BIEG Academic Leadership Team - Beanstalk Education Group

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BIEG Leadership Team

Kathy Shi

Founder & President

'Shi' means giving, 'Hua' means essencesMs. Kathy Shi (Hua) brings her vision of giving the essences of Chinese and Western education to children. With over twenty years of experience in education, Ms. Shi and BIBS are committed to integrating Chinese education with Western education in supportive and stimulating environments.

Jiangtao Gao

Head of Schools

Former Vice Principal of RDFZ, Senior Teacher, Special-class Teacher in Physics. Member of the National Expert Training Program of the Ministry of Education, the first group of State-level Backbone Teachers of the Ministry of Education's "Cross-century Gardener Project". Former Deputy Director of the Science Popularization Work Committee of the Chinese Physical Society, Committee Member of the Beijing Institue of Physics, former Deputy Director of the Competition Committee, former Director of the Beijing Youth Science and Technology Association. The only 2022 Yale University Distinguished Educator award winner from mainland China.

John McBryde

CEO

John McBryde is an educator with over 25 years of experience as Director/Head of School in five international schools in Asia, including 9 years as Director of the Western Academy of Beijing during its growth and development phase during 1998- 2007.John is co-founder of ACAMIS and served on both the ACAMIS and EARCOS Boards. He has extensive experience in IB Programs and school accreditation. He was awarded the "Foreign Expert Award" by the Beijing Municipal Government for his outstanding contribution to Chinese education.John’s keen interests include Future Education, Learning Technologies, Community, Service and The Arts.

Karen O'Connell

Special Projects Consultant

Karen O’Connell, an Australian educator, has over 40 years of experience in national and international schools as a teacher, consultant, researcher, Principal, and Head of School. With more than 30 years in educational leadership, her international career began in 1999 at the Western Academy of Beijing, where she served as Elementary Principal/Deputy Director for 12 years. She later moved to Indonesia and Singapore, taking leadership roles at Sinarmas World Academy and United World College South East Asia. In Beijing, Karen led the development of bilingual schools with Origins Education and served as Deputy CEO and Head of School for the Beanstalk International Education Group. She holds degrees from the University of South Australia and Bath University and has completed the International Leadership Management Programme. Karen is now a consultant at BIEG, focusing on Kindergarten and Elementary Schools.

Dr. Paul Kim

Director of BIBS CoFE

Director, BIBS Center of Future Education Dr. Kim is the Chief Technology Officer and Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, who received his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Technology from the University of Southern California in 1999. As an education technology entrepreneur, Dr. Kim designs and implements mobile technologies and social learning environment for Stanford undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Kim serves on the Board of Directors of WestEd, the Committee on Grand Challenges in International Development for the National Academies of Science, and the advisory committee for the National Science Foundation's Education and Human Resources Directorate.

BIEG Executive Leadership Team

Qiang Shi

Vice Chairman

Graduated from the China Youth Political Academy and has nearly 30 years of senior management experience in state-owned enterprises. He has served as Secretary of the Party Committee of Nanqi Group, Secretary of the Party Committee of East China Taixi Automobile Foundry Co., Ltd., Chairman of the Trade Union, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice President, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, etc.

Lucy Li

Vice President

She worked at Beanstalk Education Group for more than 20 years, starting from a teacher, to the Group's admissions department, marketing department and the board director's assistant position to get full exercise and development. Out of love for education and beanstalk, she is willing to dedicate her life's passion and energy to this place.

Christina Zheng

Special Assistant of Founder

She joined the Beanstalk Education Group for more than ten years, she has played a great potential on this excellent platform, from ordinary employees to special assistants to the board director, she personally experienced and participated in the development and leap of the group, accumulated a wealth of experience in recruitment and operations, and together to carry forward the educational philosophy and purpose of running the school.

Freda Li

Chief Brand Officer

She holds MBA from Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, Master of Marketing from UK. She has more than 10 years of senior management experience in brand and marketing, with extensive practical experience in high-end brand integrated marketing. She is making great efforts to define from lookback, form from substance and create the core brand value of Beanstalk Education Group!

