Our people
Business Development and Business Management Group
The Business Development and Business Management Group has a total of about 85 staff split between Cambridge and its overseas offices, which are located in all its key regions. The group is responsible for driving forward the business globally through its range of sales and marketing staff. It also has responsibility for the overall financial management and business planning across Cambridge ESOL.
Specifically the group is responsible for:
- ensuring that business targets are met globally across key markets
- formulation, implementation and evaluation of sales strategies across all key markets and market sectors
- identification and evaluation of new business opportunities
- leading on business development across the organisation
- management of response to all tenders
- management of the Cambridge ESOL business planning process
- management of the Cambridge ESOL budgetary process
- production of management information to allow monitoring and evaluation of business performance
- production of business intelligence to feed into strategic planning
- collection and use of recognition data
Unit Structure
Business Development Group (Cambridge based)
This group consists of a team of regional and development managers who are Cambridge based, but travel regularly to the markets for which they are responsible. Their role is to ensure that product and sector specific sales targets are attained in their markets and also to identify and evaluate new business opportunities and to manage the distribution network. This includes a team dealing with the UK and Ireland.
The two Assistant Directors split the global responsibility with one responsible for Europe and the other for Latin America, Asia and the Middle East & North Africa.
The group also has two units geared to growing the business in two main sectors: the global schools’ sector and the global world of work. Each of these units is headed up by a Global Manager, who is in turn managed by one of the Assistant Directors. In addition there is a marketing manager who is a member of the IELTS marketing team, which consists of members from each of the partners: Cambridge ESOL, the British Council and IDP, Australia.
Business Development Group (staff based overseas)
This part of the group has grown substantially over the last few years, with now a total of 22 offices in the following locations:
- France
- Spain
- Germany
- Italy
- Greece
- China (four offices)
- Taiwan
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Vietnam
- India (three offices)
- Turkey
- Dubai
- Poland
- Russia
- Korea
Each office has a variety of business development, marketing staff and sales consultants, with further support from teams of seminar presenters in most markets. The total number of staff overseas is around 63, which includes 15 Country or Development Managers. There is likely to be further expansion in new and existing markets, in order to allow Cambridge ESOL to grow its business at a time of considerable market potential.
Business Management Unit
This unit, which is headed by the Assistant Director, Business Management, is responsible for the management of the Cambridge ESOL budgetary process, including the setting, monitoring and evaluation of all budgets, as well as the management of the overall business planning process. It has a key role in the reporting of business performance against targets as well as the provision of a variety of management reports for staff across the organisation. It provides a range of business intelligence, manages market research projects, consultation with centres and the response to all tenders. It is also responsible for the collection of global recognition data which is used for promotional purposes.
Susan Randall - Director
Susan Randall joined UCLES in 1993 and in her current role as Director, Business Development and Management has responsibility for Cambridge ESOL's global business development, as well as the management of ESOL's business planning and finance. In order to respond to the growing opportunities and challenges of the ESOL global market over the last five years, the Business Support Group, for which she is responsible, has expanded in all its functions, particularly in the increased staff working in overseas markets, where there are currently 22 offices in key European, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Asian markets.
Before joining the organisation Susan had around 20 years EFL teaching and management experience in Europe and North Africa, including 12 years working for the British Council. She has a postgraduate qualification in TESOL and obtained an MBA before joining the organisation.
Sean Hayde - Head of Sales
Sean Hayde is currently responsible for global sales. He joined the organisation as Development Manager for East Asia in 2001, and was Assistant Director, Business Development from 2005-2008. In a career that has spanned more than 20 years, Sean has taught English as a foreign language in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. He also worked for the British Council in Saudi Arabia and the UK. He holds a degree in History and English from University College, Cork and a post graduate qualification in Business Administration from Henley Management School.
Liam Vint -Assistant Sales Director
Liam Vint is responsible for business development in Western Europe (not UK and Ireland) as well as leading on global sales of support products and teaching awards. Liam joined Cambridge ESOL in 2000 as a development manager, becoming country manager for Italy in 2003. Previously, he worked for the British Council for 13 years, five of those as deputy teaching centre manager, both in Italy and Portugal. He was also previously a Cambridge ESOL examiner, local secretary, and an RSA Diploma course tutor. His MA dissertation at Reading University was on the Marketing of EFL services. Liam has an MA in TEFL, a PGCE (Dist) and an RSA DIP TEFLA.
