Our people

Andrew Colin is the founder/owner of INTO University Partnerships. He provides the leadership and vision which has helped INTO to develop partnerships with leading universities across three continents.

Andrew combines a strong entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for education and international student mobility.

Back in 1981, while studying law at the London School of Economics, Andrew launched his first company - providing Apple-sponsored computer courses for schoolchildren.

In 1990, he founded and directed Study Group, which, under his leadership, became a major force in international pre-university education with centres established throughout the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand.

In 2005, Andrew founded INTO University Partnerships, with the aim of transforming the international student experience and helping leading internationally-focused universities to expand access and improve student mobility.

Since its establishment, INTO has delivered world-class educational experiences to international students through joint venture partnerships with leading universities across the UK, the US and China.

In May 2013, Andrew received the prestigious Global Leadership Award from the University of South Florida in recognition of his contribution to international education.

Professor Sir David Eastwood is Non-Executive Chair of the INTO University Partnerships Board of Directors. He served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham from 2009–2021.

Former posts include Chief Executive at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Vice-Chancellor at the University of East Anglia, and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board. His early career was spent at the University of Oxford, where he was Fellow and Senior Tutor of Pembroke College. He later held a Chair in Modern History and was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University.

He chaired the Russell Group of Universities (2012-2015), Universitas 21 (2014-2021), and also Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS, 2015-2021). He also served as an international member of the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (2011-2021). He has been a member of numerous national commissions include the Browne Review of Higher Education Funding (2009-2010) and the Nurse Review of Research (2014-2015).

In January 2012 he was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of West Midlands, and was awarded a Knighthood in 2014 for services to education.

Jeffrey is President and Co-Founder of Leeds Equity and has over 20 years of experience investing in private equity transactions in the Knowledge Industries.

Prior to co-founding Leeds Equity, Jeffrey spent seven years specializing in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance at Lazard Frères & Co. Prior to joining Lazard, Mr. Leeds served as a law clerk to the Hon. William J. Brennan, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Leeds also worked in the corporate department of the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York after graduating from law school.

Jeffrey currently serves as a director of BARBRI, Evanta Ventures and INTO University Partnerships. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities and Real Page (NASDAQ: RP). He has previously served as a director of Argosy University, Datamark, Miller Heiman, Ross University and Seaton, among others. Jeffrey was the founding chairman of the Green Dot New York Charter School and serves on the board of the Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served on the Council on Foreign Relations Independent Task Force on Education and National Security.

Jeffrey graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. degree in History and attended Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar. He earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School.

Chris has over 15 years of private equity and investment banking experience.

Prior to joining Leeds Equity in 2008, Chris worked in both London and New York for Greenhill & Co. as an Analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group.

Steven is one of INTO’s founding directors and leads all student recruitment activity for the group.

Fluent in Chinese, Steven is one of the world’s leading practitioners in the management of large, distributed student recruitment networks. Under his leadership, INTO currently attracts more than 12,000 students per year from all over the world to our partners.

As director of the Global Recruitment Unit, Steven oversees the activities of a global team operating out of 25+ regional offices — ensuring that students and their advisors receive outstanding service supported by customer-focused processes, all enabled by the latest technology.

His time as an international student in Taiwan in 1990 and his long experience of living and working in China gives him an unparalleled perspective of the support needed by young people studying far from home, as well as a deep awareness of the value of studying overseas — all of which, he says, are vital to him in his role today.

Steven has built his career in counselling international students and developing the systems, processes and management structures which enable institutions to recruit at scale and to deliver services and experiences which international students, their families and their representatives expect.

After university where he studied Chinese and German, Steven worked for the Anglo-Taiwan Education Centre in Taibei. There he honed his Chinese language skills and helped to establish a body to promote education in the UK that resulted in a transformation in the number of students travelling from Taiwan from 38 to 2,500 per year.

John has over 20 years’ experience in the higher education sector and has a strong background in corporate finance. As one of INTO’s founding directors, John has been a lynch-pin in the development of every Joint Venture.

After graduating from Brighton University, John joined leading accounting firm KPMG, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and gained significant experience in the corporate finance arena. John then joined a corporate finance practice in Sussex where he led many small- and medium-sized investments in London and the South East, eventually becoming a partner.

From 1995 to 2003, John was Finance Director of Study Group, where he formed a strong working relationship with founder Andrew Colin and played an instrumental role in growing the business, overseeing its acquisition by The Daily Mail Group in 1999, and helping to expand operations into Australia, the USA and Canada.

