Mark Rushworth
Mark joined UP Education in 2018, bringing senior leadership experience in a number of growth-orientated organisations, including 12 years as a CEO.
Mark was most recently CEO for electronic payments provider Paymark. Prior to that, was CEO of Pacific Fibre and internet provider ihug and also CEO of the Fixed and Broadband business unit for Vodafone New Zealand.
Living in Auckland, he is currently a non-executive Director on the board of NZ-listed Freightways. He brings technology, sales and marketing expertise, business development, entrepreneurial skills and deep governance experience to the role of Group Chief Executive.
Colm Saunders
Colm joined UP Education in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to joining UP Education, Colm has held multiple CFO roles based in Ireland with Xtralis Group, WElink Group, Thirdforce and Zamano PLC. Colm is experienced in driving profitable growth through supporting revenue growth, margin improvement and cost management, with extensive experience in M&A, debt and equity funding, contract negotiations and financial planning.
Earlier in his career Colm worked in London and Boston, latterly as Director of Operations and Strategy for Avaya Inc.
Craig Jones
Craig joined UP Education in 2020 bringing 18 years of senior leadership experience across multiple industries including the public sector, technology, media & entertainment, and telecommunications – in both regulated and emerging markets.
Prior to joining UP Education, Craig was based in Los Angeles in the role of Chief Commercial Officer for Movio – a marketing technology and data analytics company in the film industry. Earlier in his career, Craig held a range of senior and executive-level roles spanning 10 years at Vodafone, including 2 years leading global account sales in India.
Marie Boyle
Marie joined UP Education in January 2017, and is responsible for identifying and developing technology strategies that support and enhance UP Education’s growth plan and delivery of education.
Prior to joining UP Education, Marie was General Manager of Technology at Television New Zealand (TVNZ), where she led an IT team of around 80 staff to deliver digital innovation, change management and transformation of TVNZ’s technical capabilities.
Prior to her role at TVNZ, Marie worked with Trustpower and Vector in consulting roles, and she has held senior IT roles with Genesis Energy and Life Technologies.
Tim McFarlane
Tim joined UP Education in May 2019 as the group’s new Chief Sales and Marketing Officer with responsibility for the Group’s Sales, Marketing, Admissions, and Student Services teams.
Prior to joining UP Education Tim was previously Chief Customer Officer at ASX listed financial services company FlexiGroup. With extensive international experience in the Payments and Telco/IT services market, Tim has been responsible for driving go-to-market initiatives in both large corporates and early stage tech startups.
Kevin Lynch
Kevin joined UP Education in 2017 after seven years with Open Colleges Group (part of Apollo Education Group) where he was Chief Operating Officer and one of the founding executives. Prior to this, Kevin was one of the early stage executives of Think Education Group.
Kevin has a proven track record of building successful, high-quality education businesses (on campus and online) across the vocational and higher education sectors in Australia and other markets. He has a passion for student-centric education that challenges the status quo, creates innovation through technology, and delivers exceptional student and employer outcomes.
Ana Maria Rivera
Ana Maria has driven the group’s growth through her leadership of the domestic marketing and student recruitment teams across UP Education’s vocational colleges and New Zealand schools. In her current role as CEO of Yoobee Colleges, she leads the teams at the School of Design, School of Animation, School of Technology and School of Film (South Seas Film School).
Born in Colombia and fluent in Spanish, Ana Maria enjoyed a successful publishing career in the United Kingdom at Penguin Books and most recently HarperCollins, where she was Sales Director overseeing both UK and offshore operations. She was a member of the commercial management team, helping shift the business into digital publishing channels and new platforms, and was involved in key intellectual property acquisitions. After relocating to New Zealand in 2013, Ana Maria joined NZMA as sales and marketing director.
Kylie Wilson
Kylie leads the combined portfolio of two of New Zealand’s most successful Category 1 providers of tertiary education, NZMA Group and NZST Group. The core strength of both institutions is founded on exceptional student experiences, achieved through the delivery of consistently high-quality education.
Kylie was first appointed CEO of NZST Group in 2019, and later stepped into the additional role of CEO of NZMA Group in August 2020. The NZST Group comprises of New School of Tourism, Cut Above, Elite School of Beauty and Spa, and Face and Beauty Academy. The NZMA Group includes New Zealand Management Academy, The Culinary Collective, and New Zealand Institute of Sport.
Previously Chief Operating Officer of the NZST Group, Kylie has 17 years’ experience within the tertiary industry and was instrumental in the success and sustainability of the organisation’s core business, acquisitions, quality management processes and leadership mentoring. She has led the NZST group successfully through the last two NZQA External Evaluation and Review rounds, to gain a Highly Confident rating in both educational performance and self-assessment capability.
Selena Fox
As Chief Executive of New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) Selena Fox leads the largest private provider of specialist early childhood education and Health and Wellbeing education in New Zealand supporting students throughout New Zealand and globally. NZTC prides itself on its Category 1 NZQA External Evaluation and Reviews of Highly Confident in both educational performance and self-assessment capabilities.
Selena led the development of an online learning environment launched in 2007 for New Zealand Tertiary College.
Professional areas of interest and expertise include leadership, management, culture / HR, new initiative development, distance learning and innovative online teaching and learning. Driven by her passion to enable and empower early childhood teacher education globally, Selena has worked with early childhood students and organisations in a number of countries across the world, supporting them in their endeavours to attain professional, internationally recognised qualifications.
Natalie Simmons
Natalie Simmons leads the Adelaide-based International College Hotel Management in its delivery of higher education including Bachelor of Business (Hospitality Management) and Master of International Hotel Management (Swiss Hotel Association).
Natalie was appointed CEO of ICHM in January 2020 having previously held the role of Director of Finance and Administration at the organisation for almost two years.
Prior to joining ICHM, Natalie was the National Manager Corporate Services for medical indemnity company MIGA for 15 years, responsible for Finance, IT, Business Analysis, Projects, Risk and Compliance, and Facilities Management. Previous to this she was with FH Faulding & Co and Mobil Oil.
Rachel Simmons
Rachel brings extensive experience leading executive portfolios within the tertiary education sector, with a focus on strategic development, growth and partnerships, and innovation in learning and teaching. An early adopter of online learning environments and digital education, her previous portfolios have won a range of major national and international online learning awards, including LearnX Platinum, LearnX Gold, AITD and Blackboard Catalyst awards.
Prior to joining UP Education, Rachel has worked in leadership roles across Higher Education, Vocational Education and Pathways Education.
Matt Willis
Matt brings over 17 years’ experience in the development and delivery of online learning across VET, HE and ESL in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Prior to joining UP Education, Matt held the position of Chief Education and Experience Officer for Open Colleges and was responsible for all facets of post-enrolment services, as well as product development and compliance. He also led the partnership relationship with TAFE NSW.
Matt has held numerous management roles across THINK: Education Group, JMC Academy, Thomson Education, AEON and NOVA. Early in his career, Matthew worked in Japan as part of a team pioneering synchronous online education in ESL utilizing video based conferencing.
