www.esolonline.com - ESOL Management

Founded in 1990, Educational Services Overseas Limited (ESOL), is an organization specialized in the establishment and management of high quality international schools. ESOL currently operates a total of nine international schools in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Egypt, Cyprus, and Lebanon.

Each of the ESOL schools follows an American or British curriculum and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA) and/or the Council of International Schools (CIS). Seven ESOL schools currently offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) with some offering the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IBPYP).

The ESOL schools enjoy the benefits of experienced leadership and management, excellent facilities, and caring and dedicated teachers. Since its inception, ESOL’s focus has always been the attainment of the highest standards of educational excellence..

The ESOL family currently has 9 member schools in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East regions:

ESOL Establishes Board of Trustees

ESOL has added a Board of Trustees to its organizational structure. The new body consists of six members of the ESOL management team, as well as two members, Mr. Ghassan Saab and Dr. Daryle Russell (see brief biographical notes below), who are otherwise not affiliated with the organization.

With their extensive experience, Mr. Saab and Dr. Russell will provide the ESOL management team with valuable input regarding ESOL’s operations. The ESOL members of the Board are Walid Abushakra Superintendent and CEO), Wahib Girgis (COO), Bassam Abushakra (Regional Director), Tammam Abushakra (Advisor to CEO), Hazem Girgis (Assistant COO) and Norm Dean (Chief Education Consultant).

The Board of Trustees held its first official meeting in Cairo on October 16, 2008, in conjunction with the annual ESOL Heads of Schools meetings. Its first order of business was to define its own role and purpose. The members agreed that the body would serve the ESOL management team in an advisory capacity, providing a forum for consideration of issues that are important to the fulfillment of ESOL’s mission, as detailed in the organization’s Strategic Plan. The members also agreed that the Board would meet formally twice a year, and informally as necessary, to perform its function.

With that established, the Board went on to tackle issues ranging from the ESOL schools’ professional development programs and support policies to ESOL’s continuing growth and the challenges it poses. After one day of intensive meetings, the Board members could already see that the new body would play a vital role in ESOL’s operations. ESOL is pleased to have the benefit of the Board’s carefully considered recommendations and the valuable counsel of its members, as the organization charts its future path.

Mr. Ghassan Saab currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Sorensen Gross Construction Services, the largest full line construction services organization in Flint, Michigan.

Mr. Saab joined Sorensen Gross in 1966 as a field engineer and progressed quickly to become its Owner and President in 1971. Under his leadership, Sorensen Gross and his other companies have managed over one billion dollars of construction work in Michigan, throughout the United States, and internationally.

Mr. Saab is a graduate of the American University of Beirut (AUB) and has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Lebanese American University (LAU). He serves on the boards of a number of organizations in the US and has received a number of awards for his civic work.

Dr. Daryle Russell is one of the most recognizable and accomplished educational leaders in international K-12 American education. Over the course of his career he has served as Director of a number of international schools, including 11 years as Superintendent of the American School in Riyadh.

Dr. Russell has also served as President of the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE), and as President of the Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools (NESA).

He has maintained a close association with ESOL since working with the organization during the start-up phase of its 2 schools in Dubai.

ESOL Expands Management Teams

With its new schools in Dubai and Cairo established and growing, ESOL has more than doubled its overall size over a period of three years to reach a total of almost 6,500 students. To ensure that its schools improve in quality even as they grow in size, ESOL has expanded its management team over the past year, adding Mr. Joseph Nettikaden as its Chief Information Officer and Mr. Abdul Nasser as its Chief Financial Officer and promoting Ms. Hanan El Refaii to the position of ESOL Head of Education Technology.

Joseph Nettikaden joined ESOL in August 2008, relocating to Dubai from Chicago area where he was Vice President for Information Technology at Fieldwork Inc., a market research company with 17 locations in North America. He was instrumental in providing the company with a common technology services platform and integrated services model for standardizing technology operations. Prior to his time with Fieldwork, Joseph played key roles at leading software companies in the implementation of customer relationship management software and web-based technologies. His educational qualifications include an MBA from Northern Illinois Universityand and an MS in Information Technology from Northwestern University. Joseph is joined in Dubai by his wife and daughter.

Working with Joseph in the IT area is Hanan El Refaii, who has been in the organization for over 10 years as Technology Co-ordinator of the American International School in Egypt. Hanan has contributed her efforts at other ESOL schools for some time, especially in the areas of software and scheduling, and will now play an expanded role as Head of Educational Technology, working alongside the CIO to move the organization ahead in the IT area.

ESOL's CFO, Abdul Nasser, joined the organization in November 2008, after more than 20 years of experience in finance and administration in American institutions of higher education. Most recently he spent a number of years as Vice President of Finance and Administration at the University of Southern Florida. he also has experience in the region, having worked at United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain. Abdul Nasser holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting and an MBA from the University of Illinois-Springfield. He successfully passed the CPA exam in 1984. In August 2005, he successfully completed the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University. Accompanying him to Dubai are his wife and son.

ESOL Welcomes Its Schools New Administrators

With three Directors returning home or moving on to other international schools in 2008-2009, ESOL conducted a thorough and extensive search to fill the school head vacancies at the American International School in Abu Dhabi (AISA), the American International School in Egypt (AISE), and the Cairo English School (CES). In addition, ESOL was seeking to appoint a Director for AISE's new West Campus, opening in September 2009. After many months of reviewing applications and interviewing candidates, the organization welcomed an outstanding new group of school leaders to its rank.

At AISA, Mr. Gareth Jones took the reins from Dr. Walther Hetzer. A native of Wales, Gareth comes to AISA after 20 years in Paris, where he spent his last 10 years as Headmaster of the International in Paris. His wife Mary is also an accomplished school administrator, having spent the last few years as a Principal at the Marymount International School in Paris.

AT AISE, Mr. Nick Fox returned home to Canada after a year as Interim Director, to be succeeded as Director by Dr. Craig Paul. Craig arrived in Cairo in August 2008 from Plymouth, Minnesota where he had spent 17 years as Principal of Wayzata High School, a school of more than 3,200 students. He holds a B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa and a Ph. D. in Secondary School Administration from the University of Iowa.

During his time in Minnesota, he was nominated by his Superintendent for the National Association of Secondary School Principals' Principal of the Year Award. Craig's wife Terry retired from her career as Senior Manager in Tax for Ernst and Young to accompany him to Cairo. They have three adult children pursuing diverse careers.

CES's new Headmaster is Mr. John Regan, an experienced administrator of British schools who most recently headed the Oporto British School (OBS) in Portugal for 7 years. John succeeds CES's founding Headmaster, Mr. Bob Horton, who has gone on to Vietnam. At OBS, John established a thriving International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Prior to that he had spent 15 years at saint Joseph's College in Ipswich, first as Deputy Headmaster and then as Headmaster. John holds as M. Ed. degree from the University of Leeds. His wife Tineke is a PE teacher, and they have three adult children living in the UK.

ESOL appointed Ms. Kaye Jacob as Director of AISE's new West Campus in Zayed City, Cairo. Kaye is a native of Minnesota who has spent most of her career in education abroad. After many years as teacher and counselor in Japan, Kaye moved to India and became Deputy Principal of the Woodstock School in 2003 and then became its Principal in 2007.

Kaye joined the ESOL team in Cairo in August 2008 to contribute her efforts to the preparatory work for the opening of AISE West in September 2009. She has one daughter who is an international teacher and another who lives in Japan with her husband and family.