In 2006 John and Andrew established INTO University Partnerships. John has been a Director and Board Member of the company since inception. In 2012, John led a private placement process culminating in an equity investment from Leeds Equity Partners of £66 million in the group for a 25 per cent stake in the business. This investment completed the first stage of INTO’s funding plans, which are aimed at providing universities with access to significant external capital to fund innovation and capacity building in the higher education sector.

John focuses on driving business development and supporting operational leadership in order to guide the strategic direction of the company. He attributes INTO’s extraordinary growth trajectory and reputation for academic excellence to robust management, ongoing and substantial investment in learning centers, and a superior global sales and marketing infrastructure.

When he is not travelling to meet new partner institutions or visit INTO’s operations around the world, John lives in Eastbourne, East Sussex, with his wife Denise and three children Michael, George and Olivia.

Bridget has over 20 years’ experience in the higher education sector, and a strong background in management, leadership, international student services and welfare & international admissions.

Bridget has worked with INTO since 2005, during which time she has overseen the initial set up and implementation of the UK INTO centres, as well as the establishment of the Admissions and Application Processing functions in Brighton and San Diego.

Bridget has also acted as start-up director in the majority of INTO’s joint ventures and established the Student Services operation for INTO China. In addition, she has been heavily involved in setting up our immigration compliance function.

Nuala Corr is Senior Vice President, UK Partnerships.

Previously, she served as Center Director for INTO Queen’s University Belfast, a role pivotal to the success of the joint venture and is responsible for all operations and administrative functions.

Nuala has over 16 years’ experience working within international education at several institutions. Her most recent role prior to joining INTO Queen’s in May 2019 was within the International Office at Queen’s University Belfast. As part of her role, she had led on the interface between the INTO center and the University, developing both strategic and operational plans to achieve ambitious partnership aspirations. She also was instrumental in driving the delivery of direct entry targets to Queen’s University from key partners globally, working collaboratively with key internal and external stakeholders to maximize outcomes.

Nuala is fully committed to nurturing and strengthening relationships between INTO and its partner universities, developing long-term sustainable recruitment outcomes for the mutual benefit of all partners.

Tuukka has over 20 years’ experience in combining cross-functional competencies in international higher education within the public and private HE sectors.

Between 2009 and 2017, Tuukka has held senior positions within the recruitment team with INTO University Partnerships, including the management of INTO’s global regional office network. In 2017, he assumed the responsibility for developing INTO’s direct entry provision to ensure the business became more optimally positioned to deliver growth in direct entry enrolments. During this time Tuukka provided strategic direction over a significant investment and expansion, successfully guiding this function to a company-wide integration in 2022.

Based in Brighton, Tuukka is currently Senior Vice President, UK Partnerships, providing leadership to a number of INTO’s center directors, their management teams and employees in the UK. His responsibilities cover leading and strengthening INTO’s relationships with university partners to ensure the organization continues to add significant value across its partnerships.

Dawn Abbott has been the Center Director for INTO Manchester since it opened in 2008 and leads the team at the center to provide all aspects of student support and academic matters.

Dawn has a degree in French and Spanish from the University of Nottingham, and has over 25 years of experience working in international education in the UK, Spain and Brazil. She started her management career at an English language school in Brazil and then returned to the UK to take her Master’s in Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching at King’s College London. She continued in teaching, teacher training and management in the private and the further education sectors prior to INTO Manchester.

In her spare time, Dawn enjoys reading, travelling, yoga and spending time with family and friends.

Eleanor Maly joined INTO as Centre Director of INTO University of Stirling in October 2022.

Ellie joined us after five years as Director of Operations and Director of Education at International House London, prior to which she was UK Operations Director for Embassy English. Ellie has over 15 years’ experience in the international education sector and over 10 years' experience in educational leadership.  She has lived and worked in several countries around the world, including Lesotho, South Korea, and Cambodia.  Ellie served on the ASAC, the Governance Committee for the British Council, and was Treasurer of English UK London.

Ellie is completing an Executive MBA with Cranfield University and holds a first-class degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. 

Karen joined INTO University of East Anglia in June 2023, after being Centre Director at INTO City, University of London since May 2019.

From an early career in the NHS as a Registered Nurse, Midwife and Health Visitor, Karen made her first move into a career in education via Further Education (FE). Several geographical moves took Karen to the East of England where she joined a large FE and higher education college to manage an NHS workforce development contract, in association with the University of Essex and Anglia Ruskin University. In a five-year period, Karen grew the contract and provision to represent a quarter of the college's total income, providing allied health professionals across multiple disciplines to NHS East of England.

