Speakers

We have a great lineup of leading speakers who will share their unique insights on Unlocking the Hidden Curriculum at the World Schools Summit. Take a look at their profiles below. And if you’d like to be among them, then we’d love to hear from you.

Apply to speak

Meet the speakers

Alan Williamson

Chief Executive Officer, Taalem

Alex Crossman

Headmaster, London Academy of Excellence

Asha Alexander

Principal of GEMS Legacy School, Dubai

Carla Aerts

Futures of education Consultant

Dr. Osama Obeidat

CEO, Queen Rania Teacher Academy

Duriya Aziz

Senior Vice President (International, Education), Scholastic Inc

Fiona Cottam

Principal of Hartland International School, Dubai

Harry Anthony Patrinos

Senior Adviser, Education, World Bank

Jeff Hittner

Head of High Potential Leaders Fellowship, Junior Achievement Worldwide

Kavita Sanghvi

Principal, Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School

Kiran Bir Sethi

Founder, Riverside School

Lasse Leponiemi

Co-Founder and Executive Director, HundrED

Maggie MacDonnell

Canadian Educator and Winner of the Global Teacher Prize

Mark Leppard MBE

Principal, The British School Al Khubairat

Mayank Dhingra

Senior Education Business Leader, HP

Naghma Mulla

CEO and Board Director, EdelGive Foundation

Nkazimulo Moyo-Zitha

Head of Primary Schools, SPARK Schools

Paul Skidmore

Founder and CEO, Rising Academies

Sandra Ospina

Head of Learning & Innovation, SEK International School

Simon Sommer

Co-CEO, Jacobs Foundation

Simon O’Connor

Director, Deira International School

Tania Daniel

Vice President of Entrepreneurship Initiatives, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas

Vijita Patel

Principal, Swiss Cottage School

William Campbell

Founding Head of School, Franklin School

Would you like to join our speakers and contribute your expertise on transforming teaching and learning?

We are looking for researchers, educators, philosophers, entrepreneurs, and other thought leaders to share their insights.

Selected speakers will take part in our Scholastic EdTalks sessions at our summit: concise, impactful presentations focusing on this year’s theme: “Unlocking The Hidden Curriculum”. Each speaker will present for 10 minutes, followed by a 10-minute moderated Q&A session.

Submit your interest here by August 30th, 1 PM GMT. Sessions will be in English.

Please Note: The summit is free, but speakers must cover their travel costs. Register for the conference here. For queries, contact us at pilar@t4.education

Apply to speak

William Campbell

Founding Head of School, Franklin School

William Campbell is the Founding Head of a pioneering educational institution in the United States of America. He is recognized for his expertise in harmonizing the rich tapestry of historical teaching methodologies with the demands of contemporary, purpose-driven curricula.

With leadership experiences spanning multiple countries and curricula, he is adept at navigating the complexities of the educational landscape at International, National, and State levels. His leadership philosophy revolves around cultivating dynamic learning environments that nurture critical thinking, creativity, and adaptability among students and faculty alike.

Vijita Patel

Principal of Swiss Cottage School, London, UK

Asha Alexander is Principal at GEMS Legacy School, Dubai and Executive Leader of Climate Change at GEMS Education. With 35 years of experience in the provision of education to K-12 students, she has overseen the school’s transition to an exclusively digital curriculum.

Passionate, driven to achieve aspirational goals and ready to take on any challenge, she believes in nurturing students’ hearts and minds and is particular about a value-based education. She is excited by the prospect of watching every child achieve his or her potential. Asha is a UN certified Climate Change Leader and has made presentations at several Conference of Parties (COP) and other international conferences and has conducted workshops on leadership, and change management for schools in India and UAE. She has led the school’s Twinning Program with 87 schools enabling schools to develop partnerships around the world to embed the SDGs. Currently she has established GEMS Hub Schools for Sustainability in Italy, Indonesia, Malawi and India and is working with the Ministry of Education in UAE to bring Climate Literacy to schools in the UAE. She has been recognized as a UNCC Champion at the 60th anniversary of UNITAR this year at Geneva.

