After three years as General Manager, Grant van der Kruk has been appointed as CEO to guide the organisation through its next phase of growth.
Grant formally commenced in the role of CEO on 1 March, 2023, and will focus on driving scalability in both domestic and international markets.
“The wider adoption of technology in K–12 classrooms has resulted in significant growth in the Ed-Tech market, and Schoolbox was well positioned to support schools in navigating this change”, explains James Leckie. “As a result we are now experiencing rapid and sustained growth in both the Australian and International markets. Grant has been instrumental in leading the business through these past years.”
Grant joined Schoolbox in 2017 after 10 years of experience in the education sector. His role has progressively expanded, initially appointed as Director of Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience, before taking on the role of General Manager in 2020.
One of the three founding directors, Sean Richard acknowledges “In preparation for the road ahead, as Directors, we realised we needed to appoint a leader who could represent our collective voice. A person who understands the education industry, and who can bring everyone together as we embark on the next exciting chapter of our journey.
Grant has successfully established a reliable interface between our management team and our board, guaranteeing collaboration and communication down through our organisation.”
This appointment marks an exciting new phase for Schoolbox as the organisation builds leadership capacity to allow the Schoolbox team to continue to do what they do best — support our schools, teachers, and students to achieve their best outcomes and strategic goals.
“The Directors want to congratulate Grant on his servant leadership approach. Grant’s genuine empathy and care for staff are present in his leadership style. His dedication over the last three years to ensure a supportive environment in which the Schoolbox Team can thrive has been commendable.”
Matt Sambell, Founding Director
On announcement Grant expressed “I am incredibly humbled and excited to lead the Schoolbox business into this next chapter as we focus on building sustainable growth, without compromising the support we provide our schools, their teaching teams, and their students.”
Profile Grant van der Kruk
With a background in commercial sales and growth businesses, Grant first stepped into the Education industry in 2009, leading the APAC expansion of New Zealand learning space design organisation, Furnware.
Initially focused on the Australian market, under Grant’s leadership the business obtained a 15% market share in the first four years. This led to Grant relocating to Singapore with a goal to spearhead further expansion across Asia.
In 2017, with a growing family, Grant returned to Australia and joined the Schoolbox team shortly after. Grant credits the Education industry for inspiring and motivating a ‘higher purpose’ in his career being part of an industry that supports educators.
As General Manager at Schoolbox Grant has delivered sustainable commercial growth, and established a leadership structure, culture and organisational process to support a global customer network.
