STRONGER LEARNING FROM STRONGER BUSINESS OPERATIONS
YOUR NEEDS + OUR SOLUTIONS = YOUR SCHOOL'S EVOLUTION
Your school has the highest learning aspirations. We provide you the strongest business foundations to support and adapt to them.
Just as you're educational dream builders, we're your operational dream realizers.
And that's never been more important than right now...
OUR TESTIMONIALS SPEAK FOR
THEMSELVES...
Celina Midelfart, Board Trustee
Oslo International School (OIS)
We engaged Jon and GSO to perform a complete operational review of the business operations of OIS. He delivered a report to the School Board / Head of School on the full operational observations and solution recommendations that was a real eye-opener to all board members. He showed incredible insight, competence, and comparative knowledge of great value in steering us to optimal solutions at optimal cost and efficiency.
He later became the interim COO/CFO and implemented his recommended strategies (new Admissions system, new OIS website, operational transformation) while advising the Head of School and coaching the leadership and management teams on aligning for better practices and communication.
His impressive work capacity and work ethic injects positive energy into any challenge and task he is asked to look into. He created a very successful bridge between the financials and operations, providing our new DFO with a flying start, and has continued to support offsite to this day as the de facto Head of Admissions during our most critical enrolment year in recent history, using the system he designed/implemented to re-enroll and welcome 2023-24 students to OIS.
We are most grateful to have had the pleasure of Jon´s positive, energetic, firm but collaborative spirit, unifying and improving all areas of OIS´s operations. I would sincerely recommend him to whoever has any of these needs.
Catarina Song Chen, REO for Strategic Initiatives & Partnerships
Office of Overseas Schools, U.S. Department of State
Board Member: Academy of International School Heads (AISH)
Board Member: Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE)
Former Head of School: The American School of Belo Horizonte (EABH)
In working closely with Jon at EABH (and beyond), I can confirm his extensive experience and knowledge, as well as his ability to customize solutions to needs and shift focus as required by the school and Board of Directors.
Some major shifts that we realised we needed at EABH were an effective Board Governance Policy, which he fully created and we both partnered with our Board of Directors to successfully deliver. This set the Board up to facilitate their critical successions and subcommittee maturity to align better with the school’s bylaws. Additionally, Jon has helped the school develop a Statement of Community, provided Leadership Team guidance, and continues to help us develop further operational policy to optimise our entire workforce.
His perspectives and experience have been immensely valuable and helped us through future planning and situational responses. As I transition into my next role, I’ve continued to seek his support, advice, and collaboration.
I highly recommend GSO and Jon for all schools not only looking to modernise or improve their governance, financial outlooks and planning, school policies, operations, and other foundational pieces, but for a fresh perspective on overall operational health and sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective long-term success markers. He is the rare partner who can work at all levels confidently.
Paul Sanders, Head of School
Oslo International School (OIS)
I wholeheartedly endorse the work of Jon Hansen / Global School Operations. Jon’s high EQ, strong technical skills, and ability to effectively communicate and work well with staff made him an extraordinary asset to our team and school community. He delivered a comprehensive report on the state of OIS’s business operations and then was asked to become the school’s interim COO/CFO during a time of crisis. He demonstrated exceptional skills in operations, finance, admissions, communication, facility management, and hiring, while personally leading the full design and implementation OIS’s new website and admissions experience.
Jon has the rare ability to help professionals evolve and improve processes without producing negativity or defensiveness, a skill that I believe is essential to ensuring that the changes he proposes and implements stick long after his departure. His contributions were invaluable, and our school has improved immensely because of his work.
He is a pleasure to work with, and I don’t know what we would have done without him!
Dr. Bernadette Carmody, School Director
The International School of Amsterdam (ISA)
Former Head of School: American International School of Guangzhou (AISG)
Due to his vast leadership experience in systems and operations, we relied on GSO and Jon's insights in all sorts of areas in the strengthening of our business operations at my prior school. Most importantly, with very short notice, he stepped into the role of Director of Admissions at my prior school the day before we began our enrolment season.
Jon brought to the role a perfect blend of people skills and financial management skills, capturing our highest-ever enrollment, and he secured a very rare 100% full family tuition payment before the commencement of the following school year with a new Director.
We're now working together long term to fully and positively shape and evolve all Governance and Operations structures at The International School of Amsterdam and rebuild a strong schoolwide foundation that's future ready and flexible.
