Localisation
​& Expansion

A broad understanding of local requirements, networks, competitive landscapes and specific markets informs my work in designing expansion strategies and helping companies as they navigate localistation possibilities.

​Product &
​Business Development

From designing functional specifications, wireframes and key screens, through to founding startups and managing the development of large projects, teams and growth, I bring my personal experience into the work with your team. 

Beth Havinga (née Martin) was born in Darwin, Australia and moved to Europe at age 17. Since that time, she has lived in Fribourg (Switzerland), Berlin (Germany), San Francisco (USA), and Graz (Austria). 

​Beth is passionate about supporting a lead in the change, development and growth of positive tools and strategies that enable a stronger, more interoperable education experience. She believes in the need for a more networked education environment and is excited to be able to connect industry leaders in technology, global publishers, startups and governments to build robust and innovative solutions. 

With just under 20 years and having worked in over 46 countries in the education industry from teaching through to management, education sales, curriculum writing, teacher training, publishing, Software sales and management, digital publishing, acquisition and integration, education standards and protocols and the development of education software and multiple startups, Beth is able to draw on her broad experience and extensive global network to systematically support the development of useful,  intuitive education designs, products and solutions.

Beth is dedicated to supporting the development of EdTech Startups and developing integrated solutions and concepts together with all levels of the education industry

Languages

• English 
• German
• French 
• Swiss German
  

Strengths

• Business & Product Development
• Digital & Sales Strategy
• Connections to global partners
• Education solution architecture

Computer Skills

• Adobe Illustrator
• HTML
• CSS
• ​Python

Work Experience

2013 - Current 

Founder and Managing Director, Connect EdTech (Worldwide)

Intel Education (EMEA)
Supporting local teams in strategic business development and partnerships strategies, solution architecture, software and platform integration, contract drafting, and partnership management  ​

Cornelsen Education Publisher (DE)
Compiling a comprehensive publishing and product platform analysis with strategic development recommendations, solutions and collaboration networks.

Veritas Education Publisher (AT) 
Working on new interactive digital solutions for the primary and secondary markets including technical, licensing, partnership, adaptive learning, and interactivity advice. Providing new product and platform analyses.

Learnosity (EMEA)
Providing a comprehensive overview of the European publishing market and supporting strategic partnerships in EMEA.

Ableton (DE-Worldwide)
Supporting the development of a music education project for underprivileged students world-wide and the creation of a digital music curriculum for K-12 schools

CJ Fallon (IE-EMEA)
Assisting the internationalisation, licensing and distribution strategies of this publisher into wider EMEA/RCIS

StudySync (UK,DK)
Supporting the strategic international expansion of the ELD product including market specific meetings, education publisher connections and developing product strategy.

Atheneum Partners (DE)
Providing in depth reports and analyses of specific EdTech startups for investors and EdTech investor funds.

Shift Learning (UK,DK)
Developing market analyses and suggestions for specific market segment development of STEM education products.

Maths No Problem (UK)
Developing a detailed market expansion strategy including local partnerships, events organisation and development, conferences, speaking engagements. Providing a social media and marketing strategy. Working on a digital development strategy and competitor analysis.

My Impact Education (DE)
Writing and developing a business plan and go to market strategy. Providing marketing, PR and optimisation support as well as industry advice for their first education project, Being a Human.

Content Canning (USA)
Product and business development strategies for iOS education applications. Developing sales channels, negotiating distribution contracts and partnerships, supporting technical development, business plans, marketing and customisation.

Amplify (USA)
Providing support for publishing and software partnerships as well as detailed analyses of the international education market, international and U.S technology situation.

World Reader (ES/USA)
Supporting expansion efforts with publishing and device maker partnership connections. Providing international industry standards advice for publishing partnerships.
​
We Know This - (U.S/Global) - Co-Founder & acting COO
Designing a STEM programme for educators and students. Responsible for: Business and financial planning, partnerships, branding, presentations, contract negotiations

2012 - 2013 

Founder and Director of txtr Education

Txtr GmbH, Germany
Designing an intuitive and comprehensive eReading solution for schools based on my extensive market research and experience within the education industry. Responsible for:

• Development of the product
• Reseller and Education Ministry relationships and partnerships (USA, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Malaysia, France, UK)
• Marketing, press events, business and conference initiatives
• Business development and partnerships (Dell, Acer, Asus, Deloitte Touche, Huawei, DCA, Mindshare Learning, APD, Kno, Amplify, Mindshapes, Telekom)
• Supervising UX design, functional and technical specifications, product and tech management
• The integration and contract negotiation with all education publishers (HMH, Pearson, Langenscheidt, OUP, McGraw Hill, Britannica, Eye on Education, Routledge, Cengage, Publiwide, BBC Education, McMillan, Capstone, Rourke)
• Securing and organising pilot schools for testphase (2,000 schools for testphase)
• Investment presentations
• Developing the team including entire hiring process
• Organising all conference and sponsorship initiatives
• Consulting with education publishing houses throughout North America and Europe
• txtr-education

2009 - 2012

Education Consultant - European Sales Manager

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (European Sales Manager)

• Manager of Europe and the developing countries for all business units of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 
• Sales Manager focusing on K-12 schools and business development
• Directly responsible for sales and group training into over 3,000 schools within Europe
• Education consultant to international schools throughout the entire region
• Representative at all major education conferences coordinating shipping, representation, stand setup, and presentations
• Developing reseller and Education Ministry relationships and partnerships in entire region
• Organiser and implementer of job-alike and professional development days and conferences
• Consultant for textbook localizations

Follett Corporation - (Western European Sales Manager)
In charge of sales for all business units and business development into Western Europe for Follett Software, Follett Library Resources, Follett Higher Education Group.

