Bernard J. West
Founder and CEO, Pan African Education Holdings LLC
Bernard J. West has spent nearly two decades building education businesses with some of the most distinguished educators, school operators and investors in the sector. His professional experience includes managing and advising American and international schools, founding and growing leading education companies and brands, and establishing public/private school partnerships with governments in the USA, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa.
Bernard is the founder and CEO of Pan African Education Holdings LLC, an Africa focused education investment platform acquiring and growing schools across sub-Saharan Africa. Backed by Africa based Emerging Capital Partners (USD 2B AUM) and other leading regional investors, the company has more than USD100M in commitments. Bernard is also the Co-Founder of Dubai based A-List Education Middle East which assists talented students in matriculating to the best universities in the United States.
Recently, Mr. West served as the founding CEO of Tadrees Education Holding, an education platform sponsored by Riyadh based Bahamdan Group which has a long history in multiple large scale investment platforms around the world. At Tadrees, Bernard had full responsibility for the entire business strategy and management of the company and underlying schools including the acquisition of schools, new facilities design, expansion and development, recruitment of heads of school and new program development. In five years, he grew Tadrees into a K-12 organization serving more than 10,000 Saudi students representing one of the largest investments focused on students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Bernard served as the owner representative on the boards of the acquired schools, setting up a system of governance to assure stakeholders’ concerns were addressed and all strategic objectives were met. In addition to the K-12 organization, Bernard established a vocational education division of the company with U.S. based DeVry Inc., to build and manage vocational schools across the Kingdom toincrease Saudi employment in high skilled jobs. Prior to leaving is post as CEO, Bernard successfully transitioned the company to an all Saudi management team.
Bernard began his career in the United States where he worked with heads of state, leading researchers, community leaders and philanthropists to increase innovation and student achievement in public schools across the country through the establishment and advancement of charter schools. Notably, Bernard served as advisor to Meritas Schools; helped build K12 Inc. (USD 800M+ online learning company now traded on the NYSE); and held senior executive positions with GEMS Education and Edison Schools, Inc., two of the largest pioneering companies in the schools sector.
Bernard West is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Events Bernard J. West has attended as a speaker:
