Board of Directors

Raúl Marcelo Claure Bedoya (Chairman of the Board of Directors)

Raúl Marcelo Claure Bedoya is a business leader with a distinguished global career in technology and investment. He is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Claure Group, an investment firm active across technology, telecommunications, media, sports, and consumer sectors. Marcelo also co-chairs Brightstar Capital Partners, serves as Chairman of Bicycle Capital, and is Group Vice Chairman of the global fashion and e-commerce company SHEIN. Additionally he sits on the board of T-Mobile and holds significant ownership stakes in professional football clubs, including Club Bolívar and Girona FC.

Marcelo began his entrepreneurial journey in telecommunications, founding Brightstar in 1997 and growing it into the world’s largest wireless distribution and services company before its acquisition by SoftBank in 2014. He went on to lead Sprint as Chief Executive Officer, overseeing its turnaround and eventual merger with T-Mobile, and later served as Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Group International.

Known for his strategic vision and commitment to innovation, Claure brings extensive leadership and investment experience to his role as Chairman of the Board at Arden University, where he champions the use of technology and flexible learning models to broaden access to higher education.

Professor Dr Mary Bishop (Deputy Chair of the Board)

Non-Executive Director, Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, Arden University

An ACCA qualified accountant with significant budget management experience for over 25 years, awarded honorary Chartered Accountancy membership for her contribution to global accountancy education (2016).Formerly the Director of Learning at ACCA Global and currently a member of the Quality Assessment Committee (QAC), statutory advisory committee to the Board of the Office for Students, a panellist member of the National Institutional Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) a committee member and chair of the audit committee of the British Accreditation Council (BAC) and an expert board member of JISC.

Aaron Etingen

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global University Systems

Since founding Global University Systems in 2003 with one institution and four students, Aaron has been committed to changing society through education with a clear vision of redefining and elevating the landscape of global higher education. Today, the Group serves around 122,000 students on campuses across the world and 20M+ unique subscribers to its digital courses, spanning 31 institutions worldwide.

Under Aaron’s leadership, the Group has experienced rapid growth across various learning verticals, with an unwavering commitment to being a force for positive change in the world. Aaron has a passion for positive impact, prioritising sustainability for GUS, its institutions and its students.
 

Professor Carl Lygo 

Professor Carl Lygo is a barrister, a Diplock Scholar, a Blackstone scholar and Professor of English Common Law.

He has been a member of faculty at the University of Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan University, London Guildhall University, City University London and the University of East Anglia. For his ground breaking work in establishing BPP Law School as a leading professional law school he was included in the UK’s ‘Hot 100 Lawyers’ list by The Lawyer magazine.

For 20 years, he was at the BPP education company, where he progressed from being a tutor to become the founding Vice Chancellor of BPP University and Group Chief Executive of BPP Holdings plc. 

He inspired and led the growth of BPP’s Business School, Law School, School of Health and School of Foundation & English Language Studies as well as having executive responsibility for universities in the Netherlands and the IUBH business school in Germany.

In 2015, Professor Lygo was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential people in UK Higher Education’ by Wonkhe. Professor Lygo has served as a Non-Executive Director on the UK Higher Education regulatory bodies; Office for Students (OfS) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

In 2018, he was appointed as Executive Chair of the Board of Governors at the University of Applied Sciences Europe (UE) in Germany and Chairman of Global University Systems' Public Affairs Committee. He is an Association of Colleges Global Medal winner and was honoured with the ‘Outstanding Contribution by an Individual’ title at the Education Investor Awards 2018.

He was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive at Arden University in 2019, and is committed to extending access to Higher Education and promoting access for all in society, as Arden continues to go from strength to strength.

Valery Kisilevsky

With a BA (Hons) in Political Science, Ethics, Law and Economics from the University of Toronto, MSc International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a Graduate Diploma in Law from the College of Law of England and Wales, Valery is now Group Managing Director of GUS.

He works closely with Aaron Etingen, GUS' Founder and Executive Chairman, to develop GUS' creative, driven and energetic corporate culture.

Dr Timo Hannay

Non-Executive Director, Arden University

Dr Hannay is an expert in technology, media and innovation with over 20 years' experience across consulting, management and investment. Advisor to a wide range of organisations, from startups to multinationals. Exceptionally well connected and a frequent contributor to a variety of events and publications. Fluent in spoken and written Japanese. He is currently a non-executive director of Sage publishing, a
member of the Advisory Council of The Institute for Ethical AI in Education (IEAIED), founder of SchoolDash and formerly the MD of Macmilian Digital Science. 
 

Andrew Weinberg

Director

Andrew Weinberg is a Director at Arden University, with a distinguished background in investment leadership, corporate strategy, and governance across global organisations. He has held senior executive and board-level roles, supporting organisations through periods of growth, transformation, and long-term value creation.

Prior to joining Arden University, Andrew founded and led an international investment firm and previously held senior roles at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and the private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg, where he worked closely with management teams and served on the boards of multiple portfolio companies. His experience spans principal investments, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance, and strategic operations.

In addition to his executive career, Andrew is a member of the World Economic Forum and is actively engaged in global leadership and policy discussions, contributing to international forums focused on investment, stewardship, and the future of business. He also supports charitable and professional organisations within sport and leadership development.

Andrew holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, where he studied a double major in History and Economics.