Randy Best is the founder of Best Merchant Partners (BMP) and, in higher education sector specifically, Academic Partnerships (AP), American College of Education (ACE), Ilumno Holdings and Higher Ed Partners Africa (HEPA) as well as a co-founder of Higher Ed International (HEI). He began his business career in college and built more than 100 companies across a broad range of industries, including healthcare, defense and aerospace, publishing, agriculture, food, oil and gas, real estate and education. For more than 20 years, Randy has been solely committed to mission-driven businesses in the education sector, focusing on the welfare of children and expanding access to higher education globally.

Randy’s own challenges with dyslexia made him passionate about reading and its importance on children’s education and life. As a result, in 1995 he founded Voyager Expanded Learning, a national initiative, which helps annually more than 4 million mostly inner-city children, learn to read. In 2005, Randy turned to higher education and founded Whitney University System (today Ilumno), a network of high-quality universities across Latin America, which serves 150,000 students. Subsequently, in 2007 he founded Academic Partnerships, a higher education service provider, which assists public universities increase access through technology-aided learning and gives them global reach.

Randy serves or has served in the following capacities: board member of James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy; advisory board member of Education Commission of the States; board member of NEA Foundation; advisory council member of College of Education Foundation for the University of Texas at Austin; board member of National Urban Alliance for Columbia University, the development board member of University of Texas at Arlington; board member of Academic Partnerships, American College of Education, Ilumno Holdings, Higher Ed International and Higher Ed Partners Africa. He also served on the White House Millennium Committee and is a benefactor of the Smithsonian Institution on and numerous philanthropic endeavors, mostly in Africa.

Randy holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Lamar University.

Justyna joined BMP in 2009, ultimately becoming its Executive Chairman and General Partner responsible for all BMP’s portfolio companies in 2020. She spent the past 15 years working in a close partnership, in one office, with Randy Best, learning everything about the art of business from him as they co-managed BMP’s constituent businesses, including Academic Partnerships (AP), Ilumno and American College of Education (ACE). After the divestiture of AP and ACE, Justyna co-founded with Randy Higher Ed International and its constituent enterprises trading under the name of Higher Ed Partners in North and South America, Africa and Europe.

Prior to joining BMP, Justyna was a post-doctoral fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She serves or has served on the boards of directors of Higher Ed International; Higher Ed Partners Limited; Higher Ed Partners South Africa, Universidad del Istmo in Panama; Universidade Veiga de Almeida in Brazil; Instituto Professional Providencia in Chile; Institución Universitaria Politécnico Grancolombiano in Colombia; U.S.-based Instructional Connections and Academic Partnerships Foundation.

Justyna holds both a Doctorate and a Master’s degree in International Studies and History from the University of Cambridge in England where she was a Marie Curie Fellow and an undergraduate degree in Finance from Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Ms. Nugent retired from BMP in 2014 after a twelve-year tenure with the company where she served as Chief Financial Officer and in other executive operational roles across portfolio of BMP’s education companies, including Academic Partnerships, Ilumno, Higher Ed Holdings (parent of American College of Education) and Voyager Expanded Learning. She continues to support BMP holdings in her consulting capacity.

Ms. Nugent began her career in public accounting with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Grant Thornton LLP and is a CPA. Her professional career includes executive management positions with Software Spectrum, Inc. (SSPE), Mothers Against Drunk Driving, USF&G Capital Investors, Inc., a syndicator and manager of public real estate limited partnerships sponsored by USF&G Corporation, and various real estate development companies. She also currently serves on the board of Scrum Alliance, Inc., a global organization with over 500,000 members and Undermain Theatre. Ms. Nugent was previously a board member of Academic Partnerships and currently serves as a board member of American College of Education.

As member of the BMP team, Elizabeth oversees all aspects of the company’s legal affairs and its constituent organizations and subsidiaries, including Ilumno Holdings and Higher Ed International. A business-oriented General Counsel with more than twenty years of global corporate legal experience in fast-paced environments, she is handling a variety of cross-border activities, including business transactions, corporate structure development and asset protection.

Prior to joining BMP’s education group twelve years ago, Elizabeth was the Associate Vice President of Interval Leisure Group, a leading global provider of non-traditional lodging, encompassing a portfolio of leisure businesses. Prior to that, Elizabeth was the Head of Contracts and Compliance at Telefonica USA, Inc, a subsidiary of Telefonica S.A., the leading telecommunications provider in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets, with a customer base above 100 million clients, significant presence in 15 countries and operations in approximately 40 countries. Before Telefonica USA, Inc., Elizabeth was the General Counsel at Frade Hotels, S.A., a leading hotel chain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Elizabeth is a graduate of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she received her JD. In addition, she holds a Master in Comparative Law from the University of Miami School of Law and a Postgraduate in Business Telecommunications from the Universitat Politecnica de Cataluya in Spain. Elizabeth is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese and admitted to practice law in the State of Texas, State of New York and State of Rio de Janeiro.

