Karen Kester was appointed Business Performance Director in March 2025. She leads teams responsible for overall business performance, governance, quality and risk management, business continuity, EDIB, and large-scale transformation programmes and projects. Her role also includes overseeing centre-facing compliance functions such as access arrangements, safeguarding, inspections, special considerations, exam security, malpractice and centre monitoring.
Before her appointment, Karen worked at Cambridge as Director of Services for the Partnership for Education. She supported ministries of education, non-governmental organisations and donor agencies with large-scale system transformations and targeted interventions
Karen’s experience includes leading multi-million-pound outsourcing contracts, implementing new systems, establishing project management functions in international contexts, and designing and embedding new processes to facilitate changes in workplace culture.