Ajay Rajendran joined PNCI in 2004, bringing with him a wealth of industry and leadership experience. In his capacity as Co-Chairman, Ajay has helped shape PNCI Group’s growth in the UAE, a key market for the company, including the diversification of the Group into educational services. He is known for incisive industry analysis and team-building skills.

Ajay is a gold medalist in Chemical Engineering from M.S University Baroda and holds a post-graduate degree in Business Administration from Jamnalal Baja Institute of Management Studies, University of Mumbai.

Steven is a chartered accountant, having retired 13 years ago as a senior partner in a Central London practice. He served as a governor of the London school for 10 years and was Chair of Governors of NLCS Jeju for three and half years. Steven is a director of NLCS Enterprises which oversees the strategy for future overseas schools as well as overseeing the current family of overseas schools in South Korea, Dubai, and Singapore. He Is actively involved in charity work in the UK and currently heads up a substantial charitable foundation. Both of Steven’s daughters were educated at NLCS (UK).

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.

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.

Gwen has over 20 years of experience in education, in boarding and day schools, single sex and co-educational schools, and maintained and independent schools. During her career, Gwen has led teams and held senior leadership positions at some of the UK’s most prestigious schools. This includes Roedeon School, where she was Senior Housemistress, Cheltenham Ladies College, where she held the roles of Vice Principal and Acting Principal, and Loughborough Endowed Schools, where she was a Head Teacher.

She has also been involved with the Girl’s School Association throughout her career, holding the position of President in 2018, and writes regularly on educational matters for the Times Education Supplement and other publications.

Gwen holds a first-class BSc from the University of Manchester, a PGCE from Goldsmith’s College, University of London and an MA in Education. She has also carried out postgraduate research into independent schools as drivers of social mobility.

In her role as Director of Education Strategy at NLCS International, Gwen ensures that the vision of the NLCS Group is realised and that the same high standards for education are held within all schools that hold the NLCS name.