5RS PARTNERSHIP - Key Persons
An Nguyen is based in Hanoi, Vietnam. She has extensive experience across multiple quantitative and qualitative 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.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Senior Associate
- Independent Writer and Editorial Advisor
David Wheeler, an independent writer and editorial advisor, has specialized in higher education and science for his 40-year career. 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 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, 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 higher education in both the developed and the developing world.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Principal
- Our Founder and Principal
Dr Stephen Holmes (B Ed, MBA, M Ed, PhD) is the Founder and Principal of The 5Rs Partnership established in 2004 based in Singapore, with offices in Malaysia, Australia, and Vietnam.
Dr Holmes is widely regarded to be the world's most experienced, credentialed consultant/facilitator in reputation management, marketing, and strategic planning for schools and universities.
Stephen has built his name over 3 decades as a world authority in applying these concepts specifically to the education sector. He is the only full-time consultant in the world with a PhD in the specific field of education marketing and reputation. In the late 1990s, Stephen developed the 5Rs framework (recruitment, retention, referral, relationships, reputation) in his seminal PhD study to establish a working framework for schools and universities to become responsive and market oriented.
Stephen consults globally with schools and universities at the highest levels with an unmatched international client base in breadth and depth. Research has always informed his consulting, something that helps to forge trust with his education sector clients globally.
In 2021/22 alone, Dr Holmes was commissioned for major school and university projects in each of: Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, South America, the US, UK, and New Zealand. Stephen was the first member of the Council of International Schools (CIS) Consultant Network (preferred consultant status).
With a professional education background spanning school teaching, senior management, and Board membership, a university academic in both education and business faculties, and a university executive director of marketing, Stephen brings a unique background and perspective for schools and universities.
Stephen's education sector contributions have extended to course development and delivery of masters of education courses at leading universities in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. He is the author of a specialist book on education marketing.
Our Founder and Principal, Dr Stephen Holmes, has a longstanding name as a pioneer in areas of our expertise and an unmatched client list in the education sector.
Based in Philadelphia in the US, and originally trained as an architect, Eric has been an educator for three decades, primarily in day/boarding schools. He has taught at the middle and high school levels, and served as an Upper School division director.
Eric is now in his third post as a Head of School, including international (Europe) and domestic headships.
With previous roles as a varsity coach, dormitory head, department chair, and dean of faculty, Eric brings extensive experience in student life and school administration to build progressive, global minded practices and thinking in schools.
In recent times, Eric has been involved specifically in learning and training for racial equity in schools.
Job Titles:
- Senior Consultant
- Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing
Fiona Carthy (FCIM; MComn; MDipCIPR) has 25 years' experience in marketing and communications in the public and education sector gaining experience in the UK and also in Australasia.
A former communications specialist for the civil service, she joined the education sector 20 years ago as Director of Marketing and Communications for a large Further Education College where she was part of a major turnaround strategy.
From 2007 - 2010, Fiona worked in Australia and New Zealand as a Marketing and Communications Consultant working with independent schools, colleges and universities.
Returning to the UK, Fiona continued as a consultant with the Knowledge Partnership UK and then launched her own education marketing consultancy in 2013 focusing on market research and strategic marketing in further education, higher education and schools in London and the Southeast of England.
Fiona's research experience is extensive - particularly in the area of strategic marketing reviews and brand and portfolio development and feasibility studies. She also provides expert guidance on implementation ensuring clear translation of strategy into meaningful outputs that cut through audiences and has impact.
Fiona is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), is a long-standing member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and holds a Master of Communications degree and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from the CIPR.
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.
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.
Job Titles:
- Market Development Officer
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 both the United States and UK independent school markets. Katey-Leigh is also an experienced qualitative researcher and supports our research team.
SHARON TANG Senior Market Researcher
Sharon Tang joined The 5Rs Partnership in 2004, and has since worked on more than 100 education sector market research projects.
She has 25 years of senior level experience in the field of market research, including extensive consulting and experience in Asia.
Formerly Head of Market Research for Shell Southeast Asia, Sharon has also lived and worked as a market researcher in the UK, Malaysia and Singapore. Among her roles in Asia were a research director/partner in a major market research consultancy in Malaysia.
