Meet the Team
Board
Peter Horrocks
Chair
Peter Horrocks joined Learna as a non-Exec Director and Chair in July 2021 after spending four years at the Open University as Vice Chancellor. Prior to that, Peter held numerous roles at BBC, including Head of Television News and Head of the BBC Newsroom. Most recently, he headed up the BBC World Service, where he was responsible for the overall leadership and management from 2009 to 2014 with a particular focus on digital transformation. During his time in post, he oversaw significant cuts and budget changes, leading negotiations with the UK Government over future funding for the World Service and driving an increase in revenues throughout his time at the helm. Peter has been brought on board as Non-Exec Director at Learna to support the ongoing growth of the business, utilising his expertise in distance learning, higher education, and digital transformation to support Learna’s business strategy and expansion plans.
Prof Steve Davies
Founding Director
Prof Davies is a Consultant Endocrinologist at the University Hospital Wales. He has an established reputation in medical education particularly in online learning, having been the founder of OnExamination.com and setting up a number of diploma courses. He has also been involved in establishing training courses for weight management in community pharmacy. His clinical interests include hypogonadism, growth hormone deficiency and obesity. He has published over 100 peer reviewed publications and his research interests include the application of novel technologies in delivering medical education.
Courtenay Probert
Chief Executive Officer
Courtenay is a company founder, technologist, business analyst, systems architect and project manager with extensive hands-on expertise. After graduating with a first-class honours degree in Business Information Management, Courtenay established a web-application development company, MAWR Ltd, specializing in risk assessment management software. After disposing of his concern in MAWR Ltd, he was appointed as C.T.O. at 'OnExamination'. As the key decision maker for the planning, design and development of OnExamination's technical infrastructure, Courtenay was instrumental in revitalising their failing computer infrastructure. These factors allowed OnExamination to evolve from a small speculative business to a larger one that was then integrated within the BMJ Group when it was acquired in 2007. Quickly promoted within the BMJ Group to the role of CIO/Deputy Managing Director, Courtenay was directly responsible for delivering 60% growth in sales while maintaining a 40% margin. Today Courtenay is the C.O.O. of Diploma MSc. He is responsible for the organisational operations/staffing, sales and marketing, technical infrastructure, and business strategy.
Rachel Ellis
Chief Commercial Officer
Rachel has over 20 years’ experience managing marketing and commercial departments across a variety of industry sectors including business, web development, marketing, publishing, e-learning, and medicine. Rachel is energetic, entrepreneurial, and instinctively commercially focused. As the Chief Commercial Officer of Learna, she has successfully created and worked with an international network of educational institutes and providers to design and develop a number postgraduate level programmes, courses, CPD, and exam preparation material. Currently, Rachel’s focus is to grow a range of postgraduate programmes and resources across a variety of professions. She's always on the lookout for commercial partners, new project ideas, and content authors/editors.
Academic Board
Anish Kotecha MRCGP, FAcadMEd, MBBCh, BSc
Director of Education
Anish Kotecha works as a GP in South Wales. He has an expanding role in medical education and has been elected to fellowship of the Academy of Medical Educators. He has written many clinical and non-clinical articles for Pulse, GPOnline, MIMS Learning, Health Education and Improvement Wales and has chaired and spoken at several medical events. Some of his other roles include work as a GP appraiser, RCGP PCI Accreditation Clinical Lead, RCGP SE Wales Education Lead, RCGP PCD GP Adviser, InnovAiT AKT editor, RCGP Clinical Events Quality Assessor, Cardiff University Communication Skills Tutor and Examiner for medical students and GPnotebook TV presenter. As the Director of Education at Learna, Anish is responsible for the strategic planning and development of new postgraduate programmes. He contributes to managing relationships with our partnering universities and his role includes supporting the editorial team and those managing projects for both Diploma MSc and StudyPRN. He is also the MRCGP AKT editor for the StudyPRN site taking responsibility for the overall quality of the revision resource.