Professor Lord Eatwell is the board member of Higher Ed International LLC and Higher Ed Partners Limited.

Lord Eatwell’s illustrious career includes 22+ year presidency of Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge and a long-term, continued tenure in the House of Lords. He is a former Senior Advisor role to the Labor Party and Labor Opposition Spokesman for the Treasury in the House of Lords and Chief Economic Advisor to Neil Kinnock, the then-Leader of the Party.

Lord Eatwell is also the former Chairman of the Jersey Financial Services Commission and former Chairman of the Securities and Futures Authority and of the Regulatory Decisions Committee of the UK Financial Services Authority as well as former chairman of the British Library, a director of the Royal Opera House and the economic advisor to the Chartered Management Institute.

Bill Barke is the board member of Higher Ed International LLC and previously of Academic Partnerships. He spent his entire career almost exclusively in higher education, focusing on products and services. His senior executive roles include President of Allyn and Bacon, CEO of the Addison Wesley Higher Ed Group, Chairman of Pearson Canada and Chairman of Pearson North America Higher Education Group. A first gen college graduate from Shippensburg University, Bill taught history and coached football at Bedford High School in western Pennsylvania, prior to starting his higher ed career as a publishers’ rep for Prentice Hall in Pittsburgh.

Bill is currently advising, investing and mentoring startups in the higher education service space. They include Study Portals, Rethink Education, Enabling Insights, Mentor Collective and Open Scholar. He is an advocate for early learning reading programs Jumpstart and Raising a Reader. He lives in Plymouth, Ma. with his wife, Victoria, a former music teacher.

Dr. Sherman is the first woman professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). She served as superintendent of the Richmond (VA) Public Schools from 2002 to 2008 and built a reputation as one of the most successful urban district superintendents in the country for which she was named Virginia Superintendent of the Year in 2009. Since 2008, Dr. Sherman has served as the director of the Urban Superintendents Program and currently serves as core faculty for the Doctorate of Education Leadership Program (Ed.L.D.). In addition to her other extensive work in education nationally, Dr. Sherman has worked extensively in South Africa as the principal investigator on a joint initiative between HGSE faculty and the University of Johannesburg.

Dr. Jewell-Sherman holds a Doctorate and a Master’s degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University, a Master degree from Kean College in Educational Administration and a Bachelor degree from New York University in Elementary Education. Dr. Sherman was previously a board member of American College of Education.

After several years serving as a civil servant, Ms. Memela has recently stepped down as CEO of South Africa’s Social Security body. Prior to that, she was formerly a CEO of Eduloan, South Africa’s student financing authority. She is a champion for the advancement of women in leadership positions, focused on improving lives of underserved populations through mentorship programs for South African youth.

Ms. Memela was Chief Strategist for Higher Ed Partners South Africa and is currently a board member of Higher Ed Partners Africa.

Mr. Thompson retired in 2015 after 13 years as Chief Executive Officer of ADvTECH, a publicly listed education company with multiple holdings across South Africa and Zambia, and Africa’s largest private education provider. He has extensive experience in finance, turnarounds, and management.

Mr. Thompson is a Board member of Higher Ed Partners South Africa.

Governor Hunt served four historic terms as Governor of the State of North Carolina, Chaired the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, the National Education Goals Panel, and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. He has also served on the Carnegie Task Force, which created the National board for Professional Teaching Standards and the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Governor Hunt promoted technology and technology-based economic development, including the establishment of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.

Governor Hunt was previously a Board member of Academic Partnerships.

Mr. Koutoupes is a Managing Director at New York-based Insight Partners. He focuses on investments in education technology and sales and marketing automation, and is one of the firm’s experts in recurring revenue business models. He has worked with Academic Partnerships, Ilumno, Campaign Monitor, CarTrawler, Conga, CloudCraze, Ensighten, Illuminate Education, KDS, Nearpod, SpaceTime Games, and Virgin Pulse.

Mr. Koutoupes’ prior investments at Insight include Capella University (IPO, NASDAQ: CPLA), Exact Target (IPO, NYSE: ET, acquired by Salesforce), eVestment (acquired by Nasdaq), Football Fanatics (acquired by GSI Commerce, then eBay), Frontline (acquired by Thoma Bravo), Greenfield Online (IPO, acquired by Microsoft), Platespin (acquired by Novell), and Realink (acquired by Zaio Corp). He was named to the AlwaysOn Venture Capital 100. For the first decade of his tenure at Insight, Mr. Koutoupes co-managed Insight Onsite, the firm’s team of dedicated operations and strategy experts.