BIEG Academic Leadership Team

Dr. Angela Wu

Deputy Head of Schools

For approximately 25 years, Dr. Wu has been an IBEN educator in both China and Singapore. Her academic background includes a Ph.D. in Language & Literature. Dr. Wu plays the role as a IB Bilingual Workshop Leader for MYP, DP, and CP and doubling as the role of examiners for several international programs, including the China Gaokao, IB DP, A level, and IGCSE. She is the author of coursebooks for IBDP, IGCSE, and PYP.Beyond teaching and examining, Dr. Wu has taken up leadership roles as an IB Programme Leader and spearheaded Multi-programme and/or Synchronized Visits. Her extensive experience spans over 25 years of visiting schools and conducting workshops throughout the Asia-Pacific region, exposing her to diverse styles and strategies that continually inspire her pursuit of excellence.

Michael Donaldson

Principal

28 years of experience in education since graduating from the Canadian University of Saskatchewan in 1990. Started as a teaching in BC till 2001, then worked as international school principal and headmaster in Qingdao, Nanjing, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu.

Gavin Johnson

Principal

Master’s degree in Education Leadership30 years of experience in international education

Nigel Jones

Principal

Master’s Degree in Education from the Derby UniversityIB Asia-Pacific Authorizing Officer

Kesham Zawacki

Principal

Former Director of Discipline of Beijing 4th Middle School International DivisionFormer Teaching and Research Group of the RDFZ ICC Project

BIEG Academic Leadership Team

Ruifang Zheng

Principal

Senior teacher, the first group of special-class principals in Beijing, former principal and party secretary of Renmin University Affiliated Primary School

Jun Yin

Principal

Senior Teacher, Beijing Senior PrincipalForeign General Secretary and Principal of the RDFZ Affiliated Experimental Primary School

Hua Wang

Principal

Senior physics teacher, 40 years of experience in elementary education, and 18 years in educational and teaching management. Served as vice principal of RDFZ from August 2006 to February 2014; served as principal of RDFZ Chaoyang Experimental School and vice principal of RDFZ Chaoyang School from March 2014 to February 2016; served as principal of RDFZ Shenzhen School from March 2016 to April 2022; served as Chinese principal of Dipont School of Arts and Science (former RDFZ Hangzhou School) from May 2022 to April 2024. Winner of Haidian District Outstanding Teacher Award, Haidian Outstanding Homeroom Teacher, RDFZ Model Woker, and 2019 Shenzhen "Top 10 Principals". In Shenzhen, Wang Hua was appointed as Municipal Pilot Demonstration Area expert, and member of the 6th People's Congress of Longgang District, standing director of the 7th Shenzhen Education Association, member of the Education, Science, Culture, and Health Committee of the 7th Shenzhen Standing Committee of the People's Congress.

Liaoling Bai

Principal

Taught in the RDFZ High School as Chinese teacher, head teacher and grade leader of the experimental class, whose class won the Beijing Outstanding Class Collective Award, and taught senior grade 3 for eight consecutive years. Won the first prize in the "National Training Plan (2012)" activity of the Ministry of Education. Served as part-time teaching researcher of Haidian Teachers' Training School, and undertook public courses and research courses in Haidian District, such as "Teaching design of ancient prose Unit" in Senior one Chinese, "Special Research on Cultural Classics" in senior two Chinese, and "Acquiring Wisdom in Classics" in senior three Chinese. Been repeatedly awarded the honorary titles of excellent "Four Virtues" teacher and "Outstanding Female Worker" Red Flag Bearer by Haidian District Education Commission, Advanced Worker and Outstanding Communist Party Member by Renmin University, and Outstanding Moral Model, Excellent Homeroom Teacher, Advanced Worker and Outstanding Communist Party Member by the RDFZ High School.