Tania Daniel

Vice President of Entrepreneurship Initiatives, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas

Tania Daniel is the Vice President of Entrepreneurship Initiatives for Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas (Houston). and under her leadership the JA Company Program - a pioneering, entrepreneurship and workforce readiness program have witnessed record growth and national standing. Prior to joining JA, Tania worked in the areas of human rights advocacy, nation-building, peace and reconciliation. Tania has been celebrated by the Houston Business Journal as an Honoree of the 40 Under 40 Awards (2021) and the Women Who Mean Business Awards (2022) and was also recognized as an Outstanding Diversity Champion 2023 (Diversity in Business Awards) by them.

Simon O’Connor

Director of Deira International School, Dubai

Simon O’Connor is the Director of Deira International School – an outstanding rated all through UK/IB curriculum school based in Festival City, Dubai. Simon is also Chief of Education for the Al Futtaim Education Foundation, working across their portfolio of schools. Simon has over 25 years of experience in education and joined DIS in August of 2020. Prior to this he was Principal of Jumeirah College, an outstanding school in Dubai, since 2013.

Simon is passionate about learning and ensuring all students are challenged in lessons for them to achieve their full potential. He is also very interested in school leadership and is currently studying for Doctorate with the University of Buckingham, researching the impact of a focus on organisational culture in international schools.

Before moving to the UAE, Simon taught History and Politics for over 20 years in a variety of different school contexts. In his last role in the UK, Simon worked as a school leader in a very successful grammar school in Kent. His role there was curriculum lead and was also responsible for the management of a teaching school and working across an academy chain of schools which he helped to found.

As a student Simon studied for a BA in History and Philosophy at the University of Wales, College of Cardiff where he was a choral scholar at Llandaff Cathedral. He then studied for a PGCE at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar. Simon also holds a Master’s Degree in Education Leadership, and a National Professional Qualification for Headship.

Simon Sommer

Co-CEO, Jacobs Foundation

Simon´s drive is to make the Jacobs Foundation the world's leading learning foundation by developing, selecting, and promoting the best programs and projects. And by finding and developing the best minds – inside and outside the Foundation.

Simon’s primary responsibilities at the Foundation are strategy, board governance, operational excellence, human resources, and research funding.

Before joining the Jacobs Foundation in 2006, he worked at the Volkswagen Foundation in Hannover, Germany’s largest private research funder, and as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Berlin, Germany.

Simon holds master’s degrees in Musicology (2001) and Cultural Studies (2000) from Leuphana University, Germany, and from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he graduated with a scholarship from the Fulbright Commission.

Sandra Ospina

Head of Learning & Innovation, SEK International School, Saudi Arabia

Sandra has more than a decade of experience in education. She has taught from nursery to university level, has developed science curricula, and has held leadership roles in the past few years. Sandra's educational philosophy centers on nurturing the whole child, which in short means attending to a child's cognitive, social-emotional, physical, and ethical development while inspiring their curiosity, and creativity.

In her current role as Head of Learning and Innovation at SEK Riyadh International School, she is working closely with all the faculty to ensure that the curriculum, teaching methodologies, and resources align with the IB philosophy to provide the children at the school with an exceptional educational experience.

Sandra has a BA in Chemistry, BS in Biology, and MA in Biology education from Brooklyn College(New York), an M.ed in International Educational Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is currently completing an EMBA.

Paul Skidmore

Founder and CEO, Rising Academies

Paul is the founder and CEO of Rising Academies, one of the fastest-growing quality-focused education companies in Africa, and a Certified B Corp®. Launched in 2014. Rising provided emergency home schooling to children in Sierra Leone who were kept out of school during the Ebola Crisis, opened its first school in April 2015, and now works with more than 250,000 students across Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Rwanda. During the COVID-19 epidemic, Rising’s multi-award winning distance learning solution “Rising On Air” reached children in 25 countries and was translated into 12 languages. Before launching Rising Academies, Paul was a founding team member at the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, and later served as its Deputy CEO. He began his career as a think-tank researcher and government strategy advisor in the UK. He has a BA and MA from Manchester University and an MPA from Princeton University. He was named a UBS Global Visionary and a Mulago Foundation Rainer Arnhold Fellow in 2019.

