A Distinguishing Feature
of Leadership
A significant achievement as a mark of stellar leadership is recognition from a major organisation. On December 12, 2025, the Forbes Principal Awards Ceremony were held and eight Heads of School from 30 NESSIC participants were selected for the Forbes School Principal Award.
Congratulations to our NESSIC Leaders for this significant result! They are:
Jeroen Gakes & 郑雷 Zheng Lei
Co-Principals
Fettes College Guangzhou
Simon Kennedy
Hiba Academy Nantong
Neil Mobsby
Shenzhen College of International Education
Kathryn Richardson
Hiba Academy Hangzhou
Dr Daniel Williams
Daystar Academy Beijing
周淑群 Zhou Shuqun (Stella)
Hiba Academy Shanghai
黄莹 Sunny Huang
Shanghai United International School
Qingpu Campus
This year’s awards identified 30 outstanding principals from over 100 candidates.
The evaluation focused on four key pillars of quality leadership:
Educational competence
Foresight and implementation of educational philosophies, professional background and ongoing development
Management capability
Internationalised and innovative curricula, faculty structure optimisation and international collaboration
School achievements
Academic outcomes and holistic development of pupils, university destinations and enrolment quality
Industry influence
Thought leadership, participation in sector events and contributions to academic work
The four pillars of quality leadership shown above are illustrations of their vision in providing enrichment for students and schools in ways that go beyond the school curriculum. As an example, Neil Mobsby, Daniel Williams and Stella Zhou are among the eight visionary Founders of NESSIC. The vision for NESSIC was to create a high quality not-for-profit professional organisation for Private Bilingual Schools in China to provide networking, enrichment and extension for students, and professional and leadership development to fill a vital need of staff. In just one year NESSIC membership has grown to over 30 participating schools.