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Board of Directors

Our leadership team comprises a unique group of exceptional educators, education professionals, thought leaders and highly experienced business professionals – all of whom are unified with a strong passion for education and commitment to providing discerning education programmes across the globe that change lives for the better.

Mike Milken 
Co-Founder and Chairman 
Knowledge Universe  

Knowledge Universe Chairman, Mike Milken, is a legendary financier widely known for innovations that helped create millions of jobs in the more than 3,200 companies he has financed since 1969. 

Milken is often said to have revolutionised modern capital markets, making them more democratic by innovating a wide range of financing techniques previously unavailable to most companies. The Washington Post said he "helped create the conditions for America's explosion of wealth and creativity," a process that Business Week said "shook America's defeatist Establishment out of its gloom." Today, he is an investor in several companies dedicated to enhancing learning from infancy through retirement.  The National Association of State Boards of Education honored him with the Friend of Education Award in 1997. 

A Fortune magazine cover story that chronicled his three decades of efforts to accelerate medical solutions referred to Mike as "The Man Who Changed Medicine." He co-founded the Milken Family Foundation in 1982 to advance programmes in medical research and education. More recently, he founded FasterCures to remove barriers to progress against all life-threatening diseases. Mike also chairs the Milken Institute, an economic think tank whose annual Global Conference brings leaders of business and government from 60 nations to Los Angeles. He earned his bachelor's degree with highest distinction at the University of California, Berkeley, and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Mike and his wife Lori, who were married in 1968, have three children and four grandchildren. More information is at www.mikemilken.com. 

Steven Green
Vice Chairman
Knowledge Universe 

Steven is currently Chairman and CEO of Greenstreet Partners, a private merchant bank, served as the 12th United States Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore from 1997 to 2001. Ambassador Green previously served as Chairman and CEO of Samsonite Corporation, which was the major operating subsidiary of Astrum International Corporation. As Chairman of Astrum, Ambassador Green spearheaded the company's expansion into emerging markets in Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet bloc countries), Asia and the Middle East. 

In 1992, Green opened the first American retailing centre on Red Square in Moscow. In 1995, President Clinton appointed him to the President's Export Council, where he served on the Executive Committee and chaired the Strategic Communications Committee. Ambassador Green is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of K1 Ventures Limited, a publicly traded investment company in Singapore, in addition to a board member of Greenstreet Realty, a company that manages a large portfolio of education-related real estate. 

In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Green has been active in United States civic affairs, serving as Honorary Consul General of Singapore in Miami, Florida as well as a contributing trustee and director for a number of community and national organisations, including the University of Miami and the United States Chamber of Commerce. The Green Family Foundation endows special projects in community and national service.

Lowell Milken 
Co-Founder 
Knowledge Universe  

Lowell Milken is a leading educational pioneer and reformer, and co-founder of Knowledge Universe. He has been widely recognised with awards from the National Association of State Boards of Education, the Horace Mann League, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, UCLA School of Law, Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College. 

Lowell chairs the Milken Family Foundation (MFF), and has led its advances in education and medical research. In 1985, he conceived the Milken National Educator Awards, the largest teacher-recognition programme in the United States, to recognise outstanding elementary and secondary educators and encourage talented young people to teach. Seeing that sufficient numbers of quality teachers would never result from current education practices, Lowell launched TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement in 1999 as a comprehensive research-based strategy to attract, develop, motivate and retain high-quality teachers. TAP’s proven system has expanded dramatically, creating an environment with powerful and sustained opportunities for career advancement, professional growth, teacher accountability, and competitive compensation. Based on TAP's rapid growth, strong results and high demand, in 2005 Lowell established the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) as an independent public charity. Further education efforts championed by Lowell include Lowell Milken HighTech-Los Angeles, a public charter school that engages students with a rigorous curriculum rich in technology and complemented by real-world internships.

Lowell is also chairman of London-based Heron International, a worldwide leader in property development and investment. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley and his law degree from University of California, Los Angeles.

Peter Maslen
Chief Executive Officer
Knowledge Universe

Peter is a well-respected business leader with a global career spanning major multinational corporations in fast-moving consumer goods and retailing. 

Before heading up Knowledge Universe as its CEO, Peter was President of Starbucks Coffee International where he led Starbucks' rapid expansion outside the US, from its initial start-up phase to a highly successful global business with operations in over 30 countries.

Peter began his international career in fast-moving consumer goods with Mars, Incorporated where he was the Regional Director for Asia, before moving on to PepsiCo. He was European President of Tricon Global Restaurants (now YUM! Brands and part of PepsiCo) with responsibility for the development and growth of the Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell brands throughout Western and Central Europe and the former Soviet bloc countries. 

Peter is also Founder and Chairman of The Hanson Maslen Group in Seattle. He has served on the boards of public and private companies in the US, Japan and other countries. These have included being the former Chair of the Global Business Advisory Board at the University of Washington's Business School and a member of the Advisory Board of the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University. 

A native of Australia, he grew up in the outback, studied in Perth and is currently based in Singapore where he continues to lead the Knowledge Universe business worldwide. Peter is married with three children.