Nkazimulo Moyo-Zitha

Head of Primary Schools, SPARK Schools

Nkazimulo is a dedicated education leader and Mathematics teacher with over 20 years of experience driving student achievement, shaping curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation, and fostering positive stakeholder experiences in educational communities. Nkazimulo is currently the Head of Schools at SPARK Schools, where she is responsible for the strategic direction and management of SPARK Primary Schools, as well as school leadership and teacher development. SPARK Schools is an award-winning group of independent primary and secondary schools in South Africa that serves over 16,000 students by providing high-quality education, which was previously a commodity for marginalised communities. Her responsibilities include ensuring the strategic direction and viability of current and future Primary Schools, as well as managing all aspects such as people, culture, relationships, systems, data, and budget that deliver on organisational purpose.

With a strong commitment to educational equity and innovation, Nkazimulo has led a number of initiatives aimed at improving the educational experience for students from diverse backgrounds. She brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her presentations, combining practical insights with research-based strategies to motivate educators and stakeholders to foster inclusive and empowering learning environments.

Join Nkazimulo at the upcoming conference as she shares her insights on unlocking the potential of the hidden curriculum to promote students' holistic development and create pathways for lifelong success.

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Naghma Mulla

CEO and Director on the Board at EdelGive Foundation

Over the last decade, Naghma has driven the vision of the EdelGive, strengthening its core principles of collaborative philanthropy; and transforming it from a grant-making foundation to a philanthropic asset management platform, today. Over the years, she has forged valuable partnerships with diverse stakeholders and has been the brainchild for innovative collaborations in Education, Migration, Women, Climate, and Capacity Building at EdelGive.

In addition to her role at EdelGive, she is also a General Board Member at Goonj, India Climate Collaborative. She also provides strategic guidance to the Migrants Resilience Collaborative, the largest migrant collective in the world.

Naghma is as well, a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Mayank Dhingra

Senior Education Business Leader, HP

Mayank Dhingra leads the Education Business Vertical for the Worldwide Commercial Organization at HP Inc. His role is to provide strategic direction and thought leadership to the Education business line and he works with National Education Ministries to support country level education policy and to evangelize HP’s education proposition.

Mayank has spearheaded the development of HP’s EdTech Solutions for blended learning, Capacity Building Programs for educators and policymakers, and Future Skilling curricula for students. He is the architect and global owner of HP’s education portfolio stack consisting of the following programs – HP IDEA, HP Cambridge EdTech Fellowship, HP Classeasy, HP Futures, HP Gaming Garage, HP Innovation Garage, HP READ, HP School Improvement Coach, World Education Medals, and HP EdTech Incubator.

He was previously with GEMS Education where he headed the Commercial line for a network of 50 Schools in MENASA region. In addition, he sat on the board of two schools.

Prior to GEMS he was with the Emirates Group for nearly 15 years in two stints and his last role was Head of Global Technology Partnerships where he led a portfolio of over 450 vendor relations and portfolio managed large scale collaboration projects with tech partners. His preceding role was Head of Customer Experience for dnata (Emirates Group) where he set up the line and managed the business technology, product, pricing, marketing, and customer service functions across the network.

Mayank is a sought-after keynote speaker, author and moderator on EdTech subjects. He has spoken at prominent international conferences, including GITEX, COP28, G7 Summit, World Youth Forum, UNHCR Global Refugee Forum etc, and his articles have appeared in leading publications. He has also been an active mentor for several talent management pools.

Mayank is a certified Yoga teacher and the founder of a non-profit entity – Yogasmriti; which combines individual and community wellbeing. All proceeds from the initiative are directed to charitable causes supporting children in need. Mayank’s philanthropic work has been recognised at regional and international forums.