Following a personal tragedy in 2009 Karen changed career. Completing a Masters in Systemic Leadership with the Tavistock, she became a Professional Interim Manager and Consultant. Over a 10-year period, Karen developed a reputation in the FE and HE sectors she worked with, for her commercial acumen and curriculum development skills, as well as for her ability to turnaround failing provision and deliver a professional and exemplary student experience. Karen’s final interim project was with INTO Queens University Belfast, from where she caught the INTO bug.

When not working Karen can be found outdoors (Forest, Moors, Beach and Fenland) with her very special English Bull Terrier Jumble — who is food for mind, body and soul.

Kirsty serves as Center Director for the INTO London World Education Centre.

Sarah joined INTO in March 2022, with an extensive history in senior management, education and academia across a range of demanding roles in both private and public sectors, with an exceptional track record of identifying, implementing and evaluating initiatives at strategic and operational level.

Sarah has held various international education leadership roles across the UK the Middle East, including Principal/College Director at Bellerbys College in London & Brighton, College Director (Dean) at Colleges of Excellence project, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Interim Principal/CEO at ESG Saudi Arabia College of Excellence. Sarah has also worked at Assistant Principal levels in Further Education and was Head Teacher of a Sixth Form college in Greater Manchester.

Sarah has a BA(Hons) degree in Strategic Management from the University of Manchester.

Clare joined INTO Newcastle University as Interim Centre Director in August 2023 on secondment from Newcastle University.  She has extensive experience in regional, national, and transnational projects, partnerships and operations working across Higher Education, Government and International Organisations. Within her International Office role at Newcastle University, Clare has played a leading role in the development and delivery of international student recruitment strategies and plans.

Adelina joined INTO in September 2023.  Having graduated in French and Italian from Leicester University, and studied abroad, Adelina then pursued a career in International Education.  She has worked with International Students for over 20 years starting her career in language teaching in Spain, Italy and Ghana, progressing to leadership positions across a whole host of educational institutions.

Adelina joined INTO from Cambridge Education Group’s ONCAMPUS where she was their London South Bank University’s Centre Director before becoming Centre Director for ONCAMPUS London, a choice centre, in partnership with several University of London Colleges.

In her spare time, Adelina enjoys coastal walks on the Kent coast, where she lives, and is currently studying an MSc in International Business and Management.

Steven Richman serves as Senior Vice President, Partnerships, for INTO’s public university partners. In this role, Steven oversees partnership performance, growth and student success for INTO Oregon State University, INTO University of South Florida, INTO The University of Alabama at Birmingham, INTO George Mason University and INTO Illinois State University.

Steven has spent most of his career in international education with Hofstra University. He received his JD from Hofstra University and his MA in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. Beginning in 2012, Steven served in leadership roles as Senior Director of Global Initiatives at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law, followed by Dean of International Recruitment and Dean for Global Opportunities for Hofstra University. In these roles, he and his teams grew, diversified and stabilized international enrollments by implementing comprehensive admission policies, recruitment strategies and data insights to manage student pipelines. He was also a founding member of the online Health Law and Policy LLM/MA program, in which he currently serves as Special Professor of Law.

In addition to university experience, Steven has presented on international education around the globe, including at NAFSA conferences, and he has held leadership positions in Study New York and the American Association of Law Schools. In 2019, upon the launch of INTO’s partnership with Hofstra, Steven became founding Executive Director of INTO Hofstra University.

Yasmin Sefer serves as Senior Vice President, Partnerships, for INTO’s private university partners. In this role, Yasmin oversees partnership performance, growth and student success for INTO Drew University, INTO Saint Louis University, INTO Suffolk University and INTO Hofstra University.

Yasmin has spent most of her career in international education, and she has been with INTO for nearly 12 years, most recently serving as VP, Recruitment. Before spearheading our North America recruitment efforts with great success, Yasmin joined INTO in 2010 from Kaplan, where she was Senior Manager, International Sales and Market Development.  

Yasmin received her BA in Political Science from New York University.

Laura Arthur has worked in the field of international higher education administration for more than twenty years.

Since 2010, she has served as Drew University’s Director of International Student and Scholar Services, spearheading all aspects of advising and student support services for the university’s entire population of international students and scholars from over 50 countries. She has also served as INTO Drew’s Director of Student Experience since the partnership commenced, supervising the center’s academic coaching program in addition to student health and wellness support and services that enhance the curricular and co-curricular student experience and further the internationalization efforts of the University. Prior to joining Drew, Laura served as Director of International Services at Stevens Institute of Technology and associate Director of International Programs for Students at the University of South Carolina.

