Rod Bristow
President, Pearson UK

Rod Bristow is President of Pearson UK which includes all of Pearson's education businesses in the UK for schools, colleges, higher and professional education; encompassing Heinemann, Longman and FT Prentice Hall, as well as Edexcel, the UK's leading awarding body. He has been involved in education for his entire career. In 1993, he became Managing Director of Pitman Publishing and was appointed President of Pearson's Higher and Professional Education business in Europe, Middle East and Africa in 2000. In 2010, he was appointed President of Pearson UK.
 
Rod is married with two children and lives in Buckinghamshire.
 

Ziggy Liaquat
Managing Director, Edexcel
Operations Director, Pearson UK

Ziggy became Managing Director of Edexcel and Operations Director of Pearson UK in January 2010. In January 2011 he was also appointed Head of Global Operations for Pearson International.

He joined Edexcel in 1995 and has since held a number of posts within the company including Head of Business Development, Programme Director and, more recently, Operations Director. In his post as Operations Director, Ziggy had responsibility for overseeing the delivery of tests and assessments, including the National Curriculum test programme, GCSEs, A levels and BTECs.

Isabel Sutcliffe
Director of Regulations, Standards and Research (on secondment to Pearson India)

Isabel joined Edexcel in October 2006 as our Qualifications and Accreditation Director following a long career with NCFE. She joined NCFE to head up its assessment and accreditation work when it was still a Regional Advisory Council and made a significant contribution to its current status as a successful national awarding body, serving as its Chief Executive from 2001 to 2006. Prior to joining NCFE, Isabel worked for one of the many predecessor bodies now comprising AQA. She is currently chair of the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB). In addition to her work with the FAB, Isabel is a trustee of the Cadet Vocational Qualifications Organisation.

Isabel is currently on secondment to Pearson India, where she is Interim Director for the Centre for Assessment, Research and Evaluation. 

Sharon Hague
Qualification Development and Assessment Director

Sharon became Qualification Development and Assessment Director in 2010. She joined Edexcel in 2000 having trained and worked as a teacher in Essex and Hertfordshire for 8 years. Over the past 10 years, Sharon has held a variety of posts at Edexcel including GVQ Qualification Manager, Head of GQ Assessment and Quality Manager for the National Curriculum Tests Programme.

Sharon’s current post has responsibility for the development and delivery of qualifications and assessments across the range of qualifications that Edexcel offers, including basic and key skills testing, Key Stage test programme, GCSEs, AS and A levels, and the BTEC suite of qualifications.

Abbas Hasan
Operations Director

Abbas joined Pearson Qualification Services as Operations Director in November 2012 following a career in management consulting, specialising in strategy and performance improvement at various Fortune and FTSE 100 companies across North America, Europe and Australia. Before that, Abbas also founded a successful education charity and was an engineer at 3M, a global consumer and industrial products company.

Abbas has an MBA from Stanford University and a BS from Berkeley and serves as trustee on two charities: global marine conservation charity Blue Ventures and global education charity Global Glimpse.

As Operations Director, Abbas is accountable for managing back-office services that facilitate and support the successful delivery of academic, vocational, work-based learning and national curriculum assessments and results.

Greg Ferrari
Customer Services Director

Greg joined Edexcel in 1996, and has held a number of roles within Edexcel’s assessment and onscreen testing business. He became Customer Services Director in 2010. 

Greg is currently responsible for Edexcel’s contact centre and customer services teams, supporting a range of activities, including learner registration and certification. He also leads our partnership with the Institute of Customer Services.

Mike Whitehead
Director of Programmes

Mike became Edexcel and Pearson UK Programmes Director in January 2010. He joined Edexcel in 1994 having spent 13 years as a lecturer and teacher in the higher education, further education and schools sectors. Since joining Edexcel, Mike has held a variety of posts, including: new product development and launch; and project and change management.

In his current post, Mike has responsibility for Pearson UK corporate programmes. He is also in charge of MI delivery and strategy, and manages both Edexcel divisional reporting and external regulatory reporting.

John Wakefield
Technology Director

John joined Edexcel in 2004 as a Software Architect tasked with developing Edexcel’s online services. Today, as Technology Director, John is accountable for the development, procurement and operation of all technology solutions throughout Pearson UK. He provides a leadership role in the day-to-day support of technology functions, as well as giving direction on technology strategy for the Pearson UK business. He is committed to putting technology at the core of everything we do.

In May 2012 John was appointed Chief Technology Director for the Assessment and International Qualifications IBU. John now reports to Peter Miller (President - Assessment and International Qualifications) as well as Ziggy Liaquat.