Mark Leppard MBE

Principal, The British School Al Khubairat

Mark is a successful and ambitious school leader of an outstanding British international school. In 2015 Mark was awarded an MBE for his services to education and has an M.Ed in Educational Leadership. In 2023 Mark won the SchoolsCompare.com Best Principal in the UAE Award. His focus is on team building, in terms of motivation, personnel and structure, ensuring that the students benefit from these developments. He has a lifelong passion for learning and ensures that the student is at the heart of all decisions that are made. Holistic education is fundamental to Mark's philosophy and he believes that learning should not be restricted just to the formal classroom. Mark has a track record of success, having led schools through 7 'Outstanding' school inspections and accreditations. He is a lead school inspector and has inspected a variety of schools around the globe.

Maggie MacDonnell

Teacher, Feminist, Time Traveller and Winner of the $1,000,000 Global Teacher Prize.

Maggie MacDonnell, aka “The Million Dollar Teacher” stood out from a global pool of over 20,000 teachers nominated from 179 countries to win the Global Teacher Prize. Her teaching methods are literally life-saving. She was nominated for the prize by her Inuit students, who are currently engulfed in the world’s highest suicide crisis. They wrote nomination letters sharing that Maggie had actually saved their lives. To do this work, Maggie tears down traditional classroom walls and co-creates new ones – rooted in a pedagogy of community, and empowerment and woven together with strands of empathy, and love.

From palm trees to polar bears, Maggie has spent decades teaching with and learning from resilient populations across the globe – including East African refugees to Inuit in the Canadian Arctic. She unpacks these lessons with memorable real-life stories delivered in riveting keynotes to leadership and education audiences. But what Maggie loves to do most, is deliver hands-on training programs to teach educators on the actual how of building relationships both with our students and our colleagues. Relationships are the foundation of success in any domain, especially teaching. While it is often “talked about”, teachers and education leaders are rarely given tools, frameworks, practice and feedback on how to do this. Sharing this, is what Maggie does best.

Lasse Leponiemi

Executive Director and Co-Founder, HundrED.org

HundrED seeks and shares 100 inspiring innovations in education worldwide every year.
Lasse is passionate about youth future orientation and he has worked in education and career-planning since 2006. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director at HundrED - a Finnish mission driven organisation, which seeks and shares inspiring innovations in education. HundrED selects 100 pedagogically sound education innovations from around the world annually and helps them spread throughout their wide network of educators in 100+ countries.

Kiran Bir Sethi

Founder of Riverside School, India

Kiran Bir Sethi is an Indian designer, educationist, education reformer, and social entrepreneur. With a degree in visual communication from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, she ran a flourishing design practice, but it was when her children started going to school that Sethi recognised her true calling -putting design thinking into education.

She founded the award winning Riverside School in Ahmedabad that focuses on empowering children with the I CAN MINDSET. She then founded aProCh ( an initiative to make cities more child friendly ) and Design for Change, which is today the largest movement of change for and by the children where children use the simple framework of Feel/ Imagine /Do/Share to design solutions for some of their greatest challenges.

Her most recent venture is the Riverside Learning Center which offers training programmes to empower schools across the world to become ‘I CAN SCHOOLS’ by using the codified processes from Riverside.

Over the years, Kiran, Riverside and Design for Change have won several accolades and Awards, and some of the most recent ones are : Riverside wins the World’s Best School Prize for Innovation, HundrEd.org selects Design for Change into the Hall of Fame, The Earth Prize, the Rockefeller Innovation Award, The Lego Remagine Award, The Lexus prize, was The Top 10 Global Teacher nominee and the Light of Freedom Award. She is an Ashoka and Yidan Fellow.

Sethi is a published author, having written a book, ‘Every Child CAN’ for HarperCollins, which chronicles the journey and offers readers a glimpse into Riverside’s unique design-led approach to empowering children.
Born in Bangalore, India, Sethi comes from a family of designers. She lives in Ahmedabad with her 2 children, Raag and Jazz and her husband, Geet. She loves life, dark chocolate and Govinda movies!