• Consulting directly into over 900 schools in the region
• Leading and developing library and literacy conferences and professional development events
• Providing software implementation training and technical support to all schools in the area
• Presenter at all major education conferences within Europe
• Library list development and curriculum management specialist
• Conductor of accreditation visit support (CIS, ECIS, IBO, IPC etc.)

2008 - 2009 

​Education Coordinator

PHORMS AG, Germany

• Managing the education department
• ​Implementing 9 library systems
• Conducting bilingual teacher training and writing the bilingual teaching manual
• Supporting the writing of the first ever unified German bilingual curriculum based on the respective German state and UK national curricula
• Writing and developing the first unified TüV certification for schools in Germany
• Managing, supporting and further developing the Head masters group
• Coordinating and organizing the education summit school conference

2001 - 2006 

Assistant Manager | Sales Manager

• Cue & Co 
  Assistant Sales Manager (full time)
• First National Realestate 
  Personal Assistant to the CEO, Realestate sales assistant (full time)
• B'n'T 
  Sales representative, Assistant Sales Manager (part time)

2001 - 2006 

Teacher (Music | English) 

Orientierungsschule Plaffeien, Switzerland

• Classroom music teacher to 164 Middle and High school students
• Conductor of school choir
• Co-writer, musical trainer and producer of the school musical
• Conductor - Canton of Fribourg Children’s Choir, Fribourg ecumenical adult choir

Kindersprachschule Berlin, Germany

• Teaching students aged 3-12 English through music
• Writing the English curriculum for these age groups

Musically Brilliant

• Developing a syllabus for ages 3-14 to develop musical and language skills
• Teaching over 200 Children

Fun Stuff

Publications
​

2012

Coloured Language
Identity Perception of Children in Bilingual Programmes
Journal of Language Awareness, Taylor and Francis

2009

The Effect of Bilingual Education Programmes on Children's Perception of Identity 
Honours Thesis, University of New England

2009

The Sociolinguistics of Identity
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, Monash University Press

2004

Seascape
University Literary Award, University of Fribourg

Speaking Engagements

Interoperability & Standards for the German Market  
Speaker
KMK-Sitzung zum Cloud & ID Management

Reframing Challenges for Success
Keynote Speaker
European Education Publishers Group Conference

Intel Education Resources
Didacta Germany

Global Education Publisher Perspectives
Education Technology and Leadership Conference, Toronto Canada

Digital Media and Pre-K
MAIS Conference, Barcelona

Making the Most of Digital Media
​SGIS Swiss International Schools Conference

Colourful Language- identity perception of bilingual children
​Association of Language Awareness Annual Conference

Coloured Language- identity perception in children
​Tabu Dag Applied Linguistics Conference, University of Groningen

Motherese in Second Language Acquisition
​Education in Practice, University of Luxembourg

Foundations & Volunteer work

2016 - Current

Start Edtech
Germany
Project Manager
Developing and managing the Startup arm of the German Alliance for Education (Bündnis für Bildung), coordinating events, discussions and interoperability between members.

2013-2016

Tswana Voices
South Africa | Germany
Chief Executive
Founding and developing a non for profit organisation run with the intention of fostering cross cultural exchange between students in Europe and the students of the Kalahari Desert through song, spoken word, dance and project-based entrepreneurial activities.

2009-2014

Kalahari Education Experience Project
Kalahari Desert 
Teacher
working to assist schools in the Kalahari desert with literacy and learning initiatives. I travel with the Frankfurt International School teams to the Kalahari where I lead a team of 10 students at one of the valley schools in teaching Maths and English to the Kalahari students.​.

Education

2007-2009

University of New England - BA | S (Hons), Australia 

First Class Honours in Linguistics
Minor: Education Sciences and German
Top 5% of students across all disciplines

2002-2004

University of Fribourg - BA, Switzerland

Major: Education and Developmental Psychology
Minor: Linguistics and Music
Winner of first year Academic Prize for highest marks

2000-2001

Collège Sainte-Croix - Switzerland

Rotary Exchange Scholarship

1996 - 2000

Fairholme College - Australia

Highschool Certification - > 96.4% all graduates

"Beth Havinga bringt Menschen, Unternehmen und Systeme mühelos zusammen. Sie vernetzt Menschen und Informationen, erklärt Zusammenhänge und zeigt Möglichkeiten auf, berät in der Projektführung und Vorgehensweisen und setzt Aufgaben in hervorragender Qualität um. Dabei arbeitet sie international, fließend mehrsprachig, stets zeitgerecht, fokussiert, selbstständig und für alle Seiten gewinnbringend. Ihre hohe analytische Fähigkeit, ihr tiefes technisches Verständnis und ihre überzeugend gewinnbringende Persönlichkeit, gepaart mit der spürbaren Liebe zum Thema Bildung, machen es zu einem Vergnügen mit ihr zusammenzuarbeiten .” 
​
- Elke Oberhuber, Veritas Verlag