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.

Malcolm joined Navitas in 2013 as Campus Director of Edith Cowan College. In 2019 he was promoted to the role of Executive General Manager in the University Partnerships Australasia (UPA) division of Navitas, and in 2023 was appointed CEO of the UPA division.

Before joining Navitas, Malcolm gained extensive experience in the university sector, working across HR, strategy, and international education. He has also served in the Australian armed forces and represented the Australian Government on the Council for International Education.

With strong leadership and people management skills, Malcolm is dedicated to upholding and demonstrating the core values of Navitas.

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.

Darcy Rollins became Head of the University Partnerships North America (UPNA) division of Navitas in 2025.

Darcy began his career in the international education field in 2002 when he joined the International Education Branch (IEB) of the Government of Manitoba in Canada. He became Director of the IEB in 2006 and was deeply involved in a number of federal-provincial files, including the development of a pan-Canadian brand for education in Canada and numerous immigration changes (off-campus work in particular). He became Executive Director of Corporate Services for Manitoba Advanced Education and Literacy in 2011.

In 2012, Darcy took up a post with the provincial Treasury Board Secretariat where he was responsible for leading a team of analysts and providing weekly advice to the Board’s Cabinet Ministers on a variety of issues and files, ranging from transportation and infrastructure to health and municipal affairs.

In 2016, Darcy joined Navitas as Director and Principal of the International College of Manitoba (ICM) at the University of Manitoba, overseeing of the college which has the largest undergraduate international student intake in the province and second-largest international student population overall.

Darcy was promoted to Chief Operating Officer role for UPNA in 2019, assuming responsibilities for the effective operations of Navitas colleges in Canada and the United States, and for seeking new partnerships with high-potential universities.

Originally from Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, Darcy lives in Winnipeg with his wife Sherri; they have three children, all of whom are growing up too fast.

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.

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.

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.