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Perrett Laver’s global and market-leading Schools & Educational Organisations practice has been raising the bar in executive search for this sector since 2011. We’ve advised on over 800 Head of School and senior leadership appointments for independent schools, state schools, academies and international schools across the globe.
Our access to an international talent pool, combined with our local expertise and global connections helps us find the visionary leaders who can drive an educational institution forward.
We invest heavily in understanding the unique culture of each school we partner with. Our process is always characterised by excellent communication, transparency and ‘best in class’ professional advice.
We partner with leading schools across the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, South Africa, and Europe to find the exceptional leaders they need to flourish.
We work extensively across a wide range of UK boarding, day, co-educational, single-sex, senior, and preparatory independent schools, covering a range of executive and non-executive appointments. We take time to understand the individual schools that we work with, and our work is underpinned by our extensive sector knowledge and expertise.
We prioritise the quality of our client and candidate care and are proud of the positive impact that the people we help to appoint can make in post. Every year, over 50% of our work is repeat business with longstanding partners.
Over the past decade, we have positioned ourselves as a leading firm serving the UK state school and academies sector. Our team advises a diverse range of organisations including school trusts, standalone academies, and maintained schools on a wide array of executive and non-executive appointments.
We’re committed to working with organisations where exceptional leadership can have a truly transformative impact. We have advised schools at all stages of their school improvement journeys.
We have a strong track record of success in partnering with many of the leading independent schools in the United States and Canada. We advise on the appointments of Heads of School and senior administrators serving across a range of different portfolios.
Perrett Laver has worked with a wide range of schools in the independent school sector in both Australia and New Zealand. We bring a comprehensive knowledge of contemporary school leadership, teaching and learning, student wellbeing, boarding, co-curricular, school operations, finance, and governance matters.
We have offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane. This allows us to develop strong connections with Principals, School Boards, and educational leaders throughout the Independent School sector.
We work in every major market advising international schools on Head, Principal and senior leadership appointments. Our diverse client base includes British, American, Canadian, and Australian international schools, as well as significant work with leading IB schools around the world.
We advise the world’s best not-for-profit, standalone international schools, and are the search firm of choice for many leading for-profit groups and franchises.
Lucy Hayes is a Partner & Global Sector Lead, Schools & Education Organisations sector at Perrett Laver.
Lucy founded the Schools sector for our firm over a decade ago and she now focussed on advising the best schools in the world on leadership transition.
Her track record includes successful Head of School appointments in every major world region and she has supported pre-eminent schools in North America, the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia on the identification, assessment and selection of new leaders.
Lucy holds a BA (Hons) in Modern History from the University of Oxford.
James is a Partner & Sector Lead, Schools & Education Organisations, Australia.
James has an MBA with Excellence from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the UNSW Business School and undertook exchanges at the Moscow School of Management, SKOLKOVO, and Fudan University, Shanghai as part of his studies. James holds a BA in History from the University of Durham.
Prior to joining Perrett Laver, James worked in education for over 20 years where he held senior leadership positions in independent schools in Australia and the United Kingdom. James has also coached rugby at an elite level with the Scottish Rugby Union and Oxford University RFC.
Katie is a Partner & Sector Lead, Schools & Education Organisations, UKAME.
Her experience in senior level executive search spans leading UK independent schools, international schools and international schools groups, maintained schools, multi-academy trusts and national and international educational bodies.
Katie holds a BA in English Literature from Cardiff University. Prior to joining Perrett Laver she worked in fundraising and development for schools.
Antonia is a Senior Consultant in the Schools and Education Organisations Practice.
She leads on headship appointments to independent schools in the UK and has broad executive search experience spanning senior-level roles in independent, maintained and international education. Before joining Perrett Laver, Antonia spent nine years working on school appointments at another leading international executive search firm.
She holds an MA in German from the University of St Andrews and is an HMC Governor at Sutton Valence School.
Frances is a Consultant in the Global Schools Practice at Perrett Laver and serves as our lead for UK state sector appointments. With extensive expertise in the field, she has advised on a variety of central team and non-executive positions for a diverse array of school trusts, encompassing both national and rural contexts. Additionally, Frances brings significant experience in senior leadership appointments across maintained schools and single academy trusts in both primary and secondary education.
She is particularly dedicated to promoting inclusive practices in executive search and is an active member of both the EDI Committee and the LGBTQ+ Employee Network at Perrett Laver. Frances holds a degree in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and is a Community Council Member for Anthem Schools Trust.
Bing is a Partner at Perrett Laver and is now leading Perrett Laver’s new Hong Kong office, opened in January 2015.
His experience includes Chief Executive and Senior Academic and Administrative appointments in Higher Education and Research within Asia-Pacific.
A native of Beijing, Bing was most recently Director for China Programmes at the Alliance for Global Education, where he led the design of all Alliance for Global Education academic programmes in China, developed and maintained institutional relationships with more than 200 universities in both the U.S. and China and oversaw the Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi’an centers of operations.
Bing has many years of experience at senior management in global higher education and prior to that has taught in China and in the US at Asian Studies Department at Vassar College and Williams College.
He has been central in building scholarly exchanges and joint programmes between US and Chinese Universities and brings a deep understanding of Mainland China and Hong Kong higher education and research sectors.
