots are in Oxford, London is home to our global headquarters.

Born in Oxford, we borrow our name from the city which is home to Carfax College.

Our Abu Dhabi office offers essential support to our team in Dubai and on the ground tutors.

Our Dubai office offers essential support and on the ground tutors.

We have a fantastic team of educators and tutors serving Moscow and surrounding areas.

Our Monaco office offers essential support to our team in Dubai and on the ground tutors.

Why Carfax Education?

We are a global education group who help families achieve lifelong ambitions through personalising an expert-led educational journey. Rooted in tradition, our innovative approach fosters a love for learning that inspires achievements in the classroom and beyond. Our distinctive drive for excellence starts with our world-class education specialists drawn from the world’s leading institutions.

OUR RESULTS

Over 98% of Carfax applicants gain places at reputable educational establishments

Success rates of Carfax applicants are unusually high because only Carfax has gathered under one roof a team of British and American specialists, each possessing years of relevant experience and dedicated to particular areas of expertise such as Oxbridge and UK university entrance, Ivy League and US applications counselling, London nurseries and day schools, British boarding schools, and Swiss international schools.

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Our Mission

Concordis partners with school start-ups and existing schools in Christian and Classical Education.  We train master teachers in the classroom to cultivate students in rigor and mercy, provide academic advising in solid pedagogy, and streamline administrative services.  Beyond consulting, we implement student management, marketing, human resources, bookkeeping, and more.  We give schools the freedom to focus on what matters most—nurturing children in gospel-centric education.  

School Propel Program

A comprehensive, seven-year program to launch your school, our services, new schools.

Christian education should never be  "copy and paste." Our team looks at your community needs, your financial situation, and your student base. We then customize a biblically-based and financially-feasible education paradigm that can accommodate all grades and a myriad of learners on the first day.  Our intentionally Christian & classical form of education fits all learners, from the academically gifted to the cognitively struggling students.

Existing Schools

We are grateful for the work done by the classical Christian education movement over the past decades.  Our goal is to build on this foundation by adapting the classical model to fit each community's needs and resources. Concordis works to limit subjects, and train schools in solid pedagogy. This form of Classical education personalizes teaching within community, grows students spiritually, and pushes teachers to not just teach, but to become master teachers who mentor their students through every discipline.

Harmonizing education

We believe that children with autism and various cognitive disorders should not be relegated to "special" schools. Rather, they should be living and learning in community with their fellow believers.  Galatians 6:2 calls us to "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."  But how can we pursue excellence in academics for all students in a classroom with both struggling and advanced students? The traditional classroom setting is not conducive to this integration. At Concordis, we believe the gospel informs both the form and content of education. We help schools pursue academic excellence and mercy together in a single classroom. 

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Shanthi Ramachandran:  +971 552167596 Divya Pinto Chethlan:  +971 552167587 Douglas Pereira:  +971 552167597 Pinto Tony Chethlan:  +971 552167591 RECEPTION: +971 4259 4478 Fax:  +971 4 259 4487 E-mail:  [email protected]

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Principal Sustainability Team Lead

Laura nelson.

With nearly 20 years of experience in the environmental and sustainability services field, Laura Nelson provides strategic sustainability solutions to clients in the food and beverage, consumer goods, manufacturing, technology, finance, and energy industries.

She specializes in sustainability disclosure frameworks and standards, bolstered by a recent two-year position on the technical staff at the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation. Laura has also served as an associate director and facilitator for sustainability coalitions including the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Technical Reference Group. As a principal sustainability consultant, Laura provides clients with solutions that proactively address sustainability risks, recognize opportunities, build internal competency and governance of sustainability matters, and help navigate the complex sustainability disclosure landscape. 

Publications & Presentations

• (2022) Answering your top five questions about the ISSB and SASB Standards | SASB Article
• (2020) Benchmarking Best Practices | BIER Virtual Presentation to the International Food Information Council (IFIC
• (2019) Investor Focused Reporting | GRI Reporters’ Summit North America Workshop Facilitation
• (2018) Managing Sustainability Information Requests and Survey Overload | NAEM Forum Session Facilitation
• (2018) 2018 Water and Energy Use Benchmarking Study | International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) Education Session
• (2018) Assurance 101 | GRI Reporters’ Summit North America Workshop Facilitation

Education 

• B.S., Environmental Studies, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Areas of Expertise

• Sustainability Strategy and Plans
• Materiality Assessments
• Collective Action Facilitation
• Sustainable and Resilient Value Chains
• Data, Disclosure, Reporting, and Strategic Communications

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Request more information on our sustainability and management services.

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Middle East crisis — explained

The conflict between Israel and Palestinians — and other groups in the Middle East — goes back decades. These stories provide context for current developments and the history that led up to them.

Tracking the exploding pagers used in apparent Israeli attack on Hezbollah

Gold Apollo's offices in northern Taiwan. Emily Feng/NPR hide caption

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Entrepreneur Hsu Ching-kuang was once lauded in Taiwan for resuscitating the archaic electronic pager, in part by pivoting into sales to foreign governments. At one point, he claimed his company, Gold Apollo, dominated 99% of the Dutch pager market and even counted the FBI as a client.