Laura holds a master’s degree in International Education and Exchange Management from the Graduate Institute of the School for International Training in Vermont. As an undergraduate, she earned her BA in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin and was, during this time, an international student in Madrid — this was a transformative experience for her and provided her with a sense of just how powerful a globalized education can be for a student.

Bob Gilmour is the Executive Director of INTO Oregon State University. In this role, Bob provides leadership for the INTO OSU center with 700 students and 80+ staff and faculty.

Bob has over 26 years' experience of working with international students in UK and US universities as an instructor, faculty member, program manager and director. He has been in the at OSU since 2010 following 18 years at Newcastle University in the UK. He has also lived and worked in France, Poland and Ecuador.

He has presented at conferences nationally and internationally on a variety of topics including multimedia online learning environments and international student engagement.

Since 2015, Bob has traveled worldwide working with educational counsellors, sponsors, schools and parents as well as meeting students who are hoping to study at OSU!

In his spare time, Bob rides his road bike around the Oregon countryside, sings and plays guitar in a band and competes in a wide variety of games against his two boys.

David Hofmann joined INTO UAB as Executive Director August 2016 prior to the program's first cohort of students. Since then, INTO UAB has brought almost 700 students to UAB.

In this role, David overseas INTO UAB center operations; international marketing, recruitment and enrollment for all center programs and direct entry; student experience; providing quality Academic English programs; and collaborations with the university.

David has over 20 years of experience in Higher Education, most recently spending 12 years with The Art Institute system of schools. Within this organization he served as Director of Housing, Dean of Student Affairs, Regional Vice President-Student Affairs, and Campus Director of The Art Institute of St. Louis. Prior to that he worked for Boston University and Texas Christian University. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and a Master's degree from Texas Christian University.

Whitney J Miller joined INTO Illinois State University in 2018 and is the Director of Partnership Operations and the Director of Marketing and Recruitment.

In these roles, Whitney overseas partnership communications, operations, and directs global international branding, marketing and recruitment efforts for Illinois state University.

Whitney has more than eight years of experience working in higher education with a focus in international education. Before joining Illinois State University, she worked with Arizona State University and George Mason University, focusing on marketing, recruitment, student learning and intercultural competency outcomes in higher education. Whitney holds a Master’s degree in International Education Management from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, a Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance with a minor in French from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and will complete a Master of Business Administration in 2023 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with concentrations in Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship and Strategic Innovation.

Dr. Todd Rose currently serves as the Executive Director of INTO Mason, a position he has held since January 2015.

INTO Mason is a joint venture between George Mason University and INTO University Partners (UK) and provides English language, academic, and cultural support to students from around the world, primarily in the first year of their undergraduate or graduate degrees. Before this role, he was the Assoc. Dean in University Life and head the Higher Education concentration in the MAIS program at Mason from 2010-2015.

Dr. Rose has spent almost 30 years in higher education, working at four very different institutions. In addition to his time at Mason, he was a Vice President at Millsaps College (MS), Asst. Dean of Students at Emory University (GA), and in a variety of positions at Baldwin-Wallace University (OH).

Before his career in higher education, Dr. Rose was a commercial lending officer at a large, regional bank in Nashville, TN working with companies in the service industry sector with annual sales of $10 million to $100 million. He earned a BBA in Finance (minor:Economics) from Southern Methodist University (TX), an MBA from Baldwin-Wallace University (OH), and a PhD in Educational Leadership and Research (with an emphasis in Higher Education) from The University of Southern Mississippi (MS).

Kristen joined INTO in July 2023 as the Executive Director at INTO Hofstra. Kristen brings over 15 years of professional experience from across the educational ecosystem where she has served as an international educator, business leader, and people manager.

Before joining the INTO team, Kristen was working in the EdTech sector as a sales and customer success leader where she worked closely with educational organizations around the world to facilitate the integration of digital learning tools and programs.

Kristen began her career in education as a program coordinator, graduate assistant, and peer tutor for international students during her graduate studies at Columbia University Teachers College where she earned her M.A. in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). Her teaching career began in NYC Public Schools, where she also served as an academic services coordinator and staff developer focused on driving culturally responsive pedagogy and inclusive learning environments. Kristen returned to higher education as the founding Academic Director of Adelphi University International, where she built and scaled the academic operations of the International Accelerator Program.

