Sam Freedman appointed new chief executive of Ark's Education Partnerships Group

Monday 9th April 2018

Sam Freedman is to be the new Chief Executive of Ark’s Education Partnerships Group. EPG works in developing countries to help improve the quality of education, including through well designed public-private partnerships and effective systems of school accountability. Sam joins EPG from Teach First, where he is currently Executive Director.  He has extensive experience in education, including a period as Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education.  Sam will take over as EPG CEO in June 2018.

Sam commented: “I am incredibly excited to be asked to lead Ark EPG into the next stage of its development.  I have been an admirer of EPG's work and feel strongly that improving education is one of the defining global challenges of the next fifty years.”

Lucy Heller, Chief Executive of Ark, has welcomed Sam’s appointment: “We are delighted that Sam is joining us as Chief Executive of EPG. I am confident that he will build on EPG’s success to date:  he has the knowledge, skills and vision to continue, and to grow, our work.”

David Laws, Executive Chairman of EPG, added: “I have known Sam for almost a decade, and there are few people with a sounder understanding of the drivers of educational success. I look forward to working with Sam in his new role. Sam has spent his whole career in education and he will now be able to use this experience to help governments and other stakeholders in Africa, Asia and beyond, to deliver on their priorities of improving education quality for children from all backgrounds. In all countries, good quality education should be a right for every child, not just a privileged minority.”

Ark’s Education Partnerships Group (EPG) was created to bring together different organisations around the world in order to help give every child an excellent education – and make sure poverty is not a barrier to success. EPG works in developing countries to help improve the quality of education, including through well designed public-private partnerships and effective systems of school accountability. http://arkonline.org/epg