Who is Mr. Gerard MacMahon?
Director and a governor
Gerard MacMahon is Kent College Canterbury’s international director and a governor of the Kent schools in Dubai and Egypt. He is Kent College West Cairo’s designated safeguarding governor and has also carried out three annual quality assurance inspections of the school. He is an experienced international school principal, having led outstanding schools in England, Qatar and China.
Gerard graduated from the London School of Economics and trained as an economics teacher at London’s Institute of Education. He began teaching in 1988 in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, then became the founding head of sixth form at Balcarras School, Cheltenham, before spending most of his career as a school principal.
From 2004 to 2012, Gerard was headteacher of Sheldon School: a large, highly successful 11–18 state school in Wiltshire. During this period, he was appointed one of England’s first National Leaders of Education in 2010 and Sheldon was recognised as one of England’s top 100 schools in 2011.
Gerard moved to Qatar in 2012 to be headmaster of Al Khor International School, one of the world’s largest 2–18 international schools with over 4,000 students. In January 2016, he moved to China as Master of Wellington College International Shanghai, with pupils aged 4 to 18.
Gerard oversaw the development of Wellington Shanghai over five years, during which it became the leading international school in China. In 2017, as executive principal, he also set up a highly oversubscribed bilingual school for Chinese nationals. He was elected to the executive board of the British Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and, in 2020, was awarded the prestigious Magnolia Award by the Shanghai government for his contribution to the business and cultural life of the city.
