Pearson VUE leadership

Gary Gates serves as Managing Director, Pearson VUE, where he leads the Pearson VUE Senior Executive team. Gary has been part of Pearson VUE for more than 10 years, with responsibility for leading international growth by acquiring new business, establishing key partnerships, and collaborating across other Pearson businesses. He has a long track record of proven leadership, and in-depth knowledge of Pearson VUE’s culture and service offerings. From 2019 to 2021, his responsibilities in Pearson were extended to include leadership of the Pearson UK Higher Education business.

Prior to joining Pearson, Gary was a company director of ITIS Holdings plc, a digital content company, and held management positions with British Nuclear Fuels Plc and British Energy. Gary received his PhD in Computational Physics from the University of Liverpool and graduated with honors from the University of York with a BSc in Theoretical Physics.

As senior vice president of product development and technology, Farzana is responsible for developing innovative products, services, and business solutions. Farzana guides Pearson VUE’s enterprise systems & security, product development & engineering, business analysis, product quality, and project management teams. With her talented teams and more than 18 years of experience in the industry, Farzana brings vital technology trends and market leadership to Pearson VUE clients across the globe.

Farzana serves as an adviser and mentor to technology start- ups across the twin cities area. She is also an active member of the local community helping women technologists form mentoring and sponsorship opportunities.

Farzana holds a BS in computer science and an executive MBA from the University of St. Thomas – Opus College of Business with a focus on global business growth.

Gene Carlson leads the global Human Resources team to develop and drive people strategies that support the business needs through close alignment of business and HR initiatives. As a member of Pearson VUE’s Senior Executive Team, he works to align people initiatives with the company’s high-growth strategic objectives. Gene’s responsibilities include human capital strategy and execution, talent acquisition, performance management, employee/leader development, organisational design and organisational effectiveness. His areas of expertise include organisational transformation, developing high performing teams, and developing innovative people solutions that drive business results.

With over 20 years of HR experience, Gene has held Human Resources leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Best Buy (a Fortune 100 company) and Deluxe Corporation, leading transformation efforts to help drive the growth of the organisations. Gene holds a BA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Minnesota.

Wyatt Gordon is Senior Vice President and Head of Evaluation Systems, which provides support and solutions for educators, states, and education preparation programmes across the United States. Wyatt has more than a decade of experience in education and testing, during which he’s been responsible for leading functional areas such as customer success, product quality, risk management, and vendor management as well as overall business leadership of several teacher certification and learning products. His primary goal is improving outcomes for learners and educators while executing the strategic vision of Evaluation Systems.

Wyatt is from a family of educators that have focused on equity and academic excellence across educational contexts. He holds a doctorate in education from Rutgers University and three master’s degrees (Education Policy from Columbia University; Public Policy from the University of Texas at Austin; and Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin). Wyatt also holds a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Bridget Herd is the leader of programmers management, she makes certain that the service expectations of all clients are met or exceeded by her team of expert program managers. She is a results-oriented professional with more than 18 years of success in all aspects of programme management, including marketing, development, launch, and programme transition. Bridget has an added focus of bringing ongoing process improvement and quality assurance to the company’s growing business.

Bridget is also responsible for leadership of Pearson’s “Partnership in Innovation” programme, which involves evaluating, integrating, and managing vendors and their technologies to supplement Pearson VUE’s system capabilities. Her in-depth understanding of clients’ testing challenges—resulting from direct oversight of their programmes—allows her to leverage technology partners who can both meet Pearson VUE’s client needs and integrate well with our internal processes.

Corey Hoesley is responsible for all the operations that support Pearson VUE’s business functionality. In addition to his position on the company’s senior executive team, he provides daily and strategic leadership for Pearson VUE global operations, including the company-owned and –operated testing channel, security, customer service, technical support desk, network operations, information systems, quality control, data integrity, and fulfillment. Corey has proven himself to be an effective leader of multiple operational departments in his tenure. His nearly 20 years of operational management experience and testing and assessment business experience offer a unique combination to our clients.

Corey holds a BS in Mass Communications with a minor in Economics from St. Cloud University.

Nancy brings more than 25 years of marketing, communications, and advertising experience to her leadership role overseeing global marketing across all of Assessments. With a particular focus on creating excellent candidate experiences and deepening client relationships, she is committed to elevating the Pearson Assessments brand on all fronts.

Nancy brings a commitment to excellence and a clear strategic vision to her work leading the marketing teams that drive the Assessments division forward. Her broad expertise in strategic planning, global branding, and go-to-market execution contributes to strengthening the competitive edge of Pearson Assessments.

Cordell serves as strategic business adviser to the executive team. He oversees legal, regulatory, and compliance matters globally across the organisation. As General Counsel for NCS Pearson, Cordell has legal responsibility for Pearson VUE, Pearson School Assessments, and Pearson Clinical Assessment. He focuses on proactive analysis and queries to assist the executive team in enhancing business growth strategies while reducing risks. Cordell manages an international legal team that has designed several global strategies including data privacy, litigation/protests, and critical incident response management among others. He also leads the effort in pursuit of criminal and civil recourse to enhance the security around test centre delivery and online proctoring. 

Cordell has over 20 years of legal experience and 12 years of data privacy experience. He holds an AMP in business and finance from University of Chicago Booth School of Business; a JD from Catholic University of America; and an economics and finance degree from St. Cloud State University. He also sits on a nonprofit board that sponsors programs that promote education, finance, and physical/mental health for underrepresented communities in the Twin Cities. 

Doug Kennedy directs strategic planning, implementation, management, and control of all Pearson VUE financial activities. In addition to leading global teams of finance and accounting professionals, he manages merger and acquisition efforts, the test centre real estate portfolio, and the legal department. He also serves on the company’s senior leadership team and supports the GED Testing Services^® and Pearson Credential Management business units. He has more than 25 years of financial leadership experience.

Before joining Pearson VUE, Doug served as division controller at supercomputer manufacturer Cray Research, held roles of increasing responsibility in financial planning, marketing, and sales analysis at Northwest Airlines, and was involved in financial planning for Fingerhut Companies. Doug holds a degree in Accounting from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and an MBA in Finance from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Business.

Ray leads Pearson VUE’s Global Business Development organisation. In his nearly 28 years with Pearson VUE, Ray has held many roles at different global offices. Ray was instrumental in building our first channel network of testing centres across Asia-Pacific and, under his leadership, we signed our first clients in the region. Ray went on to establish and manage Pearson VUE’s first offices in Delhi, Tokyo, and Beijing.

When he moved to the US, Ray led business development for our IT business and secured the business of Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Apple, Cisco, HP, IBM, and Facebook. He also handles the General Management of Pearson VUE’s Certiport business, Growth Services team, and oversight of the global PVTC network.  

Paula serves as the Head of Business for the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson, which specialises in providing services for educators across the stages of their careers.

Prior to joining Pearson, Paula served as Vice President and Member of the Board of Directors of National Evaluation Systems, Inc. where she oversaw the organisational development of the business and was responsible for design and delivery of assessments, standards, and quality. Paula earned her bachelor's degree with distinction in Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College and holds an Ed.D in Educational Research and Measurement from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

As Senior Vice President of Pearson Assessments, Dr. Jon S. Twing is responsible for all education assessment development at Pearson. Jon has more than 35 years of experience in experimental psychology, psychometrics, research, and assessment development. He is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, where he guides staff, students, and policy regarding the scientific measurement of cognitive functions.

He serves or has served as a member on numerous boards, committees, and service organisations, including The College Board Psychometric Panel, American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, the Association of Test Publishers, and many others.