Meet our team of experts in online education

Dawid Rheeder

Managing Director

Dawid has been working with universities on a global level for the past seven years and has overseen the launch of more than ten university partnerships and more than 50 online courses and programmes. He is privileged to have witnessed the transformative power of technology and digital conversions as he has worked in an online-only environment since 2000. Dawid is passionate about the benefits and social impact of public-private partnerships and enriching the lives of students through academic attainment and life-long learning.

Professor Manuel Frutos-Perez PFHEA FRSA FCMI

Chief Academic Officer

Manuel has over 25 years’ experience in teaching, research and management as an academic. In his role with CEG Digital, he develops partnerships with prestigious universities across the UK to enable them to expand their reach to global markets through the provision of high-quality online learning. Manuel has a life-long interest in the use of technology and is an international technology expert promoting the advancement of learning and teaching in Higher Education.

Shobha Rajkarne

Senior Director of University Partnerships

Shobha is responsible for management across all University partners. With over two decades of extensive experience in global higher education, she has strong credentials in general management of Online Programme Management (OPM) suite of services. Prior to this, she has over a decade of management experience at Laureate International Universities where she has held different roles in marketing, product management, go to market strategy and leading the end-to-end lifecycle management of business units from initial greenfield stage to steady growth. She has significant international experience having worked across markets in Asia, UK and Europe in accelerating growth through new products, new markets, channels and strategic partnerships.

Jessica Muirhead

Head of Academic Practice

Jessica has over 15 years of experience in industry and Higher Education. In her role with CEG Digital she manages the strategic implementation of university partnerships from a quality assurance perspective. She has co-ordinated, developed and managed online academic delivery and engaging learning experiences for higher education, public sector, private companies and for CPD opportunities. She has written and delivered numerous courses for Computer Science and Business faculties in the UK, and is an active researcher in the Information Systems field on the use of digital systems.

Greg Patton

Chief Revenue Officer

Greg has over 24 years of experience in marketing, strategic business development, change and project management roles. He started his career in the FMCG industry and more recently has worked with some of the UK’s strongest and most innovative retail and investment financial services brands. He is highly experienced at leading and growing businesses in different industries and sectors.

Suzanne Bull

Director of Content & Communications

Suzanne leads the content and conversion team bringing the online courses to life and creating engaging content to excite, inform and inspire prospective students. She aligns activities so that they adhere to the brand, and works hard to gain the knowledge and understanding of the University and its online students. Suzanne has spent the majority of her career working in Higher Education marketing working in alumni Relations, Marketing, PR, Brand, and Global Student Recruitment.

Philip Goddard

Director of Business Development

Philip has over 10 years’ experience working in the Higher Education sector. Philip is focussed on CEG’s Business Development Strategy to develop successful partnerships. Prior to joining CEG Philip spent 5 years as the Head of Partnership at Pearson Education overseeing significant growth of a successful Post Graduate online partnership.

Paul Smith

Director of Student Recruitment

Paul has dedicated over 10 years to developing and managing sales and recruitment operations in post graduate online education. Prior to joining CEG Digital Paul worked with Laureate International Universities, an organisation that partners with or owns universities globally, as International Enrolment Director. As Director of Student Recruitment, Paul is focussed on building a highly successful team of sales professionals who deliver on the recruitment goals of each University partner.

Silvana Tafur

Director of Marketing, Demand Generation

Silvana has over 15 years of experience in the education sector in a range of senior marketing and operational roles. She is a solutions-focused Marketing Director and Business Strategist with a strong track record of delivering on programme goals and driving sustainable revenue growth in a multi-channel environment. Her primary responsibility is to effectively manage and provide leadership for our global demand generation activities and to push a culture of high performance, smart data, insight management and agility in our marketing organisation. Prior to joining CEG Digital, Silvana worked at Laureate International Universities having responsibilities across a wide portfolio of brands across Europe and the US.

James Bayley

Chief Financial Officer

James’s career to date combines a degree in economics and finance with globally-recognised qualifications in accounting, investment- and project-management, and well-rounded finance experience in listed, regulated and LLP environments. James is technically adept (ACA / IFRS); experienced in managing complex budgets and strategic plans; risk- and process-aware (COSO / PRINCE2 / Lean); and innovative in using ERP and commercial software (SAP / Oracle / Hyperion / Office).

Samuel Cooper

Senior Finance Business Partner

Financial controller for the Digital division of Cambridge Education Group. Fully qualified Chartered Management Accountant (CIMA with 3 years PQE). Qualified to BSc and MSc level, including scholarship at Copenhagen Business School. Samuel provides finance support including analysis of both financial and non-financial information, interpretation and modelling to the Chief Financial Officer, Board and senior managers to enable well-informed decisions on future stability, growth and profitability.

Laura Wardley-Smith CPO HRD FCIPD

Chief People Officer

Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Laura is CEG’s Chief People Officer experienced in the definition and execution of commercial and supportive global People strategies. With an MSc in Finance & Management, Laura amassed broad business experience in finance and change management roles before holding senior HR roles for the past 15 years in privately owned, equity-backed and listed businesses. Laura is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the People function delivers to the business to drive performance and, as a Board member, is heavily involved in the strategic direction of the business in respect of our organic and acquisitive growth plans and vertical and horizontal integration of our ESG approaches.

Christina Hardie

Director of Academic Delivery

Christina has over 20 years of experience in the education sector. In her role with CEG Digital she provides leadership to all learning and teaching operations across the whole portfolio of university partnerships and programmes of study. She has a broad range of experience in teaching, educational programme development, event project management, marketing, communications and academic operational delivery. Christina has managed a multitude of projects with many stakeholders from both the private and public sector.

Richard Beard

Director of Student Experience and Retention

With over 20 years’ experience serving globally diverse students, across multiple online University partnerships, Richard leads our Student Experience and Retention efforts. Having built several large student support structures, for industry leading Online Universities, Richard is currently focused on expanding our Student Support and retention provision. At the heart of this is his leadership of an expanding team of Student Advisors, assigned to care for each student, throughout their academic journeys. Designed to interweave with partner’s own support services, Richard is also expanding our skills and wellness offering, to ensure that international students receive support that recognises the specific challenges when studying remotely.

Jessica Smith

Head of Production and Partner Support

Jessica heads up the Production and Partner Support team within CEG Digital. This team facilitates module production and manages new partner onboarding and implementation, working with other teams across the business and across all university partners. Jessica joined the company in August 2021 and has a strong background in Project Management which enables her to manage her broad remit and all projects within her team efficiently and proactively.

Sabrina Lan

Head of International Agent Sales

Sabrina has over 12 years’ experience working in the Education sector. Sabrina is focusing on CEG’s Business Development Strategy to develop successful partnerships with agents and B2B clients. Sabrina joined CEG Digital in January 2022, she brings all her industry passion and knowledge with her.

Alice Bonnett

Head of Events and Alumni

Alice is the Head of Events and Alumni across all partnerships at CEG Digital. She has ample experience in business management, sales, conversion, admissions and event organisation. She designs business processes and manages support teams to ensure that all students across CEG Digital’s partnerships enjoy an outstanding and fully supported experience.

CEG Digital

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