Statement: Chief Executive Officer of FutureLearn, Ltd. Announces Resignation
Simon Nelson, the Chief Executive Officer of FutureLearn, Ltd. has announced his resignation with effect from the end of 2020. The Board will begin the search for his successor with immediate effect. Simon has been the CEO since FutureLearn was established by the Open University in 2012. Under his leadership, FutureLearn has strengthened its position as one of the world leaders in online learning in fulfilment of its mission to transform access to education for people across the world. Most recently in 2019, Simon was instrumental in helping the Open University to secure £50m of investment from the Seek Group who are now the co-owners of the company.
Simon said about his decision:
“I’ve decided now is the right time to move on from FutureLearn after eight years building the company, from the kernel of an idea to a world-leading online learning platform, with over 13m registered learners, partnerships with many of the world’s leading educational institutions, companies and governments and a £100m valuation in 2019.”
Ron Kalifa, the Chair of the Board expressed his gratitude for all that Simon has done for FutureLearn:
“The Board has accepted Simon’s resignation knowing that he will leave FutureLearn in a very strong position. The Board wishes to place on record its gratitude for Simon’s inspired leadership of the company since its foundation. It wishes him every success as he moves on to future challenges. He will remain a personal friend to all of us involved in the company. We will cherish his legacy and use it as the launch pad for the major ambitions the Open University and Seek have for the company. FutureLearn’s world-class platform, courses and international reach have truly come into their own during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing public health, teaching, and professional skills education to millions of people around the world at a time when they needed it most. The company has grown dramatically in these last few months and emphasised its position as a world-leader in the delivery of high-quality education at scale.”
About FutureLearn
Here at FutureLearn, our purpose is to transform access to education. We do that by partnering with over a quarter of the world’s top universities to support over 13 million learners across the globe to develop skills and achieve their personal and professional goals. We’re a leading social learning platform founded in December 2012 by The Open University and are now jointly owned by The Open University in the UK and The SEEK Group. We use design, technology and partnerships to create enjoyable, credible and flexible short online courses and microcredentials, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. In addition to top universities, we also partner with leading organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, CIPD, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (HEE), as well as being involved in government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps such as The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education.
