Greg Parry
Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Global Services in Education
Greg ran schools before he co-founded the company that develops them. He spent two decades leading schools directly, which is why GSE takes contractual responsibility for what happens after a school opens rather than handing over a report and moving on.
He led international schools in Dubai and India, and then in China, taking them through the pressures GSE now manages for its clients: enrolment, staffing across many nationalities, budgets, accreditation and academic results. Before international education he held senior leadership roles in the Queensland state school system, having started out teaching in 1991, and led staff bodies of up to 130 people drawn from more than 24 nationalities. He was also seconded to a statewide role training Queensland principals through major changes to legislation and regulation.
He co-founded GSE in 2011 and has led every part of the firm since, from feasibility and financial modelling through to head of school appointments. Under his leadership GSE has delivered 39 school projects across 16 countries, with development, feasibility and advisory work reaching wider still, across the GCC, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia. The work runs from designing curricula for very different cultural settings, to building the teacher recruitment and training systems used across more than a dozen countries, to operating schools under long-term management agreements once they open. Private equity firms and investment groups have brought him in to help design school groups and education investment platforms, the work now at the centre of GSE.
His counsel is not reserved for GSE’s own clients. Global private equity firms have sought his read before committing to an education platform, as have major strategy and advisory houses, sovereign investors, and established education groups. They come to him for a candid view of a school, a market or a transaction before they commit to it.
His background is in education and school leadership: a Masters in Education in Learning Management from Central Queensland University, and a Diploma of Education and Bachelor of Arts from Queensland universities. His leadership was recognised with the Queensland Minister’s Award for Excellence in School Leadership, alongside regional awards for leadership and for industry and community partnerships.
He writes and speaks on international school development, including a TEDx talk on the future of education and two books for educators working internationally, A+ Interviewing for Educators and The A to Zs for Teaching Overseas.