Kavita Sanghvi

Principal, Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School

Kavita Sanghvi holds a Master's in Physics, Master's in Education, Master's in Philosophy of Education, and a CAEL [Certificate in Advanced Course in Educational Leadership] Diploma from Harvard University. She presently heads SVKM's CNM School, in Mumbai.

She is a National Awardee 2022 receiving an award from the President, Droupadi Murmu, Teach SDG’s Ambassador, Climate Action Ambassador, and Scientix Ambassador for India. In May 2023, she was inducted by the Ministry of India for the National Mission for Mentoring [NMM]. She is a Cambridge Trainer, British Council Trainer, and Ambassador.

She has created a STEM course, ‘’Build your STEM Competency’ available to educators across the world. She has created lesson plans for Scientix which are available in the resource section. She is a contributor to the teacher’s resource for Cambridge IGCSE Physics and the author of Cambridge IGCSE Physics Exam Preparation Practice.

Jeff Hittner

Head of High Potential Leaders Fellowship, Junior Achievement Worldwide

Jeff Hittner has 25 years of experience building better teams and people in an effort to improve the world. He designs and runs the global high potential leadership program for the Nobel Peace Prize nominated non-profit JA Worldwide. He was the Global Lead Facilitator at IVY, a community that serves more than 10,000 CEOs globally. He is an executive coach to CEOs and senior executives on three continents and to Yale MBA students in the USA. He was the MBA Professor of Leadership at Bard College, where he developed the curriculum for one of the first MBAs in Sustainability in the US. He also founded and led IBM’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consulting practice globally. Recently, he launched the Ambitious Dads project, focused on supporting men and their families as they seek a deeper role in parenting and fatherhood with few historical examples of how to do so.

Harry Anthony Patrinos

Senior Adviser, Education, World Bank

Harry Anthony Patrinos is the Senior Adviser, Education, at the World Bank. He specializes in the economics of education, especially school-based management, demand-side financing, and public-private partnerships.

Previously, he worked in the Office of the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia. He managed education teams in Europe and Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and the Global Unit. He led lending operations and analytical work programs in Latin America. He co-led the development of the Harmonized Learning Outcomes database, part of the Human Capital Index, published in Nature. He has studied and worked extensively on the socioeconomic status of Indigenous Peoples. He has many publications in the academic and policy literature, with more than 50 journal articles. He previously worked as an economist at the Economic Council of Canada. Mr. Patrinos received a doctorate from the University of Sussex.

Fiona Cottam

Principal of Hartland International School, Dubai

Joining Hartland International School in 2016 as Principal, following a successful tenure at GEMS Education and as a Headteacher in the UK, Fiona is a graduate of University College Dublin. She sits the COBIS Global Board, The Irish Business Network Dubai and the International Task Force on Child Protection.

Duriya Aziz

Senior Vice President (International, Education), Scholastic Inc

Duriya Aziz believes that education is the way to a better future for all. She considers herself fortunate to work as a learning ambassador focused on reading and math, bringing best practices and effective pedagogies to schools, educators, parents, and learners in more than 50 countries, through programs that use proven and emerging methods and technologies in ways that are culturally and contextually appropriate. She finds that there is nothing more satisfying than seeing usage, engagement, and efficacy numbers go up and up and up! She has had the privilege of introducing Singapore math around the world, including in the US, Australia, New Zealand, India, Turkey, Oman, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia and the UK. The author of several math and literacy course materials and children’s books, she regularly leads professional development in curriculum and course design, math, literacy and creative and critical thinking. Passionate about community service, she participates in programs counselling young people on their education and career and helps women entrepreneurs start and build their businesses and careers.

Osama Obeidat, Ph.D

Chief Executive Officer-Queen Rania Teacher Academy

Dr. Osama is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA). He has been leading this unique and prestigious organization since March 2019.

Before Joining QRTA, Osama worked for 6 years as the Director of the school inspection/evaluation at Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge.
Before moving to Abu Dhabi, Osama worked as an education specialist, and head of monitoring and evaluation with several NGOs, and worked as an Associate Professor of education at the Hashemite University in Jordan.

