IDP takes calculated gamble on new CEO

Peter Polson reckons his new chief executive has just the right mix of e-commerce, tech-savviness and experience in the education sector to negotiate the shifting winds of geopolitical threats and a fundamental shift in how international students are recruited to universities.

Mr Polson, the chairman of IDP Education, says Tennealle O’Shannessy, who will make the move from online cosmetics retailer Adore Beauty to head of IDP, will inherit a highly functional company that is poised to shift its business model from face-to-face recruitment via the company’s 500 agents in 31 countries to an online platform that “is around 70 per cent complete”.