Bing Han earned a BA in Electrical Engineering in 1996, a BA in International Business in 1997, and an MA in Communications Technology in 2000 from the Harbin Institute of Technology and the Beijing Institute of Microwave Metrology & Measurement respectively.
Katharine is a Partner at Perrett Laver and co-lead of our Hong Kong operation.
Her experience includes Chief Executive and Senior Academic and Administrative appointments in Higher Education and Research within Asia-Pacific.
Katharine has until recently been the Resident Director for the Alliance for Global Education in Beijing. A native of Kentucky, Katharine, has lived and worked in mainland China for many years, beginning with a study abroad experience in Beijing in 1992-93.
After graduating from Reed College (BA in Chinese Language & Literature; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) she spent a year in China as a Thomas J. Watson fellow and then completed her M.H.S. at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2000 Katharine returned to China, where she has worked as epidemiologist on various public health projects, including projects focussing on AIDS/STD prevention and control, with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and the Chinese government. She also received a fellowship from the Blakemore Foundation to study advanced Mandarin Chinese at Tsinghua University in 2008-09.
Gordon is the Regional Managing Partner, Americas. He leads our Canadian operations and delivers senior-level searches across all of the sectors in which we operate.
He began with the firm in our London office and subsequently opened the Vancouver office in 2013 and the Toronto office a few years later.
Gordon holds a B.A. in Classics and Anthropology from Alberta, an MPhil in Archaeology from Glasgow, PhD (on the looting and illegal trading of antiquities) from Cambridge (Homerton College) and a Corporate Executive Certificate from the Alberta, School of Business.
Before joining Perrett Laver Gordon held junior research positions at Texas (Institute of Classical Archaeology) and Westminster (ESRC Project on the UK’s Dealing in Cultural Objects Offences Act 2003) and he was Collections Management Advisor at Alberta (Museums and Collections Services). He was also an Associate Scholar on the Intellectual Property in Cultural Heritage Project and continues to write book reviews for a few academic journals.
He also brings government experience from the UK (Parliamentary Ombudsman) and Canada (Government of Alberta), where he managed a socioeconomic program evaluation team and received a Premier’s Award for outstanding client services.
Janelle is Managing Partner of our Australian operations and leads our office in Sydney.
Her senior level executive search experience includes Senior Academic and Administrative appointments globally in higher education and research and for organisations across the cultural and sports sectors.
She holds a Bachelor degree in Social Science and a Master degree in Marketing from The University of Newcastle, and a Master degree in Management from The Australian National University. Janelle has significant experience in strategic marketing and communications, student recruitment, relationship management, events, business development and international relations. Prior to joining Perrett Laver, Janelle held senior management roles at the Australian National University and the University of Newcastle and is experienced in sports administration having held the position of General Manager for Netball Tasmania, and has also held senior marketing and communications positions in the mining and not-for-profit sectors. Janelle has travelled extensively, particularly across Asia.
Josephine is a Regional Managing Partner, Europe.
Her experience of senior level executive search includes Board, Chief Executive, Senior Academic and Administrative appointments throughout Europe, within the Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Social Impact and Environment and Arts and Culture Practice.
Prior to joining Perrett Laver, Josephine gained extensive experience in the Higher Education sector having served as the Executive Director of the Universities of the Netherlands (VSNU) for over 7 years. In addition, she was an active member of the European University Association (EUA).
Acting as an Adviser to University Presidents, she was responsible for the national lobbying strategy towards the Dutch Government. Under her responsibility, important strategic projects such as the open access strategy and the national research programme ‘digital society’ were initiated.
As Senior Vice President HR Josephine spent 3 years living in Geneva working for an international trading firm. She brings over 10 years of experience as interim manager in the public- private domain.
Josephine holds a Masters in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam and is an IMD alumna.
Anne-May brings extensive experience in the international higher education and research sectors. Before joining Perrett Laver, Anne-May was Secretary-General of the Aurora Universities Network, an international membership organisation of universities across Europe and beyond. As Secretary-General, Anne-May provided strategic supervision over the EU grant application under the prestigious European Universities Initiative. She managed the Aurora Central Office in Amsterdam and supported and advised the Aurora Board and General Council. She successfully increased the network’s visibility, and in Brussels represented Aurora members on developments in EU higher education and research policy – often in close cooperation with other organisations representing higher education, such as the European University Association (EUA), the Guild, YERUN and the Coimbra Group.
Anne-May holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, a BA in European Studies and an Msc in Public Policy and Human Development
Zoe is a Consultant working across all of our sectors in Singapore with particular expertise in Schools & Education organisations.
She holds a Bachelor of Business Management from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Before joining Perrett Laver, she worked in the banking and financial services sector.
Zoe is also fluent in English and Mandarin.
Gary is a Consultant in the Hong Kong office.
His executive search experience includes senior leadership appointments for universities, international schools, as well as arts and culture organizations in Hong Kong, Macao and Greater China. Prior to joining Perrett Laver, Gary had an early career in higher education, secondary education and public affairs.
An expert on the international relations of East Asia and Eurasia, Gary has contributed articles to the World Economic Forum, South China Morning Post, Geopolitics, among others. He has a BA in history and political science from the Australian National University, a MA in Comparative and Public History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick.
Gary speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English and continues to improve his Russian.
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