Dr. Obeidat also consulted and was a resource person for several local, regional, and international organizations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, EDT, Ministries of Education in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Rwanda, and Iraq.
He brings more than 25 years of experience in education quality, policy, evaluation, and reform, among other areas.

Osama received his Ph.D. in International and Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003 and a Certificate in Evaluation Practices from George Washington University as well as an Executive Leadership Certificate from INSEAD Business School.

Carla Aerts

Futures of Education consultant

Carla has been at the international forefront of EdTech - including AIED - and the Futures of Education, straddling the Global North and the Global South. She is a thought leader and heavily involved in strategy development and innovation or the reinvention of education and learning. Her vast experience of 20 years, informed by the Science of Learning, the Learning Sciences, and extensive EdTech eco-systems’ engagement, includes forming and running an EdTech ThinkTank or catalyst: the Tmrw Institute, EdTech policy, strategy and product development, setting up an accelerator as well as having extensive mentoring and coaching experience, engaging with EdTech startups globally. Carla has worked with international education publishers, international universities and sits on several (advisory) boards, including: DEFI (Digital Education Futures Initiatives at Cambridge University).

She is an occasional author and can be found as a speaker or moderator at many a conference.

Asha Alexander

Principal of GEMS Legacy School, Dubai

Asha Alexander is Principal at GEMS Legacy School, Dubai and Executive Leader of Climate Change at GEMS Education. With 35 years of experience in the provision of education to K-12 students, she has overseen the school’s transition to an exclusively digital curriculum.

Passionate, driven to achieve aspirational goals, and ready to take on any challenge, she believes in nurturing students’ hearts and minds and is particular about a value-based education. She is excited by the prospect of watching every child achieve his or her potential. Asha is a UN certified Climate Change Leader and has made presentations at several Conference of Parties (COP) and other international conferences and has conducted workshops on leadership, and change management for schools in India and UAE. She has led the school’s Twinning Program with 87 schools enabling schools to develop partnerships around the world to embed the SDGs. Currently she has established GEMS Hub Schools for Sustainability in Italy, Indonesia, Malawi, Lithuania and India and is working with the Ministry of Education in UAE to bring Climate Literacy to schools in the UAE. She has been recognized as a UNCC Champion at the 60th anniversary of UNITAR this year at Geneva.

Alex Crossman

Headmaster, London Academy of Excellence

Alexander Crossman is Headmaster of The London Academy of Excellence, the highest ranked sixth form provider in England offering a full A Level curriculum.

Alex is a senior academic adviser to Lighthouse Education Group in Shenzen, China, a member of the Leadership Council of the World Schools Summit, and an advisory board member at the Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning (CIRL) at Eton College. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and The Chartered College of Teaching.

Alex is the author, most recently, with Ian Warwick, of 'Greater Expectations: Enabling Achievement for Disadvantaged Students' (Sage 2024).

Alex’s career in education has included being the founding Head of one of London’s most successful free schools and the Chief Executive of an education consulting firm based in the Middle East but operating worldwide. Teaching is Alex’s first calling but his second career. Previously, he was a managing director with global responsibility for strategy at one of the world’s leading investment banks.

Alan Williamson

Chief Executive Officer, Taaleem

Alan graduated from Glasgow University with an Honors degree in History and Russian Language and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has led several schools as Principal in the UK and international sector. Alan was previously CEO of a premium schools’ group in Dubai, and before that, CEO of a large multi–Academy Trust in the UK.

He brings with him a wealth of experience, as a teacher, headmaster and superintendent of schools. Alan is a strong communicator who fundamentally understands that the profitability and success of an education company is intrinsically linked to happy and flourishing schools where the welfare of students is the number one priority, and where staff are the most prized asset. As well as being passionate about teaching and learning, Alan has been actively involved in school leadership related to Special Educational Needs and Inclusion. In his current role as CEO at Taaleem, he supervises the strategic direction of the company.

Alan has a significant and impressive impact and evidenced based skillset in system wide improvement, incorporating skills, competency and knowledge.