Courtney Lowe, School Director
American School of The Hague (ASH)
GSO and Jon led the digitization of ASH's Admissions Office. During this critical project, which he completed on time and within budget and just before the COVID pandemic, he customized and implemented an entirely new technology platform and effectively trained all key users across ASH. He left no stone unturned and comprehensively assessed the entire operation and strategic direction to arrive at the right solution for the school and community.
He also provided valuable strategic and tactical insight to the ASH Leadership Team and key stakeholders on various other topics and practices. A savvy and creative design thinker, Jon is positive, flexible, adaptable and a great team player who quickly builds positive confidence and breaks down silos to go deep and arrive at an aligned and evolved solution and ongoing practice. I'd welcome the opportunity to work with him and GSO again soon.
Wayne Rutherford, School Director
The American School of Milan (ASM)
Jon (GSO) conducted an Admissions process and Enrolment Management workflow audit for The American School of Milan. He was thorough, thoughtful, and curious in his interview process, and demonstrated superb systems, financial, and practice thinking as well as fluency in our key software applications in his feedback and coaching of our leadership team.
Jon's extensive report provided 60+ actionable suggestions for workflow and customer-experience improvements. He has been conscientious and generous with follow-up support. I enjoyed working with Jon and highly recommend (and have recommended) him to peer schools for operational reviews. His extensive international school experience informs his work and thinking and we continue to regularly check in and collaborate on ASM's future. He's a generous and true partner.
Bill Kralovec, School Director
Tashkent International School (TIS)
TIS engaged Jon and GSO to perform a scan on the quality, completeness, and efficacy of our policies and procedures. What this produced was a new foundational digital suite that he authored for the school, leveraged his own good historical policy intellectual property, and added significant best practices that have strengthened TIS's operations - both educationally and non-educationally.
Almost more importantly, he also surfaced the condition that much of the Board of Trustee function had been interwoven into the operational policies. Jon offered his expertise in crafting a completely new Board-level Governance policy which has positioned the Board to be far more strategically focused (as many Boards are), but operationally aware.
Because of his prior leadership experience as a CFO/COO/Director of Admissions, he was able to design and implement a fully digital experience that integrated with our learning management systems, set up our thinly staffed Admissions/IT Teams (and collective stakeholders) for greater efficiency with each other and families, but allow myself and the leadership team/Board to understand our position as a school and strategic needs through data analytics that we can produce (and customize) at our fingertips. This will be a game-changer for TIS.
He also greatly assisted in vetting new leadership, working to solidify salary scales, and offering his own connections for strategic initiatives we've undertaken. As a long-term partner for me, I will continue to talk with him long after GSO's engagement with TIS to capitalize on our good experience, but also as a great partner in strategic thinking.
I highly recommend GSO and Jon for all of the depth of skills and expertise brought and hope to work together again in the future.
Tom Kirby, Head of Client Experience, Europe, Middle East, and Africa
OpenApply / The Faria Education Group
Implementations at American School of The Hague (ASH), Oslo International School (OIS), and Tashkent International School (TIS). Experience Audit at the American School of Milan (ASM)
Jon has excellent knowledge of international school admissions, IT skills, finance, and project management, so was the ideal person to work with at ASH and all other schools we've collaborated on. Our projects are large and his leadership and positive attitude play a huge part in helping them to be a successful and enjoyable experience for all stakeholders, not the least of which increase their revenue.
I am happy to have supported him again in his role as Acting Chief Financial and Operations Officer at Oslo International School and several other schools and hope that I may continue to have the opportunity to work with Jon and GSO on future IT projects!
Darren Box, Chief Executive Officer
Vertical Payment Solutions/My Campus Card (VPS)
VPS engaged GSO and Jon to lead the update of our core policies and procedures for our international school clients. He exhibited exceptional diligence and an eye for detail and brought a deep understanding of international school operations and policy.
It is very evident that GSO looks holistically at clients and schools and delivers superb results in a highly efficient and easily systemized manner. His extensive domain knowledge and real-world experience helped deliver on our requirements and beyond.
Sanja Ilić, Director of Admissions
International School of Beijing (ISB)
Former Director of Admissions: American International School of Guangzhou (AISG)
GSO and Jon were key to ensuring that I had a seamless transition to this position at the American International School of Guangzhou (AISG). He gave me mature and transparent communication tools that he'd created and already made the new Director and Board fluent with in addition to fully improved operations.
Jon also secured the school's highest-ever enrollment and 100% full payment before I arrived. This while implementing a new Veracross portal and screening/hiring one of my top analysts. It was a great situation to inherit and I highly recommend working with GSO/Jon!