Les Biller

Les has more than 30 years' experience in the banking industry, with senior leadership positions with some of the world's leading banks.

He is currently CEO of Greendale Capital, a private investment company which he founded after retiring in 2002 as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Wells Fargo & Company. He joined Wells Fargo in 1998 after its merger with Norwest Corporation. 

Les joined Norwest in 1987 as Executive Vice President and Head of Strategic Planning and Acquisitions. In 1990, he became Head of South Central Community Banking, before being named President and Chief Operating Officer of Norwest. He was earlier with Bank of America as its Senior Vice-President. 

Before Norwest and Bank of America, Les also enjoyed an illustrious career with Citicorp where he served for 12 years as Regional Business Manager of the UK region and Vice President and Business Manager in Italy. 

He serves on the boards of Ecolab, Inc., Knowledge School, Inc., and Knowledge Universe Education LLP. Les is also a Director of the Autry National Centre.

He has a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering from City College of New York, and a Master's in Business Administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Les lives in Los Angeles with Sheri, his wife of 40 years.

 

Jeffrey Safchik

As a result of his diversified financial background, Jeffrey has more than 25 years of experience involving acquisitions and strategic planning in various industries, including real estate, as well as asset management and deal structuring. 

Jeffrey is the Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Greenstreet Partners.  He is also a founder of Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, a company engaged in the business of real estate investment, and is the Chairman of their Investment and Advisory Committees. He is also the Chief Financial Officer for K1 Ventures, Ltd, a publicly listed investment company traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange. He also serves as a director of Knowledge Universe Education LLP, Cardean Learning Group, Long Haul Holding Corp and a director and member of the Knowledge Schools, Inc. and KUE Management, Inc. audit committee and Knowledge Schools, Inc. Executive Committee. He is an active member of a number of civic and charitable institutions in Miami, Florida, and is the Chairman of the University of Miami, Department of Pediatrics Children’s Council, as well as a trustee of the Green Family Foundation.  

Jeffrey graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration (majoring in Accountancy) from Pace University, New York, and obtained a Masters degree in Taxation from St. John’s University, New York. Prior to entering the private sector, Jeffrey was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the States of New York and Florida.  During the course of his career, he attended advanced finance and real estate courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and New York University.

Richard Sandler

Richard has been an investor for 25 years, and has acted as Managing Partner for several partnerships which have investments in securities, business transactions and commercial and industrial real estate projects. He is currently a partner in the law firm of Maron & Sandler, which specialises in business restructurings and acquisitions, securities transactions and real estate. He is also on the Board of Directors of Heron International, a worldwide leader in property development.

In the non-profit sector, Richard serves as Executive Vice-President and Trustee of the Milken Family Foundation, and is the incoming Chair of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles. He also serves as a member of other non-profit boards such as the American Jewish University, the Milken Community High School, the University of California, Berkeley Foundation, the Prostrate Cancer Foundation, and the Milken Institute. He is a member of the State Bar of California.

Richard graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley, and received his law degree from UCLA Law School.

Jonathan Stearns

Jonathan has more than 20 years of experience in private capital investing across various industries, capital structures and development stages of companies in the United States, Asia and Western Europe. As the Managing Director of Vantage Capital LLC based in New York, Jonathan is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, executing and managing direct private equity and mezzanine investments.

Before his appointment at Vantage, Jonathan was the founder of Associated Partners, a private investment firm. He served as Director of Abbot Capital from 2001 to 2006, and actively invested and managed its private equity co-investment programme. Earlier, he was Managing Director of Equinox Investment Partners, a private capital investment company with over $300 million under management. He was previously also a Director of various subsidiaries of Kleinwort Benson, where he was actively involved in managing private capital investments in the US and Western Europe. 

Jonathan has served on several Board of Directors for both privately and public owned companies, and is currently, also a Board Member of Falcon Farms, Personal Communications Devices LLC and Global Scholar LLC. 

He earned his B.A in history and political science from The University of the South, and studied economics and politics at Cornel University's Graduate School. Jonathan is married with 2 children.

Felicia Thornton
Chief Executive Officer/US
Knowledge Universe 

Felicia has a strong background in business and finance, along with extensive experience in key decision making roles with major conglomerates. 

She was previously Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Albertsons, Inc., one of the largest food and drug retailers in the U.S. During her tenure there, she was responsible for annual investments of up to $1.9 billion and was instrumental in marketing, negotiating and selling Albertsons to a consortium in 2006. 

Prior to joining Knowledge Universe, Felicia had also held senior management positions that included being a member of the CEO’s Executive Counsel and board member of Bristol Farms, an independent subsidiary of Albertsons. She was also responsible for driving its Six Sigma programme.

As Group Vice President of Retail Operations for The Kroger Co. and a member of The Kroger Co. Executive Council, she spearheaded process improvements in Kroger's $50 billion operations portfolio of 20 retail divisions, distribution network and 43 manufacturing plants. She has served as Group Vice President of Finance and Administration for Ralphs Grocery Company. 

Felicia has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Santa Clara University, and an MBA from the University of Southern California.

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