STEPHEN HOLMESPrincipal and Founder

Dr Stephen Holmes (B Ed, MBA, M Ed, PhD) is the Founder and Principal of The 5Rs Partnership established in 2004 based in Singapore, with offices in Malaysia, Australia, and Vietnam.

Dr Holmes is widely regarded to be the world’s most experienced, credentialed consultant/facilitator in reputation management, marketing, and strategic planning for schools and universities.

Stephen has built his name over 3 decades as a world authority in applying these concepts specifically to the education sector. He is the only full-time consultant in the world with a PhD in the specific field of education marketing and reputation. In the late 1990s, Stephen developed the 5Rs framework (recruitment, retention, referral, relationships, reputation) in his seminal PhD study to establish a working framework for schools and universities to become responsive and market oriented.

Stephen consults globally with schools and universities at the highest levels with an unmatched international client base in breadth and depth. Research has always informed his consulting, something that helps to forge trust with his education sector clients globally.

In 2021/22 alone, Dr Holmes was commissioned for major school and university projects in each of: Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, South America, the US, UK, and New Zealand. Stephen was the first member of the Council of International Schools (CIS) Consultant Network (preferred consultant status).

With a professional education background spanning school teaching, senior management, and Board membership, a university academic in both education and business faculties, and a university executive director of marketing, Stephen brings a unique background and perspective for schools and universities.

Stephen’s education sector contributions have extended to course development and delivery of masters of education courses at leading universities in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. He is the author of a specialist book on education marketing.

Click here for recent and upcoming conference speaking engagements and click here for recent articles from Stephen.

DAVID WHEELERAssociate Consultant

David Wheeler, an independent writer and editorial advisor, has specialized in higher education and science for his 40-year career. He has organized events, spoken at conferences, taught journalism workshops, and reported articles from more than 40 countries across Africa, Asia, the South Pacific and the Middle East.

Early in his career earned a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University and later won a Vannevar Bush Fellowship at MIT for journalists interested in writing about science. He went on to The Chronicle of Higher Education, where he served as a senior writer, international editor, managing editor, and managing editor for global. In his capacity as managing editor for global, he did international editorial outreach for the Chronicle. During that time, he visited five of the public universities in Hong Kong.

In 2012, he founded Al-Fanar Media, a bilingual publication that covered education, research, and culture in the Arab world. He led that publication for nine years. As a result of his unique background, David has insights into higher education in both the developed and the developing world.

MAI NGUYENSenior Researcher

Mai Nguyen has extensive experience in both quantitative and qualitative research projects in Vietnam and the United States. Her previous roles include being a senior analyst at Oregon State University (OSU) Student Affairs Research, Evaluation & Planning office, where she worked on first-year student retention issues, a consulting assistant at OSU Department of Statistics, and a policy intern at the Oregon Department of Energy.

At the 5Rs Partnership, Mai has been involved in various projects, including business development, qualitative research such as desk-based research, documents review, focus group moderation, stakeholder interviews, and quantitative research such as online surveys creation and monitoring, data analytics, and visualizations. She is also responsible for building databases in support of market monitoring and competitor analysis.

Mai holds an M.S. in Statistics, an MPP, and a B.A. in Economics from OSU. She is fluent in English and Vietnamese.

Market Analyst Team

JOYCE WONGMarket Researcher

Joyce Wong (BSc (Hons) MMathSc) joined the The 5Rs Partnership in 2013. Graduating at the top of her class, Joyce brings extensive quantitative and analytical skills.

Joyce completed her Masters’ thesis in the field of market research, namely designing a 3N conjoint choice experiment using partially confounded factorial design.

She has been involved in both primary research (e.g. data collection, survey design, focus groups) and secondary research (e.g. desktop reviews, competitor analysis, collateral review) on a wide range of projects for schools and universities across the world.

Joyce coordinates and leads our internal team in the development of our annual higher education fees monitors.

AN NGUYENSenior Research Assistant

An Nguyen is based in Hanoi, Vietnam. She has extensive experience across multiple quantitative and qualitative research projects globally.

An previously worked as a research assistant at Leeds University Business School in the UK. An’s other previous roles include working in the international aviation industry as a digital marketing executive for a major airline in Asia as well as a manager for a major airline alliance.

An holds a MSc. in Consumer Analytics and Marketing Strategy from the University of Leeds.

KATEY-LEIGH HOLMESMarket Development Officer

Katey-Leigh is based in the Middle East, and a graduate of Monash University Business School in Malaysia.

After commencing her career with US boutique consulting company Solidance, Katey-Leigh has been working with 5Rs Partnership since 2017 and supports Dr Holmes in expansion of our strategy and services for schools and universities across the world.

Katey-Leigh is particularly focused in her role on our business development and expansion in both the United States and UK independent school markets. Katey-Leigh is also an experienced qualitative researcher and supports our research team.

SHARON TANGSenior Market Researcher

Sharon Tang joined The 5Rs Partnership in 2004, and has since worked on more than 100 education sector market research projects.

She has 25 years of senior level experience in the field of market research, including extensive consulting and experience in Asia.

Formerly Head of Market Research for Shell Southeast Asia, Sharon has also lived and worked as a market researcher in the UK, Malaysia and Singapore. Among her roles in Asia were a research director/partner in a major market research consultancy in Malaysia.

Sharon’s analysis experience specific to the education sector leads to practical deployments, so important to our clients.

University Specialists