Ajay Rajendran is the Founder and Chairman of Meraki Group. Under his leadership the Group started its operations in the UAE in 2005. In his capacity as Chairman, Ajay has helped shape the Group’s growth in the UAE and Singapore.
He is the Chairman of the Education business leading the three schools’ education portfolio – North London Collegiate School Dubai, North London Collegiate School Singapore and Hartland International School. He leads a team of more than 900+ staff in the education business with around 5,500+ students across the three schools.
He also acts as Chairman for mid income residential real estate businesses as well as contracting businesses in Dubai. The real estate project has been very well received with exquisite quality and finishing and is fully sold. Ajay is known for incisive industry analysis and team-building skills ensuring the Group projects throughout the region are delivered to the highest quality standards.
His experience in the entire spectrum of real estate, construction, facilities management, education operations, and business strategy and planning while keeping ‘customer’ at the centre of everything has led to setting up one of the top premium IB schools in Dubai and Singapore.
Ajay is a gold medalist in Chemical Engineering from M.S University Baroda and holds a post-graduate degree in Business Administration from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, University of Mumbai.
Stuart Isaacs QC is a barrister specialising in international commercial law. He practices from his office in Singapore, which was set up in 2008 after he became the first QC licensed to practise foreign law here, and from Wilberforce Chambers in London. He is well-known in the Asia-Pacific Region as an arbitrator and as counsel, and his links with the region go back many years. Stuart is a member of the NLCS Enterprise Board, which oversees the schools in Jeju, Dubai and Singapore and the strategy for future schools overseas and previously was a member of the NLCS Development Board. He is married with two teenage sons and a daughter, who attends NLCS in London.
Gwen Byrom graduated from the University of Manchester, UK with a first class Honours degree in Biochemistry in 1992 and began a career in genetic research at Guy’s Hospital, London. Following a chance encounter with a biology class in a London school, Gwen made the decision to change careers and train as a teacher, gaining her postgraduate teaching qualification from Goldsmith’s College, University of London. She gained her MA in Education in 2007, focussing on science education, childhood development and educational leadership and since then has also carried out research into independent schools as drivers of social mobility. Gwen has wealth of educational experience after teaching and leading for over 20 years in boarding and day, single-sex and co-educational, maintained and independent schools in the UK. She has led teams in some of the UK’s most prestigious schools, including Roedean School and The Cheltenham Ladies’ College. From 2011-2018 she led Loughborough High School, a girls’ school in the UK East Midlands. In addition, whilst a Head she was heavily involved in the Girls’ Schools Association, which represents some of the very best independent girls’ schools in the UK. She became President of this Association in 2018, representing the interests of girls’ schools nationally and internationally. Gwen has served as a governor for independent schools in the UK and since September 2019 has been Director of Education Strategy for NLCS International.
Rohan Bhaskar leads the Investments and Strategy department for the growing education portfolio of PNCI Group. He has over 15 years of commercial experience, primarily in real estate and education, including acquisitions, development management, capital raising, fund management and financial operations.
Rohan has closed transactions both internationally and in the GCC region worth more than AED 3.7bn (including UAE, UK, US, Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain and Singapore). He has led several sale and leaseback funding transactions for K-12 schools in the region and has been involved in both debt and equity capital initiatives. Prior to PNCI, Rohan spent close to a decade in the region working at investment banking units in Qatar and Bahrain, and has also worked in India at PricewaterhouseCoopers and PepsiCo. Rohan holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from S.V. Regional Engineering College, Surat, and holds a post graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, he is also a Chartered Financial analyst (CFA).
Bernard J. West has two decades of experience building investor-backed education businesses across developed and frontier markets in Asia, Africa and America. His work in the sector spans K-12 education, post-secondary training and online learning. Currently, he is an advisor to PNCI’s education business. Bernard served as the founding CEO of Tadrees Education Holding in KSA, a K-12 education platform sponsored by the Safanad and NCB. He grew the school platform to serve more than 12,000 students in less than 5 years. Bernard’s previous work includes managing and advising several leading education companies, school acquisitions and public/private partnerships. Bernard West is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and of Howard University.
Audrey Choo was and remains a passionate educator with a special interest in bringing out the best in gifted children and underprivileged and underperforming students. She prepared students for English and History GCE O level, was active in school leadership and developed new classroom pedagogy in critical and creative thinking.
Since leaving the teaching profession, Audrey continues to promote awareness of the sensory needs of children and the incorporation of sensory approaches in classroom pedagogy, and has organized and conducted teacher training in a number international and Singapore schools. She has found most challenging of all being a mother of three, helping each find and walk their own path.
Steven is a chartered accountant, having retired 10 years ago as a senior partner in a Central London practice. Steven has just retired after 10 years as a governor of NLCS London and previously served for three and half years as Chair of Governors at NLCS Jeju, during which time he worked closely with Paul Friend who was the Principal. Both of Steven’s daughters were educated at NLCS London
