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.

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.

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.

Ross Krise

Director of Student Recruitment

Ross is a seasoned student recruitment professional with 14 years’ industry experience. Ross has worked in both public and private organisations recruiting students globally into ESL, FE & HE courses. Ross has successfully built and managed global recruitment, marketing and admissions teams as part of multiple SLT’s. Ross loves helping individuals realise their often life changing educational goals.

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).

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.

Leonard Houx

Director of Learning Design

Leonard is an award-winning leader in the world of learning design. He is the current winner for the Learning Technology Awards’ Learning Designer of the Year. Previously, his design of Google’s ‘Squared’ online marketing programme won Silver for Best Distance Learning Course. Leonard is fellow of the University of London’s Centre for Online and Distance Education (CODE) and former director at the Learning Network (LN). He has written about learning design for the Guardian, Times Higher Ed and FT. He has been working in online education for over 13 years.

Paul Trueman

Senior Director of Production and Partner Support

Paul has over 15 years’ experience working in the Higher Education sector. As Senior Director: Production and Partner Support Paul provides a range of both strategic and operational leadership, building and developing successful partnerships. Prior to joining CEG Paul spent 4 years in a senior technical role at Pearson Education, leading technical consultancy and provision for a portfolio of university OPM partnerships.

Previously, Paul worked as head of technology enhanced learning at Northumbria University for over 5 years, as part of a leadership team developing their online learning strategy for over 50 programmes of online distance learnin. Paul is passionate about enabling high quality digitally empowered learning experiences, enabling students to aspire to their full potential.

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.