Hezbollah pagers explode across Lebanon, causing thousands of injuries

But on Wednesday, he faced an onslaught of police officers and journalists outside his office in northern Taiwan, after Gold Apollo was linked to hundreds of pagers belonging to members of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that simultaneously exploded Tuesday across Lebanon and in parts of Syria, which Lebanon's health minister says killed 12 people and injured nearly 3,000. A U.S. official told NPR that Israel told the U.S. it carried out the attack. The Israeli government has not commented publicly.

Hsu confirmed it was his company’s brand on the pagers. “This is very embarrassing,” he said. Shortly after, more than a dozen Taiwan police officers and city officials entered his company office for investigation.

Hsu denied all involvement with the explosive pagers, telling NPR outside his office in northern Taiwan that it was a Budapest-based company called BAC Consulting which manufactured the devices.

“There was nothing in those devices that we had manufactured or exported to them [BAC],” Hsu said, noting the pagers “were entirely different” from his designs and contained a chip that Gold Apollo does not use in its own pagers.

Reuters and The New York Times have reported the pagers were ultimately planted by Israel, citing Lebanese and U.S. officials. But how and when the devices were modified to become lethal is still unclear.

The pagers’ link to relatively unknown companies spanning Asia and Europe suggests a plot years in the making.

A European opportunity

Three years ago, Hsu says he was approached by a Taiwanese woman Hsu says he only knew as “Teresa” who claimed to be a local representative for a Hungarian company named BAC Consulting.

After more than two months of negotiation with Teresa, Hsu agreed to sign a contract to sell Gold Apollo’s pagers to BAC and additionally, to let BAC use Gold Apollo’s trademark on his own products.

“She had already flown several times to Europe to contact [her colleagues],” says Hsu. He says he was also told BAC also had interests in East Africa: “From beginning to end, they never mentioned Lebanon.”

Annual reports for the last two years, downloaded from the Hungarian Ministry of Justice's online business registration portal, showed that the firm was registered in May 2022, and the single owner of BAC is named as Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono. The company's most recent annual accounts, signed in May of this year, record a balance sheet of slightly more than $320.

Bársony-Arcidiacono's LinkedIn profile describes her as a “CEO, strategic Advisor & Business Developer,” and includes a link for BAC Consulting. On another professional networking site, she is listed as a “freelance expert in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development.”

"If you have a challenge and you like to think out of the box, bring it to me and we will solve it together,” Bársony-Arcidiacono told a jobs website this February. “A good understanding of local issues and a network of collaborators in various areas are important to succeed.”

A cellphone number belonging to a person with the same profile photo as Bársony-Arcidiacono's Linkedin page was unavailable when dialed by an NPR reporter.

“Strange” payments

About a year after BAC signed a contract with Gold Apollo, Hsu says they came back to him with an unusual request: they wanted to design their own products but put his company’s trademark on them.

“They said they wanted to cultivate a cohort of engineers,” Hsu says he remembers BAC telling him. “I told them, the stuff you make is neither easy to use nor is it aesthetically-pleasing. Why not just use my products?”

Hsu also noticed their payment transfers were “strange.”

While BAC is located in the capital of Hungary, Hsu said the company paid Gold Apollo from a Middle Eastern bank account that was blocked at least once by their bank in Taiwan.

“It was very inconvenient. You have to deal with these risks when doing global trade,” remembers Hsu. He says his accountant spent an entire week working to unfreeze the payment.

The last time Gold Apollo shipped components to BAC was earlier this year, Hsu said. The “AR-924” model pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria were new and had been recently acquired by Hezbollah in February, the Associated Press reported .

Hsu is adamant none of the exploding pagers were made in Taiwan by his company: “We did not make these devices, and we did not export a single one of them [to BAC],” he insists.

Taiwan’s ministry of economic affairs says it has no record of any Taiwan companies exporting pagers directly to Lebanon between 2022 and 2024 and deemed Gold Apollo’s pagers “modified after being exported,” according to a statement. NPR was unable to verify the ministry’s assessment.

Willem Marx contributed to this report.

• Israel and Hezbollah

Serves agriculture and chemicals companies with expertise across specialty chemicals consulting, corporate strategy, M&A, and post-merger integration

Divy serves our clients in the agriculture and chemicals sectors, with a focus on specialty chemicals. He applies his deep expertise in driving end-to-end growth transformations, from corporate strategies, market entry and go-to-market strategies, commercial excellence, M&A, and post-merger integration to help companies build sustainable, competitive, and high-growth businesses. Divy is passionate about decarbonization and sustainability among other topics.

Examples of his recent client work include:

• designing a five-year India growth strategy for a large innovative crop protection chemicals company
• devising a market entry strategy for a large Indian pharma company foraying into the global specialty chemicals segment
• redesigning operating models for a leading Indian plastics processor and a major national oil company's downstream business
• crafting a commercial transformation plan for an Asian petrochemical player
• leading post-merger integration for a leading global petrochemicals company

PUBLISHED WORK

“ Decarbonising India: Charting a pathway for sustainable growth ,” McKinsey & Company, October 2022

“ Accelerating India’s sustainability journey in chemicals ,” McKinsey & Company, April 2022

“ The impact of COVID-19 on the global petrochemical industry ,” McKinsey & Company, October 2020

INSEAD MBA, business administration and management

Punjab Technical University B.Tech, chemical engineering