Jane Zhang

Principal

30 years of experience in educationBeijing Municipal Academic Leader

Lilian Zhao

Principal

Core editor of the PEP Senior High English TextbookFormer Director of the Haidian International Curriculum Research Center

Hershey He

Principal

In the past 17 years of her career, Hershey has been a teacher, head of department and curriculum coordinator. She has always been an active practitioner of new educational initiatives. Her curriculum and leadership experience started right after graduation from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Soon she became an IBEN workshop leader, school visit team leader and school consultant. She co-hosted IB PYP and Chinese National Curriculum mapping conference. She joined Chinese National Curriculum mapping project as the IB Lead Educator (LE) for PYP. She believes Education is to find students’ Elements where their passion and what they are good at meet.

BIEG Academic Leadership Team

Brian Yang

Principal

Brian Yang holds a PhD in Physics from Yale University, and graduated from Peking University for his undergraduate studies. He worked in the management consulting industry for a number of years at McKinsey & Co. in its US and China offices. Before joining BIBS, Brian Yang participated in leading the preparation and management of a K12 international school. He co-designed the core STEM curriculum as a core member of the global educational design team, developed and led an innovative project-based educational program that combines technology, art, and design. He also led the educational management of the school.

Zhaohui Xu

Principal

Twenty-six years as an IB educator, curriculum leader, bilingual education leader, principal and Director in five international schools ranging from 1100 - 4200 students-Deep expertise in IB PYP, MYP & DP curriculum, American Curriculum, and K-8 Chinese-English Immersion/Dual Language bilingual programs . Thirteen years in principal roles in three international schools, leading a diverse team of teachers from different cultural backgrounds-Adept in concept development and implementation and holistic curriculum design. Extensive expertise in language acquisition and multilingualism. Strong commitment to ongoing professional development-Experienced in event and conference planning. Published author of bilingual children’s books: Bus Adventures 1 & 2.

Lisa Li

Principal

Engaged in education for the past 22 years, Ms. Lisa has devoted 19 of those years toward deep cultivation of Beanstalk. In the descriptive words of principal Li Sha the educational concept is about "attentively educating along with love to accompany”. From leader of the Chinese department to the campus management, and then to the executive principal, Principal Li has led one team after another to contribute to Beanstalk; Principal Li will join hands with the professional team to inject new vitality into the campus and create greater and greater value for students and parents.

BIK Academic Leadership Team

Ping Meng

President of BIK

Chief Supervisor of Chong Wa International Baccalaureate Schools Association (CISA), former deputy general manager of renowned education group

Danny Wang

Principal of BIK

Ms. Wang studied pre-school education at the Capital Normal University. she has over 20 years of international kindergarten teaching and management experience. she visited kindergartens in Canada and the U.S. to learn the child-centered international education best practices. Ms. Wang looks forward to contributing to pre-school education at Beanstalk with her professional expertise.

Nancy Wang

Principal of BIK

Nancy has been working in the international children's education industry for 17 years and has a rich teaching management experience. She worked in Singapore International Bilingual Kindergarten for 6 years and after returning to China in 2009, she worked as a teaching supervisor in a well-known international kindergarten in Beijing for 5 years. In 2004, she joined the Beanstalk Education Group and serve as the director and chairman assistant.

Betty Bai

Principal of BIK

One of the earliest BIBS employeesOver 20 years of international education experience

Jenny Xiao

Principal of BIK

Completed postgraduate study at Northeast Normal University20 years of international education front-line teaching and management experience

Julie Zhu

Principal of BK

Julie holds a BA in Child Psychology and Preschool Education from Beijing Normal University, National First-grade Teacher, Outstanding Working of China Association of Private Education and Haidian District Outstanding Manager. Julie is an excellent manager and a team leader with 28 years of experience and is committed to a better education cause with her passion and dedication.

施华女士

Executive Director of Business Development

She has more than 40 years of teaching experience and has served as an education manager for the past 30 years. Served as deputy director of the Western Academy of Beijing and principal of elementary school. Since joining International Education, he has been participating in and actively promoting the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) visits and accreditation of international schools as an IB observer. As a visionary education leader, she is passionate about the growth and internationalization of students, focusing on the development and value enhancement of the school.