Following a long and thorough global search, and on behalf of the Board of Directors of Taipei European School (TES), Taiwan, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Mr John Nixon MBE to be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the school, starting in August 2022.
One notable feature of the appointment is that John will be taking up the same role of CEO in which he previously served TES with distinction between 2000 and 2009. The Chairman of the Board, Dr Chen, wrote as follows in his announcement to the school community:
John’s name will sound familiar to many at TES but perhaps not to the newer members of our community. He was our first CEO, serving from 2000 to 2009. Before he left Taiwan, then President Ma Ying Jeou awarded him the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Purple Cordon, for promoting Taiwanese and European cultures and integrating the British, German and French schools in Taiwan. We were lucky to have John once, and we’re incredibly lucky to have him for a second time.
After leaving Taipei in 2009, John served for two years as Principal of Sha Tin College, Hong Kong, and then for 10 years as Director of The British School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Earlier in his career he taught in the UK for 10 years before moving to Doha College, Qatar, serving first as Head of Geography and subsequently for nine years as Vice Principal.
John is a British citizen, who in 1978 earned his BSc degree in General Science, with Distinction, from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and in 1997 his MA degree in Education Studies (Leadership and Management) from Loughborough University, with Distinction for the dissertation. Besides the award he received in 2009 from the President of Taiwan, he was in the same year made an Honorary Citizen of Taipei by the Mayor of the city. John was also awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year honours list of 2007 “for services to education in Taiwan”, and in 2008 was similarly recognised by President Sarkozy of France in receiving the award of Chevalier in the National Order of Merit.
John and his wife Luiza are delighted to be returning to Taipei, where they lived so happily before, and to have this further opportunity to contribute to the development and success of TES.