Sharon's analysis experience specific to the education sector leads to practical deployments, so important to our clients.
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Assistant
Mai Nguyen has extensive experience across multiple quantitative and qualitative research projects in both Vietnam and the United States. Her previous roles include being a senior analyst at Oregon State University (OSU) Student Affairs Research, Evaluation & Planning office where she worked on first-year student retention issues; a consulting assistant at OSU Department of Statistics; and a policy intern at the Oregon Department of Energy. Mai holds an M.S. in Statistics and a B.A. in Economics from OSU. She is fluent in English and Vietnamese.
With more than 15 years senior executive experience in a large, successful and multi-campus international University, John is an acknowledged expert for developing and facilitating strong institutional strategy. John has a long and rich history as a leader, strategist and senior manager. He has interacted at the highest levels of government and business both domestically and internationally. Given the depth and breadth of experience and clear record of success in organisational strategy and change, John is regarded as one of Australia's leading University administrators.
John has been a consultant to universities, government agencies and private companies in Australia. John has extensive experience in the international arena having been involved in education development projects in China, Hong Kong, the Middle East, the Maldives, Thailand, Singapore, the US and Canada. John is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Innovative approaches to problems and, professional growth and development of staff have been the hallmarks of his career. He has been described as a hands-on executive with strategic initiative and a focused approach who is able to communicate with all parties to engender commitment and support. He offers a combination of creativity and analytical skill to form the vision, determine the best way to achieve it.
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Ray leads our practice in school governance and leadership services.
Ray has a stellar background, reputation and network, bringing an extraordinary wealth and breadth of perspective for our client schools across the world.
Ray was previously Head of School in four very diverse and leading schools in the UK (London) and South East Asia (Singapore and Malaysia).
He then joined The Council of International Schools (CIS) and quickly moved to the role of Director of School Support and Evaluation. In this executive role, he oversaw the strategic and operational work of the entire CIS International Accreditation programme and global citizenship services for the 750+ member schools of CIS across 122 countries.
Ray's extensive experiences, knowledge and expertise in both proprietary, not-for-profit independent and government schools brings together the theoretical issues surrounding all aspects of international education but founded soundly in practical experience. His global work in school evaluation and improvement has provided him with intimate knowledge of exceptional practice within the realms of governance, leadership, strategic planning, communication, pedagogical practice and safeguarding.
Ray held the position of Chairman of The Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA). He also chaired the Standards Committee of the International Task Force for Child Protection. He has a passionate interest in international education, intercultural learning and child safeguarding. He holds a Masters Degree in International Education Management from The University of Bath, UK.
Job Titles:
- Formerly Head of Market Research for Shell Southeast Asia
- Senior Market Researcher
Sharon Tang joined The 5Rs Partnership in 2004, and has since worked on more than 100 education sector market research projects.
She has 25 years of senior level experience in the field of market research, including extensive consulting and experience in Asia.
Formerly Head of Market Research for Shell Southeast Asia, Sharon has also lived and worked as a market researcher in the UK, Malaysia and Singapore. Among her roles in Asia were a research director/partner in a major market research consultancy in Malaysia.
Sharon's analysis experience specific to the education sector leads to practical deployments, so important to our clients.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Senior Consultant
Stuart is a Senior Associate of The 5Rs Partnership, and has had a distinguished and rich career as a teacher and senior leader in a broad variety of schools across the world, including Thailand, India, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Jordan and the UK. In addition, he has enjoyed high-profile educational roles directing the work of large national and global organisations.
Stuart has an extensive and current network across many country markets and is renowned in the international school sector for his authoritative knowledge on curriculum, quality assurance and accreditation.
Prior to joining The 5Rs Partnership, Stuart was the Director of Education, Quality Assurance & Accreditation for the Vinschool Education System, the largest independent group of schools in Vietnam. Stuart was also the Director of International Accreditation Services at the Council of International Schools (CIS) in Leiden, Netherlands for five years. In this role, he oversaw the self-improvement and accreditation journey of many schools across the world, whilst conducting evaluation visits to over 100 national and international schools himself over that time.