Who we are

Cambridge Assessment English

The expertise, training and experience of our staff put quality and excellence at the heart of our organisation. Their dedication and commitment have earned us the global reputation of ‘experts in language assessment’. 

We have over 650 staff worldwide – 505 based in the UK and around 145 in our network of 27 offices around the world. Our extended network includes more than 30,000 examiners, 2,800 examination centres, and over 52,000 registered preparation centres. 

We have the largest dedicated research team of any English language assessment provider, including some of the world’s leading experts in the field of language assessment, dedicated to the development and quality control of our examinations.

Christine Nuttall
Interim Chief Executive

Christine joined the organisation in 1997 and has had a number of roles, including Director of Assessment, Director of Marketing and Stakeholder Relations and, most recently, was responsible for the Partnerships, Projects and Policy department at Cambridge Assessment English.

Christine has more than 30 years of experience in the English language teaching profession, including setting up and running her own successful language school, teacher training in China and the USA, and working for the British Council for seven years in Spain and London.

Christine holds a BA in English and American Literature and a Postgraduate Diploma and an MA in TESOL. As of April 2018, Christine is acting Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment English.

Business and Marketing

The Business and Marketing department is responsible for driving growth while supporting our customers’ needs.

Sean Hayde
Director Business and Marketing

Sean is responsible for the Business and Marketing department. He joined the organisation as Development Manager for East Asia in 2001, and was Assistant Director, Business Development from 2005–2008. In an extensive career in ELT, Sean has taught English as a foreign language in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. He also worked for the British Council in Saudi Arabia and the UK. He holds a degree in History and English from University College, Cork, and a postgraduate qualification in Business Administration from Henley Management School.

Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing

Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing offers a range of tests and tailored assessment services to support selection and recruitment for higher education and employment with a range of customers, including university consortia, medical councils, education ministries and professional organisations around the world.

Digital and New Product Development

The Digital and New Product Development department leads the development of innovative new digital assessment and learning products.

Global Network

As well as our headquarters in Cambridge we have representatives in offices around the world. Our network of hubs manage our work in key regions to create a truly global operation.

Francesca Woodward
Director Global Network

Fran leads our network of offices around the world to support Cambridge English globally. Before joining Cambridge English, Fran had a sixteen-year career at Pearson, where she worked in a variety of sales leadership roles across the company's products and regions. Most recently she was Head of Pearson Qualifications and International Schools for Europe, Africa and Asia. In that role she led a large team across multiple offices with a broad portfolio including qualifications, schools' resources and English assessment. She has worked closely with schools, higher education institutions, corporate training providers, professional bodies and ministries of education.

Network Services, Operations, Validation and Assessment

Customer Services, Operations, Validation and Assessment is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of our examinations.

Mark Johnston
Chief Operating Officer

Mark oversees four departments; Assessment, Customer Services, Operations and Validation, with primary responsibility for the development, creation, delivery and support of the products and services of Cambridge Assessment English. This group of departments continually collaborates across Cambridge English to develop and enhance our products.

Before joining Cambridge English Mark spent five years as COO of a European Commission funded organisation responsible for delivering services to Education and Research institutions and facilities across Europe and conducting research on behalf of the EC. Before that Mark spent 20 years working in operational roles in the commercial telecommunications sector. Mark has an MBA from the University of Edinburgh.

Guy Nicholson
Director Operations

Guy is responsible for Operations, which primarily focuses on ensuring that all Cambridge English candidates get high-quality exam materials – both paper based and computer based – delivered at precisely the right time and that they receive accurate and timely results. Guy joined Cambridge English in 2004, having previously worked as an English language teacher (and later Director of Studies) in both Italy and the UK for a number of years. He holds a first degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Birmingham and an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT from King's College London.

Andy Page
Director Customer Services

Andy is responsible for the Customer Services team which provides helpdesk, technical support, Exam Centre development, compliance, inspections and internal business support services.

Andy has 8 years’ experience of teaching modern languages and 16 years of commercial experience in the technology sector. He has worked at every level in technical support contact centres (from frontline agent to operations manager). For 12 years before joining Cambridge English Andy held engineering, operational and managerial roles at Intel Corporation. Andy has always maintained, however, a passion for language learning and an interest in education.

Juliet Wilson
Director Assessment

Juliet is responsible for the Assessment department, which manages the production of all examination materials, develops new exams and modifies existing ones. Her department is responsible for the management of all testing products and assessment services, including the overall management of the examination item production system, computer-based testing and English for specific purposes exams. Before joining us in 1998, Juliet taught ESOL to adults and children in the UK, Colombia, Hong Kong and Portugal. Juliet holds a BA in French and German, a Master’s degree in TESOL from the Institute of Education, University of London, and a Certificate in Management from the Judge Institute, University of Cambridge.

Partnerships, Projects and Policy

Partnerships, Projects and Policy leads our external relationships, including IELTS, CaMLA and our work with Cambridge University Press.

Research and Thought Leadership

The Research and Thought Leadership department conducts in-depth research in the fields of learning, teaching and assessment of English.

Dr Nick Saville
Director Research and Thought Leadership

Nick Saville is responsible for directing the work of the Research and Thought Leadership Group. He holds a PhD from the University of Bedfordshire in language test impact, as well as degrees in Linguistics and in TEFL from the University of Reading. He has specialised in language assessment since 1987. Before joining Cambridge in 1989, he taught at the University of Cagliari, Italy, and managed test development projects in Tokyo.

Nick presents regularly at international conferences and has published widely on issues related to language assessment. He was a founding associate editor of the journal Language Assessment Quarterly (2004 onwards) and is the joint editor of the English Profile Studies series.