Kristen also holds a Bachelor of Music, Classical Voice Performance from Boston University.

Amanda Turner joined INTO in our very first Australian partnership as The University of Western Australia (UWA) College Director in early 2022. 

Prior to this Amanda work at UWA as Associate Director, Global Engagement in a role focused on establishing and operationalizing UWA’s strategies aimed at increasing successful international engagement and growth. 

Amanda has a Bachelor of Commerce and postgraduate qualifications in Information Technology.  She has spent a large portion of her professional life within the education sector predominantly as Divisional General Manager for Students and Education at the University of Tasmania. Other education organizations she has worked at include the Australian Maritime College, Western Sydney University and Charles Darwin University. 

Amanda has also worked in a number of leadership roles in the community services sector that focused on disability support in Tasmania, and assisting the long term unemployed and indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. 

With a career in international education spanning almost 30 years, Tim's work has encompassed most aspects of international education. He is responsible for helping to shape and expand INTO’s partner university network.

Prior to his current assignment, Tim spent eight years with INTO supporting the expansion of INTO's UK network. His work has included responsibility for INTO's market insight, external relations, and working as managing director for UK operations.

Before joining INTO, Tim worked in a variety of senior international roles in UK universities with responsibility for recruitment, alumni, student exchange, internationalization and establishing presence across many of the key markets in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Tim and his teams collected three HEIST (the UK's leading marketing awards for higher education) Gold awards for excellence in international marketing during his tenure in the UK university sector.

Tim represented the university sector as a member of the international board of the UCAS, the UK's national university admissions service. He also served as a board member of the Northern Consortium of Universities in the United Kingdom. He has consulted for the British Council, DAAD – the German international education organization and continues to speak regularly at external fora and conferences.

Tim is a graduate of International Relations and Political Science from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.

David brings over 22 years of international education sector experience to INTO. In his role, he develops and executes a comprehensive, long-term business development strategy targeted at cultivating relationships with North American universities to drive institutional growth, create new revenue streams and expand options for students.

David has extensive experience working with U.S., U.K., Australian and Canadian universities; he previously oversaw the strategic development of partnerships at Shorelight Education, as well as partnership development at Navitas, North America as Executive General Manager. Prior to that, he was the Managing Director, North America at INTO University Partnerships, where he established the organization in the market and oversaw the planning, launch and management of INTO’s initial six university partnerships in the United States. Under David’s leadership, INTO grew its North American university partner network and student populations from the ground up. David also spent time at Kaplan Inc., where he was instrumental in the development of Kaplan’s first university partnership in the United Kingdom.

David has traveled extensively in over 50 countries, including Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. David is based in San Diego, CA, and holds a bachelor’s degree in international politics from Penn State University and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management, where he graduated with high honors.

Lisa Henkel serves as the Vice President of Operations. In this role, Lisa is responsible for providing project leadership and managing centralized resources to support US network projects and process improvement initiatives.

Aside from serving eight years in the United States Air Force, Lisa has spent her entire career in higher education. Prior to joining INTO, Lisa served in a variety of roles at University of Maryland Global Campus where she led the implementation of operational strategies and objectives across multiple revenue-generating and support departments. Lisa spent ten years in the university’s overseas divisions, including three years as the director of downrange and Europe operations, where she was responsible for directing enrollment operations across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Lisa has a master's degree in management and a Master of Business Administration from UMGC. She is also Agile, Lean Six Sigma and PROSCI Change Management certified.

Steve serves as a member of the Business Development and Partnerships team for the United Kingdom, working closely with prospective partners and international education organizations.

He joined INTO in 2012, establishing the company’s the student placement business, which now has commercial contracts with over 100 universities across the UK and Europe.

Prior to joining INTO, Steve had 20 years’ experience in student recruitment, admissions, events and project management roles including working at a range of UK universities including the University of Salford, where he was director of the international office. He has previously sat on the advisory council for the Northern Consortium UK.

He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Liverpool and a postgraduate marketing qualification from Liverpool John Moores University.

Daniel is the Recruitment and Business Development Director, ANZ, for INTO. He has worked in international education for over 20 years, with and for universities, agents and private providers around the globe, mostly in sales, marketing and general management.

Recently, Daniel has also learned a lot from HR and education technology roles, and he firmly believes tech will continue to reshape every aspect of international education from marketing and recruitment to teaching and learning and beyond.

As an exchange student during his MBA, Daniel experienced the enduring and amplifying value of international study.  He loves being part of realizing that opportunity for others.