Our Leadership - NextEd Group

Fernando Passarelli

General Manager – Domestic

Fernando brings over 11 years of experience in the Australian education sector and 12 years in the pharmaceutical industry, with a career spanning operational leadership and market intelligence. His professional journey has taken him from multinational pharmaceutical organisations to senior executive roles in education, shaping his data-driven, people-focused approach to leadership.

Before joining NextEd Group, Fernando progressed through senior leadership roles, including General Manager and Chief Operating Officer, overseeing multi-campus growth, organisational transformation and strategic planning.
In his role as General Manager – Domestic at NextEd Group, Fernando is committed to driving sustainable business growth and strengthening operational performance.

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.

Shin Shimizu

General Manager – Business Development & National Head of Operations

Shin has decades of experience in leadership and management roles across various industries including tourism, hospitality, and tertiary education.

Shin started in the education industry in 2002, before joining Greenwich English College in 2006 as General Manager, with concurrent responsibilities from 2012 as General Manager Operations RedHill (now NextEd). In 2015, Shin took on the role of General Manager Victoria, where he was responsible for building and leading multiple teams, in conjunction with the launch of the RedHill campus and its brands into the Melbourne market.

Currently based in Brisbane, his role now sees him lead a national team which oversees the group’s facilities and operations, the management of property, leases, campus expansion and fitouts, and material business contracts. He is looking at the next growth opportunities for NextEd.

Ilenia Amore

General Manager – Go Study Australia

With a deep passion for education and a family background of educators, Ilenia Amore has dedicated her career to supporting international students in Australia.

Originally from Italy, she graduated in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Ferrara. Her academic path led her to Australia in 2014, first as a working holidaymaker and then as a student—experiences that inspired her to complete a Graduate Diploma in Migration Law and become a registered migration agent in 2023.

Ilenia joined Go Study Australia as a Student Advisor in 2016, supporting over 2,000 students throughout her journey. Her dedication and leadership led to her promotion to Student Experience Leader in 2018 and then to Country Manager in 2022, where she oversaw operations, teams, and marketing strategy. After nearly a decade with the company, Ilenia was appointed General Manager, overseeing all onshore and offshore departments. She leads with passion and purpose, drawing on her experience to make a meaningful impact and support international students in building successful futures in Australia.

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.

Roxana Ene

Executive General Manager – Greenwich College

Roxi started her career as a primary school teacher in her native country of Romania, and soon after decided to continue her studies at Transilvania University.

She worked as an English language and Romanian language teacher for 4 years in a high school in her hometown before relocating to Australia in 2004. When Roxi arrived in Australia, she became an English language teacher at Greenwich English College. In 2009 she was appointed to the role of Assistant Director of Studies, and in 2012 was promoted to Director of Studies. In 2017 Roxi was appointed as Greenwich Dean of Education to oversee all aspects of Greenwich course development and education delivery across its different campuses.

After 13 years of work at Greenwich College, Roxi was appointed to the role of General Manager overseeing all departments across Sydney and Melbourne campuses.

Lisa Qu

General Manager – Domestic

Lisa is a commercially driven executive with a proven track record of leading growth, transformation, and market expansion across education, professional services, e-commerce, and people-centric industries. As General Manager – Domestic, she leads strategy and performance across the Group’s domestic education portfolio, aligning delivery with evolving workforce demands.

She has scaled national sector portfolios at BDO in Australia, led business transformation within an RTO, and advised more than two dozen start-ups. Lisa also founded a global fashion label featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair and Business Insider – earning her a place on North America’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2020.

An investor and active board director, Lisa holds governance roles with the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce & Industry and an international investment collective. She is known for her ability to rapidly commercialise new markets, and connect people, systems, and strategy to unlock scalable, enduring impact.

Andrew Nye

Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer

Andrew Nye is a seasoned finance executive with deep expertise in corporate leadership, strategic financial management, and transformation. Over an eight-year tenure at ARN Media, he played a pivotal role in key transactions, including the acquisition of ARN Regional, the sale of Adshel to oOh! media, and the demerger of NZME. A Chartered Accountant, Andrew started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, working with a diverse portfolio of listed and multinational companies.

Mark Kehoe

Chief Executive Officer

Mark brings over 30 years of experience and a proven track record leading companies through industries which are undergoing change. He has held executive roles in market leading businesses included Grays Group, Virgin Australia and online marketplace and media group Gumtree / CarsGuide / Autotrader. In each of these, Mark has successfully led material transformation initiatives, increasing customer demand and operational scale.

Lisa Jones

Company Secretary

Lisa is an experienced corporate lawyer, corporate affairs adviser and company secretary with particular experience working with emerging and high growth companies in the biotech, media & technology and oil & gas sectors. She has a very commercial approach and practical understanding of issues facing management after having held executive roles in private and ASX listed companies.

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.

Angus Johnson

Non-Executive Director

Angus has a wealth of commercial and real estate experience through his Brisbane based company Citimark Properties and is a significant shareholder of NextEd. He is a past Chairman and long serving Director of national AFL Club, the Brisbane Lions.

Simon Tolhurst

Non-executive Director

Simon joined the board of iCollege (Now NextEd) as a Non-Executive chairman in 2017 where he guided corporate governance of the business while working closely with the board and management to facilitate the turnaround of the company. Simon stepped down as chair in July 2022, and remains on the board as an independent non-executive director. He is a Partner in HWL Ebsworth’s Brisbane office and has over 25 years of legal practice.

Our Board

Our Board

Sandra Hook

Simon Tolhurst

Angus Johnson

William Deane

Lisa Jones

Executive Team

Mark Kehoe

Andrew Nye

Emma Thompson

Roxana Ene

Ilenia Amore

Lisa Qu

Fernando Passarelli