Mickey Bonin - Assistant Director Business Development
Mickey Bonin oversees the World of Work and School Sector Strategy units, as well as the regional managers for the Americas, Central Eastern and South East Europe, Middle East, Turkey and Africa. Before coming to Cambridge ESOL he worked for Cambridge University Press as their commissioning editor responsible for their applied linguistics series and was the editor responsible for the publishing of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference, the Studies in Language Testing Series and the Cambridge Language Assessment series. Mickey has an MPhil in English and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge and a post graduate degree in ESL from McGill University.
Eoin Geraghty - Global Manager: Schools
Eoin's department is focused on leading the development of Cambridge ESOL assessment products for the compulsory education sector around the world, working closely with Education Ministries and other national and regional agencies. Before joining Cambridge ESOL, Eoin gained considerable business development experience from the technology and food industries. He later spent eight years in the education sector, working in the fields of marketing and business development. Eoin has one master's degree in Commmunications and a second in Business.
Deshini Chetty - Global Manager: Workplace Assessment
She has 16 years' experience in the EFL/ESOL industry with a background in teaching, business English training, publishing and testing. She joined Cambridge ESOL in 2007 after holding prominent positions in international commercial management in the EFL sector.
Deshini's current role within Cambridge ESOL is primarily concerned with driving the global strategy for the workplace assessment portfolio, an essential part of Cambridge ESOL’s Business Development and Business Management Group.
Sujata Stead - IELTS Global Marketing Manager
Sujata Stead joined Cambridge ESOL in May 2007 as Global Marketing Manager for IELTS. Her key responsibility is to work with the IELTS partners British Council and IDP: IELTS Australia in developing and implementing a proactive global strategic marketing plan which ensures the long term sustainable growth for the test.
Sujata previously worked for the British Council in Kolkata, India as registrar of the English Teaching Centre. She was the IELTS Marketing Manager at the Council based in London before joining Cambridge ESOL. Sujata has over 11 years experience in marketing, business development and customer relationship management in the education and training sectors in India and the UK. She holds a BA in Political Science, an MSc in International Business and a Professional Diploma in Marketing.
Henry Tolley - Regional Development Manager, UK and Ireland
Henry's team is focused on leading the development of Cambridge ESOL assessment products in the UK and Ireland. Before joining Cambridge ESOL, he gained considerable business development experience from working for the publisher Pearson Longman in Italy as Educational Consultant and Area Manager. He also worked for the publisher Marshall Cavendish as their Area Manager, Western Europe. He has an MA (Dip) in Applied Linguistics, and his involvement in language teaching dates back to the early 1990s. He has worked abroad in TEFL for 15 years in Hungary, Spain and Italy, where he was teaching in the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
Lee Knapp - Development Manager UK.
Lee Knapp has responsibility for the development of strategies to maximise candidature for Cambridge ESOL examinations in the UK, also seeking out other business growth opportunities for the full range of Cambridge ESOL products and services. Lee represents the Federation of Awarding Bodies on the National ESOL Forum, advising the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills of the UK government. Lee’s involvement in language teaching dates back to the early 1970’s, and his career has taken in Germany, the Gulf States and the UK. He has undertaken developmental roles in several organisations, including senior marketing positions in Further Education and the private sector. Lee is the co-author of “Write for Business” (published by Longman in 1987) and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He holds an MA in Applied Linguistics.
Duncan Rayner - Development Manager: South and South East Asia
Duncan Rayner’s current role in Cambridge ESOL is Development Manager for South and South East Asia, which includes managing local offices in India, Vietnam and Malaysia. He spent the earlier part of his career teaching in China and managing a language school in Beijing. Before joining Cambridge ESOL he worked for Cambridge International Examinations for two years as a product manager. Duncan speaks Mandarin and holds a Master’s level qualification in Business and Chinese.