Programme Management
Helen Davies
Editor-in-Chief
Helen brings a wealth of experience and leadership in the development and online delivery of medical education and innovation around specific content generation, together with instructional design to constantly improve quality and drive student engagement. Previously Head of Online Learning and Assessment at BMJ, working for over 17 years in online medical education, Helen's strategic mindset and user-centric approach to innovation in new product development is supported by a servant leadership approach and experienced relationship management. Helen has an MBA in Healthcare Management and achieved Chartered Manager status in 2018.
Josh Curtis
Senior Editor
Josh joined the Learna team in June 2018 and soon became part of the family with his quick wit and kind nature. Having rapidly proven himself a crucial part of the team, Josh made the leap from Business Development to our Editorial Team. As Senior Editor, Josh reviews and commissions our course material.
Dr Chellaram Hathiramani
Senior Lecturer
Dr Chellaram Hathiramani originally trained in General Practice, and later worked as a clinical fellow in diabetes at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Wales. She holds an MBA and has significant interests in teaching and learning, with particular emphasis on medical education, diabetes and obesity management. She is originally from Gibraltar and is keen to foster links with the MBA programme that is hosted at its university.
Imogen Tasker
Scientific Prompt Engineer
Imogen joined Learna in 2023 with a passion to make a direct impact on patient outcomes through medical education. Imogen's medical writing and research background enables her to create scientifically sound content for the postgraduate courses while her creative interests suit the instructional design element of the role.
Osian Barr-Franco
LMS Manager
Osian has been working at Learna since October 2018. Initially working within our Student Support Team, Osian recently made the move to our tech team. He prepares and quality checks our online learning platform, and provides technical assistance to the organisation. He has found a role that challenges him and has allowed him to develop both professionally and personally.
Marketing
Toby Gisborne
Senior Digital Marketing Executive
Toby joined the Learna team in October 2023 and comes with a rich background of over 6 years in digital marketing, specifically within the education sector. His skills cover graphic design, brand awareness, and analytics. This unique combination ensures that Learna under his guidance not only has a visually appealing presence but also connects meaningfully with our intended audience.
Jessica Morley
Digital Marketing Executive
Jessica completed a journalism degree at USW in 2019. She found her love of marketing by diving into lots of work experience. While studying, Jess was actively creating social media campaigns, PR and video editing content. With a great passion for marketing, being environmentally conscious and having a deep interest in the education sector, Jess is pleased to be able to bring these worlds together at Learna.
Liam Oates
Digital Marketing Executive
Liam joined the Marketing team in July 2023. Liam has a degree in English Literature from Swansea University and has a background in Copywriting, working in audio and digital copywriting before moving into marketing. Liam worked in content creation and digital analytics for a major insurance company, before making the move to Learna.
Sales and Admissions
Catherine Scourfield
Head of Customer Care & Communication
Catherine Scourfield joined Learna in September 2021 after spending 15 years at We Fight Any Claim as Chief Operations Officer. Catherine has 20 years of experience in the sales industry where customers were always her central focus. During her time in post, Catherine would constantly look at ways to improve the customers’ journey and was heavily involved in the rollout of all new campaigns, assisting with the training and ensuring employees move in the same strategic direction to achieve its mission, whilst driving revenue, lower operating costs and maintaining a quality service. Catherine thrives in a busy work environment and enjoys meeting new people.
Hannah Howe
Admissions Officer
Having explored the world of art and design in Sweden, Hannah’s creative spirit laid the foundation for her future endeavours. After starting a family, she embarked on an incredible academic journey, earning an undergraduate degree in Law from the esteemed University of South Wales.
