News and Awards

Jacopo Corona

General Manager – Go Study Australia

Jacopo Corona is an accomplished professional in the education and international student recruitment industry. With a strong background in business administration from Italy’s esteemed Bocconi University, Jacopo’s journey began in 2007 when he embarked on a Working Holiday visa to Australia to study English, work, and travel.

Inspired by his transformative experience, Jacopo founded Go Study Australia – Italy in 2010, establishing offices in Milan and later in Rome. Under his leadership, Go Study Australia quickly emerged as the leading agency specializing in Australian study programs for Italian students. Furthermore, Jacopo spearheaded the organisation’s global marketing efforts, positioning the Italian headquarters as the Digital Marketing Global Team hub.

In 2018 Jacopo relocated to Australia, and now serves as the General Manager of Go Study Australia, where he continues to drive Go Study Australia’s global success, fostering educational opportunities for students worldwide.

Ben Poppy

General Manager – Domestic Vocational

With over a decade of experience in the Vocational Education and Training Sector, Ben has held several senior management positions with registered training organisations, across various industries. This experience has enabled a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist in the VET space.

Ben has a passion for education which has led him to work tirelessly to create a positive impact in the lives of students. Ben’s expertise is in focusing on innovation and excellence and has been able to implement strategies that have significantly enhanced training outcomes for students aligned with industry expectations in the domestic sector.

Ben is committed to creating a positive and productive culture and building strong relationships with colleagues and stakeholders. In his role as General Manager Domestic, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the domestic division and will drive strategic growth across the domestic brands.

Simon Costain

General Manager – International Business Development

Simon has worked in the fields of international marketing, education management and student recruitment since 2004. He began his career as the director of sales and marketing for a large US-based non-profit voluntourism business where he refined the skills of managing global sales teams and creating proactive marketing strategies to engage student-aged travellers.

He later joined RedHill Education and the General Manager of Marketing and supported the growth of colleges such as Greenwich English/Management College and Academy of Information Technology. Since moving over to Go Study in 2016, Simon has transformed the business into a powerhouse of student recruitment, an industry leader in education services and global marketing.

Simon is an advocate of student rights and welfare, having been a foundational supporter of the first ever NSE International Student Hub. He has an Executive MBA from University of Technology – Sydney, and has a passion for exploring creative collaborations to create new opportunities within the industry.

Emma Thompson

Head of People + Culture

Emma’s professional career spans over 20 years in a variety of business sectors including manufacturing, services, domestic real estate and education. The diversity of past roles in general management, operations, sales and human resource management has given Emma a sound commercial understanding of business and a strong ability to realise business outcomes.

Emma previously worked as General Manager Operations at the International School of Colour and Design. In this role she developed her passion for mentoring and motivating teams and focused her work on contemporary human resource management. She has since channelled this passion for constructive leadership through her current role as Head of People + Culture for NextEd. In her role, Emma is committed to delivering innovative, inclusive and impactful people strategies to support the business strategies within the organisation. With a People First philosophy, Emma believes that designing and delivering a people and culture strategy that maximises employee engagement and experience throughout the whole employee lifecycle, not only benefits the employees, but also adds value to the productivity and bottom line of the organisation.

Sandra Hook

Non-Executive Director

Sandra is a former Managing Director, CEO, and COO, Sandra Hook has held senior executive roles with some of Australia’s largest media companies including News Limited and Foxtel. She sits on a number of publicly listed, private and government boards and brings a strong focus on customer-centric growth and digital innovation at board level.

William Deane

Non-Executive Director

William Deane (Will) is a founder of venture capital firm Exto Partners and a director of a number of their investee companies. He has co-founded several high growth technology companies and was a co-founder of RedHill Education (acquired by iCollege in 2021). 

Will previously practised as a corporate lawyer in Australia with Blake Dawson and in the United States with Skadden Arps and Sidley Austin with a focus of equity capital markets and mergers & acquisitions.

Cass O’Connor

Chair

Cass has 35 years’ of executive, non-executive and advisory experience, spanning various industries including media, technology, premium consumer goods, real estate and the arts.  Her background is in finance, including as a senior equities research analyst with Deutsche Bank, and investment banking and private equity investing with Turnbull & Partners, Goldman Sachs LLC, and Carnegie, Wylie & Co (now Lazard).    She has advised Federal and State governments alongside publicly listed and private businesses.

In addition to running her own corporate advisory firm, Cass currently chairs Carriageworks, the largest multi-arts precinct in Australia; Ultraceuticals, wholly Australian developed cosmeceutical company; and TRIBE, a global generator of instant branded content.   She has previously Chaired ASX-listed Prime Media Group and managed its successful exit to SevenWest Media in late 2021.