Our Team
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Have a question or want to explore how we can support your institution’s strategic journey? Reach out to us and we’re ready to collaborate with schools and colleges worldwide.
Global
Dr Stephen Holmes
Dr Stephen Holmes (B Ed, MBA, M Ed, PhD Education Marketing/Reputation) is Founder and Principal of 5Rs Partnership.
Over the 3 decades, Dr. Holmes has come to be regarded as the most experienced, credentialed consultant with a truly global perspective in evidence-led strategy for the education sector that leads to both education and market success and performance.
Dr. Holmes is also the only full-time consultant in the world with a PhD in the specific field of education marketing and reputation. His pioneering doctoral work in the late 1990s was part of the foundation to the global shift to a market culture in education. Stephen developed the now widely applied 5Rs framework (recruitment, retention, referral, relationships, reputation) in his seminal PhD study to establish a working framework for schools and colleges to become responsive and market oriented in a whole of institution sense.
Dr Holmes has consulted globally with schools and colleges at the highest levels in every continent. Research has always informed his consulting, something that helps to forge trust with education sector clients globally. In 2024/25 alone Dr. Holmes has already been commissioned for major education projects and keynote conference speaking in every continent.
Dr Holmes’ education sector contributions have extended to course development and delivery of masters and professional development courses at leading universities internationally. He is also the author over 20 years ago of a seminal book on education marketing and reputation.
Click here for recent and upcoming conference speaking engagements and click here for recent articles from Stephen.
USA
Dr Andrew Taylor
With over 20 years of experience in USA headship and senior consulting for the independent school sector internationally, Dr. Andrew Taylor is a renowned expert in independent and international schools. Dr. Andrew Taylor, senior consultant, joined the 5Rs Partnership as a globally recognized educational leader and consultant with over three decades of experience spanning the USA, UK, and Australia. His career encompasses diverse roles including admission director, division head, and head of independent schools (including 2 in the US), providing him with a comprehensive understanding of educational institution operations. His unique international perspective, combined with extensive hands-on experience in US independent schools, has positioned him as a trusted advisor for school leaders and trustees. This expertise has been further honed over the past 7 years through his work as a consultant with ISM in the USA.
Dr Taylor’s consulting expertise encompasses:
– School schedules
– Learning Space Optimization
– Trustee development
– Forward-thinking governance development and generative ideation
– Complex change management
– Faculty evaluation systems
– Durable learning
– Teacher retention and engagement.
His academic credentials include a Doctorate in Education from UCLA, a Master’s in Educational Administration from California State University, Northridge, and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Human Biology and Science Education from Australia.
Dr Taylor has led workshops, facilitated retreats, and presented at major educational conferences. His approach combines theoretical knowledge with practical experience, making him an invaluable resource for schools navigating the complex landscape of 21st-century education.
USA
David Wheeler
David Wheeler, an independent writer and editorial advisor, has specialized in higher education for his 40-year career, principally in the US as Chief Editor with the renowned Chronicle of Higher Education. He has organized events, spoken at conferences, taught journalism workshops, and reported articles from more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia, the South Pacific and the Middle East.
Early in his career, he earned a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University and later won a Vannevar Bush Fellowship at MIT for journalists interested in writing about science. He went on to The Chronicle of Higher Education, where he served as a senior writer, international editor, managing editor, and managing editor for global. In his capacity as managing editor for global, he did international editorial outreach for the Chronicle. During that time, he visited five of the public universities in Hong Kong.
In 2012, he founded Al-Fanar Media in London, a bilingual publication that covered education, research, and culture in the Arab world. He led that publication for nine years. As a result of his unique background, David has insights into the education sector in both the developed and the developing world, especially across the MENA region.
UK
David Amor
UK based, Dave specializes in data analysis into strategy and supports 5Rs Partnership with our UK, Asia and MENA based school and university sector clients.
Dave studied internationally learning Chinese in Taiwan, which led to the start of his HE career, working as an agent (also in Taiwan). At INTO he was a Regional Manager in China, held senior recruitment roles in the UK before becoming Director of Market Intelligence.
Dave works with HE institutions and schools on international strategy, market research and effective data use. His international strategy work covers student mobility trends, recruitment channels, market diversification, pricing, and transnational education.
Dave recently contributed to the 2024 British Council paper on UG recruitment channels from China to the UK and the soon to be released, UG recruitment channels to the UK from ASEAN 5 (individual reports on Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam).