Sarah Callus
Admissions Officer
Sarah joined Learna in June 2022 as a temporary Office Manager, covering maternity leave. Sarah helped out a busy Admissions department in August and has now joined the team on a full time basis. In her spare time, Sarah is a yoga teacher and enjoys walking and spending time with family and friends
Melissa Harding
Admissions Officer
Melissa is a valued member of our Admissions team, having joined us with a wealth of experience in professional administration. With over 30 years of expertise in her field, Melissa has a deep understanding of the processes involved in admissions. In her role as an Admissions Officer, Melissa is committed to helping students achieve their goals and is always willing to go above and beyond to ensure that their needs are met.
Sarah Mahoney
Sales and Retention Executive
Sarah is originally from Ireland and moved to Wales in 2022. Sarah studied Psychology in University and has worked in a few different areas such as student wellbeing, applied behavioural analysis (early intervention with children diagnosed with Autism), and even started to dabble in sales. Sarah loves supporting people and ensuring they have all the tools they require to enjoy a happy fun life.
Vida Hashemi
Engagement Officer
Vida earned her Bachelor's Degree in Business Management Marketing from Cardiff University. A year ago, she joined our team as a Telephony Sales Executive. In this role, she reached out to prospective students interested in our online courses and provides guidance to accepted students, assisting them in navigating the necessary steps. Her love for engaging with people and her commitment to personal development have been valuable assets in her current and previous positions.
Operations
Sarah Younger
Academic Registrar
Sarah joined Learna in June 2018. Before joining us she worked in administration in the Paediatrics Department for Powys, based at Brecon War Memorial Hospital, where she developed a high regard for the many HCPs involved in comprehensive care. As our Operations Manager, Sarah ensures the smooth running of departments and enjoys looking after her teams.
Student and Academic Support Services
Robyn-Tahnee Moss
Head of Student and Academic Support Services
Robyn joined Learna in early 2019 as a Student Support Administrator. After thriving in her role, Robyn was recently made the team's manager. She is responsible for managing her team and ensuring that each student is supported throughout their learning journey.
Teaching Services
Edward Sims
Teaching Services Coordinator
Edward joined the Teaching and Learning team in 2020 having taken a career break to live in France. He loves to use his extensive prior teaching experience to support our busy tutors in delivering outstanding results. Outside of work, he enjoys anything to do with the Visual Arts and has an unhealthy obsession with studying the labels of wine bottles.
Hannah Hutton
Teaching Services Officer
Hannah joined Learna in 2021 as a Teaching and Learning Officer. Hannah is currently studying towards an MA in Education at Swansea University after recently graduating with a BA in Business Management. Hannah has a keen interest in the education sector and loves supporting tutors to offer exceptional learning within her role.
Student Services
Courtney Pritchard
Student Services Coordinator
Courtney joined the Student Services team in February 2023. She graduated from the Academy of Contemporary Music in 2015 and has had the privilege of touring both the United Kingdom and Germany with a Jazz band and various musicals. In 2017, Courtney went back into Education and gained her PGCE, subsequently becoming a Primary School Teacher in her hometown of Bedfordshire.
Lucy-Ellen Batters
Student Services Officer
Lucy joined Learna as a Student Services Officer in September 2023. With a robust background in customer service and a certificate of higher education in Computer Science, Lucy brings a wealth of experience to her role. Driven by a keen interest in aiding others, her primary objective is to ensure the comfort and happiness of everyone during their studies with us, or our esteemed alumni.
Quality and Compliance
Siobhan Jones
Head of Quality and Compliance
Siobhan joined Learna origionally as an academic quality officer after working in the FE/HE sector for over 9 years. She has since progressed to become Head of Quality and Compliance, responsible for monitoring the quality standards of programmes at Learna, working with external examiners and organising award boards with partner universities.
Anna Evans
Quality Assurance Assistant
Anna joined Learna in January 2021 and thrives in her role. Outside of work she enjoys keeping active and going to the gym - although at the moment her little girl is the one keeping her fit! Anna also thoroughly enjoys musicals.
Libby Allerton
Quality Assurance Assistant
Libby is a 2nd year student at University of South Wales currently studying Popular and Commercial Music. She plays drums and hopes to be a rockstar one day. Her other loves include cats, gaming and music.
