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
Alex Fraser
Chief Executive Officer
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.
Steve Hill
Incoming Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer
Set to join LIBF as our new Vice-Chancellor and CEO on 22 July 2024, Steve is passionate about 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.
Karen Pichlmann
Registrar
Karen’s role revolves around crafting and maintaining frameworks that ensure ongoing compliance within our educational programs. 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.
Introducing your academic faculty
Our academic faculty consists of accomplished individuals excelling in their respective fields. They will be your mentors, guiding you through the rewarding journey of carving out your own path in the modern professional world.
Academic Staff
Dr Rachel John Robinson
Initially an IT Security Specialist in Multinationals and Blue-chip companies to now being an Academic. As being an active researcher, until now she has presented and published papers, books and monographs in different peer-reviewed journals with national and international standing like IEEE conferences. Her focus is mostly on the field of Cybersecurity, Technology and Business Management and Active Digital Learning.
Prof Dr Muslum Ibrahimov
His professional path combines more than 15 years of experience in scientific, pedagogical and administrative activities. Lectured at various universities around the world - in USA, Germany, Poland, Romania, etc. He has participated and contributed to many international projects, such as Erasmus+ (EU), Tempus (EU), DAAD EE-KEY-AZ project and Fulbright program (USA).
He is an advanced specialist on economics and geopolitics of transitive economies in the Eurasian region (Post-soviet and CEE countries) as well as emerging markets (Turkey and Middle East countries). He has participated in substantive work to support the "Digital Agriculture" system. He was several times invited as a Jury member in the "AgroX Startup" National Championship project.
Anna Hiller
Specialises in Organizational Psychology, Collaborative Work, Communication, Project- and Product Management, and has worked for ten years in the industry as team leader product management and as head of corporate communications. In addition, she works as a freelancer and provides advanced trainings and workshops for specialists and managers in various industry sectors.
Thorsten Zippan
An entrepreneur in the eSports industry with over two decades of experience. He has organised multiple world championships and founded several eSports and gaming enterprises.
As an academic lecturer, he is dedicated to delivering motivational and comprehensible lessons in mathematics, ensuring that complex concepts are accessible and engaging for all students.
Elen Mary Machado
In Brazil Elen concluded her philology studies, MBA in Marketing and in Germany her post-graduation in Intercultural Business Communication. In the USA she took specialization courses on topics around Globalization. Before engaging LIBF, she headed for 30 years her own Intercultural Management Company, training and consulting people and companies, mostly in the German automotive branch, worldwide.
Musharaf Doger
With a degree in computer science, he has delved into advanced studies in algorithms, data structures, programming, and databases. These foundational areas form the bedrock of his expertise, empowering him to solve intricate problems and create robust solutions. While his academic journey has equipped him with a strong understanding of these core concepts, his focus on data science and machine learning represents his aspirations for the future. As he strives to stay at the forefront of innovation in the IT field, he is eager to further explore these emerging technologies and their potential applications. With over seven years of experience as a trainer and coach in the IT industry, he has honed his skills in imparting knowledge and fostering growth.
Dr Corinna Heipcke
Corinna specialises in international management, intercultural communication, and marketing. She has worked and taught at universities and companies in the UK, Germany, Denmark, and France.
In her free time, she’s an enthusiastic scuba diver and avid reader. Causes she is passionate about include equal access to education, human rights, and protection of the environment.
Dr Yan Zhu
Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Bielefeld, with a diverse research background spanning Germany, Spain, and Finland. My expertise lies in unraveling the intricacies of strong interaction, complemented by hands-on experience in data management and model construction. As a dedicated specialist in Data Science, I'm eager to bring my interdisciplinary skills to the forefront of academic and scientific exploration.
Get to know our professional academic community: academics and industry professionals who develop and deliver impactful thought leadership, innovative education and training of banking and finance subjects.
Meet our professional academic communityGet your online degree digital prospectus
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