Sir John Key and Sundeep Jain will help lead edtech company into its next phase of growth.
Crimson co-founder Dr Jamie Beaton and Sir John Key.
Former Prime Minister Sir John Key is stepping up his involvement with edtech company Crimson Education Group, in a new role as chair.
Senior tech executive Sundeep Jain is also joining the board, leading its technology and product committee.
Sir John has been an advisory member of the board since 2019. He previously chaired ANZ Bank New Zealand and was on the ANZ Banking Group Australia board, and was also a director of Air New Zealand. He is a current director of Silicon Valley cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks and Fortera USA, and the chair of Dunedin business Oritain Global Limited.
Jain is the current president of AI hiring startup Mercor. His previous roles include chief product officer and senior vice president of engineering at Uber, and vice president of products at Google.
Over the past year, Crimson Education Group has bought the Takapuna AGE school campus and the online school Mount Hobson Academy; established New Zealand's first comprehensive hybrid educational model; and founded a charter school, Aotearoa Infinite Academy.
In late 2024, the group completed a successful NZ$67.6 million Series D funding round that included venture capital fund Movac, Heal Partners, Icehouse Ventures, US News, Five Sigma, and HighSage Ventures. The round was said to have valued the company at $1 billion.
Crimson co-founder and chief executive Dr Jamie Beaton said Sir John’s role was to help lead Crimson into its next phase of growth.
“Sir John’s deep experience in finance, acquisitions, listings, capital raisings, and other key transactions will be a tremendous asset to the board, and he will help with our intention to support more countries with their education policies.”
Jain’s guidance would also be “instrumental” to the board, and his expertise would complement Crimson’s AI- and platform-driven strategy, he said.
“Sundeep is in the thick of it right now as the president of a $10 billion tech company that is in hyper growth. He holds a public company board seat at DoubleVerify (NYSE), and he founded a company and sold it, so he understands entrepreneurial challenges from both sides.”
This is supplied content and not commissioned or paid for by NBR.
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