Student Registry
Catherine Wildblood
Student Registry Manager
Catherine has worked for Learna since 2014 and has recently moved from her role as Student Support Manager to Quality Assurance Manager. Catherine responsibilities include orchestrating student results and Award Boards at the University of South Wales, Student Remediation and Continuous Monitoring/ Annual Reporting for our collaborative partners.
Programmes Review
Catherine Southgate
Programmes Review Manager
Catherine began working at Learna in January 2015 and heads up the Editorial Team - working with authors to provide course and resource content for both the Learna and StudyPRN platforms. Catherine really relishes the challenge of helping to bring our courses to life and feels it's a fulfilling role to be part of a company that aims to improve the knowledge of healthcare professionals worldwide. Like most of the team, her highlight to date has been winning 'Best Online Distance Learning Programme' at the e-learning awards.
StudyPRN
Katie Lowe
Commercial Manager (Non-HE)
Katie first joined the Learna team in 2013 and for 5 years worked within the Diploma MSc team. After a 2 year career change, where she worked for a large commercial media owner, she returned. With her experience in business development, sales and project management, Katie’s focus is to develop and grow Learna's non-higher education function of the business, including StudyPRN.
Helen Brown
StudyPRN Platform Manager
Helen has 12+ years of experience working within the e-learning industry and had first joined the Learna team in 2017, working in the editorial department. Helen returned to the Learna team in July 2020 as a commissioning editor, and has since been promoted to the position of StudyPRN platform manager. Helen is responsible for the general day-to-day running and maintenance of the content on the StudyPRN website as well as the commissioning of new material for its various products.
Shannon Meyler
Senior Digital Marketing Executive
Shannon discovered her passion for marketing while studying Philosophy and Religious Studies at Cardiff University. Around lectures, Shannon dedicated her free time to refining her skills in various areas, including email marketing, social media marketing, branding and content creation. Joining Learna in 2020 as Marketing Assistant. Shannon progressed to the role of Junior Marketing Executive before becoming Marketing Engagement Executive. More recently, Shannon joined the Learna | StudyPRN team as Senior Digital Marketing Executive and is responsible for all aspects of our content marketing.
Finance
Rhys Draby
Head of Finance
Rhys joined Learna as Head of Finance in February 2021. After graduating from Cardiff University in 2009 he trained as an accountant with a large practice in the city, before going on to work for a national company as a group project accountant where he gained significant experience working alongside senior management. At Learna, Rhys is responsible for overseeing the finance team and working alongside the board to ensure that they have the range of financial information they require to assist with strategy decisions.
Emra Durgun
Assistant Management Accountant
Emra has recently joined Learna as a Finance Officer, and now supports our students with any financial queries they may have. Initially studying marketing at university, she has been working within finance for over 13 years, and is currently studying to become a qualified accountant.
Gayatri Desai
Finance Officer
Gayatri has worked in Finance for over 15 years. She lived in Manchester for nearly 10 years before moving back to Cardiff in May 2019. Her previous role was working with International Baccalaureate, an education provider for children aged 3 to 19 years.
Technology
David Rankin
Technology Manager
David joined Learna in December 2022, returning to the education sector with over 20 years of experience in the industry. His wide experience in the Health, Education, and Finance sectors as well as working with several start-ups to leverage technology to enhance and extend Learna's technological capabilities.
Josh Ellis
Head of IT
Josh joined Learna in November 2017 as a university work experience placement. He quickly earned himself the role of IT Technician before moving into the role of Junior Software Developer where he started the development of new bespoke systems for the company. He is now our Head of IT and core member of our IT department.
Alun Davies
Senior Developer
Alun is an experienced back-end developer, having graduated from Imperial College London in 2003 with a Masters degree in Computing. He has worked in a variety of industries including publishing, retail and online gaming. He joined the Learna team in early 2021.