Mr. Koutoupes received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and a BA from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. He previously served as a board member of Academic Partnerships and Ilumno Holdings.

Mr. Clough is Chairman and Partner at Baltimore-based ABS Capital and has led or been part of the deal team for over 20 investments across the FinTech, EdTech, eCommerce and business services sectors. Prior to joining ABS Capital in 2001, Mr. Clough was the president and CEO of SITEL Corporation. While at SITEL, he grew both revenues and EPS significantly, managing operations in 19 countries and serving major corporate clients such as GM, America Online, Capital One, and Microsoft. Most importantly, he learned the value of setting and clearly articulating goals and priorities, including regularly measuring against them, something with which he routinely helps his companies today.

From 1990 to 1997, Mr. Clough was in the Investment Banking Group at Alex, Brown & Sons Incorporated, leading their business services efforts, where he advised clients on M&A transactions, as well as equity and debt offerings. He served in the United States Army from 1983 to 1988, rising to the rank of Captain in 1987. Mr. Clough holds an undergraduate degree from United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Mr. Clough was previously a Board member of Ilumno.

Dr. Paige is a former U.S. Secretary of Education who was a stalwart supporter of improving the way that students learn on all levels and setting standards of achievement. Dr. Paige made history by becoming the first school superintendent to be named Secretary of Education. While serving as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, the seventh largest school district in the U.S., he was honored as National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.

Dr. Paige served for a decade as dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston, Texas, where he worked to ensure that future educators receive the training and expertise necessary to succeed in the classroom. Dr. Paige also established the University’s Center for Excellence in Urban Education, a research facility that concentrates on issues related to instruction and management in urban school systems.

Dr. Paige earned his undergraduate degree from Jackson State University and his Masters and Ed.D. from Indiana University. He was formerly a board member of American College of Education.

Mr. Pityana is a former Director-General of South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Labor and an Advisor for the Labor Relations Council and the Ministry of Education. He is a Chair of the Council of the University of Cape Town, president of Business Unity South Africa and a director of Business Leadership South Africa as well as Chairman of the board of Directors of AngloGold Ashanti, the world's largest emerging market gold producer, with 19 operations in nine countries spanning South America, Africa and Australasia.

Mr. Pityana is currently Executive Chairman of Izingwe Capital Limited and was previously a board member of Higher Ed Partners South Africa.

Mr. Nxasana is a South African social entrepreneur and education philanthropist, founder of Sifiso Learning Group focused on education initiatives. He is a former Chairman of South Africa’s National Students’ Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and former CEO of Telkom South Africa Group and FirstRand Banking Group as well as former Vice-Chairman of the South African Revenue Services board. He currently serves as Chairman of National Education Collaboration Trust, Ikusasa Student Financial Aid Programme (ISFAP) and Future Nation Schools, a chain of affordable private schools in South Africa. He is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and one of the first ten African Chartered Accountants.

Mr. Nxasana is the Chairman of Higher Ed Partners Africa.

Dr. Pastides is President Emeritus of the University of South Carolina, the state’s flagship system of eight institutions in 20 geographic locations. He served as its 28th president (2008-2019) and as interim president (May 2021- June 2022). Since arriving at the university in 1998, he has held the positions of vice president for research and health sciences and dean of the Arnold School of Public Health. Dr. Pastides has chaired the NCAA Division I board of Directors and served as the president of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). In 2016, he was one of seven Fulbright alumni to receive the inaugural Global Changemaker Award in recognition of his ongoing commitment to transform society and humanity through his work.

Dr. Pastides’ board service includes the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and Universities Research Association, and he chairs the Fulbright Program’s Council for the International Exchange of Scholars.  He is on the Executive Committee of the Institute for International Education, is the only non-physician member of the board of Trustees of the American Medical Association and is on the national Uber Safety board.  Dr. Pastides earned a Master of Public Health and PhD in Epidemiology from Yale University

He has served as an Advisor to BMP since stepping down from his Presidency.

Sir Tim is a former Chairman of Higher Education Funding Council (HEFC) for England, knighted by the Queen in 2018 for services to higher education. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Workplace Learning and Development. Sir Tim is former Chairman for England’s Royal London, Bovis Homes and Investors in People as well as former Director General of the Institute of Directors and CEO of Nationwide Building Society.

Sir Tim was previously a board member of Higher Ed Partners Limited.