A short introduction to LIBF
For more than 140 years, we’ve been providing outstanding education and thinking, tailored to the needs of individuals, businesses and society. Our goal is to make industries more accessible, inclusive and sustainable, by delivering career-focused education to ambitious students all around the world.
Designed with the modern world in mind, our courses and programmes are led by individuals who've not only mastered their field in theory but have also lived it.
Executive team
Steve Hill
Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer
Steve joined LIBF as our Vice-Chancellor and CEO on 22 July 2024, bringing with him a passion for leveraging technology and digitalisation in education.
Beginning his career in the international banking and finance industry, Steve later transitioned to executive leadership roles in higher education, serving as CEO of Open University Worldwide and Chair of FutureLearn. Beyond these roles, Steve has also founded several edtech organisations, partnering with universities to expand digital education access. His ethos of making education universally accessible aligns seamlessly with LIBF's commitment to making learning available to all.
Dr Rachel Banfield
Academic Dean
As Academic Dean, Rachel has oversight of LIBF faculty and associated teaching, learning and assessment activities across LIBF Higher Education programmes. Rachel also leads the scholarly, research and educational activities of the department, including planning curricula in collaboration with faculty members.
Alex Fraser
Executive Director
Alex joined LIBF as Chief Executive in March 2015 from Cass Business School, City University London, where he was Chief Operating Officer for six years.
His career has encompassed management roles in the private, public and voluntary sectors. He spent ten years working for a number of investment banks in a variety of operational roles; his last such post was as Head of Operations at Schroders in the late 1990s. Alex was appointed Logistics Director at HM Customs and Excise in 2000 and subsequently worked for a number of organisations in the not-for-profit sector prior to joining Cass in 2009. Since July 2024, Alex serves as an Executive Director on our Board of Directors.
Karen Pichlmann
Registrar
Karen’s role revolves around crafting and maintaining frameworks that ensure ongoing compliance within our educational programmes. She works closely with the Chief Executive and regulatory bodies to guarantee adherence to standards set by external regulators such as the Office for Students, ESFA, Ofsted, Ofqual, Qualifications Wales, and CCEA. Karen oversees academic governance, higher education data returns, and leads the Quality, Policy, and Regulation team. With a focus on safeguarding academic quality and standards, she champions best practices and external benchmarking, helping to ensure we meet or exceed the standards that students expect from their education.
Ehsan Razavizadeh
Managing Director MENA and Asia
Ehsan Razavizadeh joined LIBF in December 2023, bringing over twenty years of experience in management, strategy consulting, policymaking, new venture creation and capacity building. Some of organisations that Ehsan has worked with include London Business School, Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), the DIFC Authority, Catapult Satellite Application and City, University of London.
Ehsan is currently a Court Assistant in the Worshipful Company of World Traders and a Governor of Grey Coat Hospital. He also served on the advisory boards of City University of London, Capital Club, and the Financial Times, as well as on committees for the techUK and UKTI’s Higher Education in the UAE and the UK – UAE Financial & Professional Services. He is Fellows of the RSA and City, University of London.
Get to know our faculty and professional academic community: academics and industry professionals who develop and deliver impactful thought leadership, innovative education.
Meet our FacultyDo you have any open questions?
Any questions about our online degrees or our professional qualifications? We are here to help: Monday to Friday from 8.00am to 6.00pm UK time.
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