Navitas leadership

Colin joined Navitas from Wesfarmers in December 2019. At Wesfarmers, Colin held a number of roles including, most recently, Chief Financial Officer of the Kmart Group comprising Kmart, Target and related international operations.

Before joining Wesfarmers, Colin was a Partner for Ernst & Young in the Perth office’s Assurance & Advisory Business Services practice, leading a team of professionals in the Retail, Consumer and Industrial Products group. During Colin’s time at Ernst & Young, he spent a number of years on international secondments that included San Jose in California and Vancouver in Canada.

He brings to Navitas a wealth of experience in finance, strategy development and execution, corporate planning, M&A and corporate governance.

Colin holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and associate member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA). Colin is also a director of the Group of 100 and previous industry representations include chair of the Advisory Board of Curtin’s School of Accounting and the Australian representative of the IFRS Foundation Global Financial Preparers Committee.

Julia has two decades’ experience managing internal and external communications to protect and enhance the reputation of complex, global organisations. Her communications strategies focus on consistent and authentic messaging to build culture (internally) and establish credibility based on both the capability and character of an organisation.

In 2022, Julia’s role was expanded to include Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and elevated to the Executive Team. In this new role, Julia is developing a comprehensive ESG strategy focused on embedding ESG principles into business operations to ensure that Navitas balances economic growth, environmental care and social impact to meet the needs of current and future generations.

Dr. Brian J.R. Stevenson joined Navitas in January 2019 as President and CEO of its North America University Partnerships division. An established leader in both academia and government, Dr. Stevenson has built an impressive record of achievements over more than two decades in campus internationalization, international relations and foreign policy.

He most recently served as the 2018-19 Fulbright Research Chair in the US-Mexico Studies Center of the School of Public Policy and Study at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). From 2010-2017, Dr. Stevenson served as President and Vice- Chancellor of Lakehead University, a comprehensive public research institution with two campuses in Ontario, Canada. While at Lakehead, Dr. Stevenson was also a professor in the Faculty of Business Administration. Prior to taking the helm at Lakehead, Dr. Stevenson served the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada as Provost and Vice-President, Academic from 2006 to 2010, where he was also a professor in the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Brian began his career at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City and later accepted an appointment as the Imperial Oil/Royal Bank Visiting Associate Professor of International Business at the University of Alberta School of Business. He then served as senior policy advisor to the Canadian Ministers of International Trade and Foreign Affairs in Ottawa before returning to the University of Alberta as Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (International) and associate professor at the School of Business.

Brian grew up in the United States, Canada and Mexico, is fluent in English and Spanish, and holds a BA (Honours) and MA from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, and a doctorate from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario.

Jo has more than 20 years of management, strategy, leadership and business development experience in tertiary education, including 11 years with Navitas.

He commenced his career working for two of Australia’s leading universities in international student recruitment, before moving to the independent education sector in 2006 to spearhead SAE Creative Media Institute’s transition from VET to Higher Education. Three years later Jo relocated to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he helped establish a new vocational media academy on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Government in partnership with BBC, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Cartoon Network Animation and Ubisoft.

In late 2011, Jo returned to Australia to work for Navitas which had since acquired SAE. His previous roles include Global Deputy CEO of SAE and Deputy CEO of the Navitas Careers & Industry division. In his current role, Jo oversees delivery of higher education, VET, professional development and employability programs to 25,000 students globally.

With deep knowledge of regulatory and policy frameworks underpinning Australia’s tertiary education sector, Jo advocates for reforms that improve access and equity for students – and create a more level playing field between public and independent education providers.

Malcolm has been with Navitas for close to ten years, commencing as Campus Director of Edith Cowan College. Since 2019, Malcolm has been in an Executive General Management role.

Malcolm has strong leadership, as well as strong people management and a commitment to consistently demonstrating the Navitas values.

Prior to joining Navitas, Malcolm had nearly 10 years’ experience in the university sector across a range of roles including, HR, strategy and international education. He has also served in the Australian armed forces and been a representative of the Australian Government’s Council for International Education.

Paul joined Navitas in 2015 and has overall responsibility for establishing new partnerships and overseeing all University Partnerships operations in Europe. Paul is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the division, overseeing the quality of delivery and ensuring a focus on efficiency.

Paul has a deep and intimate knowledge of international higher education and pathways markets in the United Kingdom gained during his two decades of employment with Study Group in a diverse range of roles. Across his career, Paul worked his way from a teacher to Director of the pathway division, and established trusted and strategic university partnerships with over 18 higher education institutions – 12 of which he personally led the set-up of.

Paul holds a LLB from John Moores University, an MBA in General Management from the University of Brighton and a MA, Research from the University of Brighton.

Jon Chew is one of world’s leading market analysts in international education. He was previously a Principal at Australian management consulting firm, the Nous Group, and is now Chief Insights Officer at Navitas. Jon brings in-depth expertise on global trends in education, built on the rigorous analysis of a wide range of external and in-house datasets. His work is informed by an up-to-the-minute industry perspective, developed collaboratively with a global network of stakeholders, policy-makers and experts.