Asia-Pacific, MENA
Dr Roderick Crouch
Dr Roderick Crouch is a highly experienced international school leader, and is known for his leadership and innovation, particularly in school improvement. His leadership career has included being Principal or CEO of top independent schools in Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Mexico and Central America, including 17 years leading IB world schools. Roderick has started and lead schools throughout the world in both the ‘not for profit’ and ‘for profit’ sector. Most recently he was a global head for an international schools group – a role which required him to support and stabilize schools in different countries that had found themselves in difficulty or between leaders.
Roderick was educated in Australia and has presented at education conferences on change management, improving pedagogical practice, school leadership, and middle schools. He has trained and mentored principals and leadership teams both formally and informally, and has been a regular contributor to a variety of professional publications. Dr Crouch has been a director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in two different countries. He has considerable experience with different school accreditations and authorization including Council of International Schools (CIS), Cognia, and International Baccalaureate (IB), and is renowned as a strategic thinker, mentor and problem solver.
Asia-Pacific
Fran Reddan
As a consultant for The 5Rs Partnership, Fran (BA (Hons), Dip Ed., B Ed St., M Ed.St, FACE, FACEL, AFILM, GAICD) advises schools in strategy, leadership, innovation and school reputation.
Fran is a distinguished educator with experience spanning more than 30 years, including teaching at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
She was previously Principal of Mentone Girls’ Grammar School (Melbourne, Australia), where she successfully served the pursuit of excellence and innovation in education for over 14 years.
Fran is well known for her innovative and high-impact improvement projects and for her astute skills and understanding of the relational quality of a school with its complexity in stakeholder management.
She is recognised as an outstanding educator and is noted on the ‘Educator Hotlist’ (2018) and recorded in Who’s Who for her contribution to education.
She is an accredited school reviewer and is conversant with Australian and international quality (CIS) benchmarks. Fran is also bilingual (English/French), an asset for many of our international school clients.
Fran is a graduate of the Institute of Company Directors, and her extensive work with Boards has focussed on governance, strategic planning, and leading strategic planning processes. She has served as President of the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia, the peak advocacy group for girls’ education.
Fran enjoys investing in the next generation and her contribution as a director includes service on the Boards of a university residential college, a charitable trust, an educational board serving the teaching profession, and as an advisor for a not-for-profit supporting student wellbeing.
Market Analyst Team
Joyce Wong
Joyce Wong (BSc (Hons) MMathSc) joined the The 5Rs Partnership in 2013. Graduating at the top of her class, Joyce brings extensive quantitative and analytical skills.
Joyce completed her Masters’ thesis in the field of market research, namely designing a 3N conjoint choice experiment using partially confounded factorial design.
She has been involved in both primary research (e.g. data collection, survey design, focus groups) and secondary research (e.g. desktop reviews, competitor analysis, collateral review) on a wide range of projects for schools and universities across the world.
Joyce coordinates and leads our internal team in the development of our annual higher education fees monitors.
Market Analyst Team
Mai Nguyen
Mai brings a multifaceted research background to The 5Rs Partnership, informed by strong academic and consulting experience in the United States. Prior to joining the team, she served as a senior analyst at Oregon State University’s Student Affairs Research, Evaluation, and Planning office, where she focused on first-year student retention. Her research experience extends to consulting and internship roles at Oregon State University’s Department of Statistics and the Oregon Department of Energy.
At 5Rs Partnership, Mai contributes across a broad spectrum of research projects, including business development, qualitative research, and quantitative analysis. Her responsibilities encompass desk research, moderating focus groups and stakeholder interviews, crafting online surveys, data analysis and visualization, and building databases for market monitoring and competitor analysis. She champions data integrity standards, streamlines research operations for efficiency, and mentors junior researchers, contributing to a culture of research excellence within the team.
Mai Nguyen holds degrees in Statistics (M.S.), Public Policy (MPP), and Economics (B.A.), all from Oregon State University.
Market Analyst Team
An Nguyen
An has extensive experience across quantitative and qualitative education research projects globally.
An previously worked as a research assistant at Leeds University Business School in the UK. An’s other previous roles include working in the international aviation industry as a digital marketing executive for a major airline in Asia as well as a manager for a major airline alliance.
An holds a MSc. in Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy from the University of Leeds.
Market Analyst Team
Katey-Leigh Holmes
Katey-Leigh is based in the Middle East, and a graduate of Monash University Business School in Malaysia.
After commencing her career with US boutique consulting company Solidance, Katey-Leigh has been working with 5Rs Partnership since 2017 and supports Dr Holmes in expansion of our strategy and services for schools and universities across the world.
Katey-Leigh is particularly focused in her role on our business development and expansion in the United States, UK, and MENA. Katey-Leigh is also an experienced qualitative researcher and supports our research team.