Dirk has 20+ years of experience in the higher education industry. He worked for one of the most progressive, global top-tier higher education institutions, IE Business School, and the largest online education provider in the Spanish-speaking world, Proeduca Group.

Dirk acquired his wealth of knowledge in Admissions by innovating and leading the Admissions Department. He developed and executed the market development strategy for Asia for a European institution.

During his 15 years living and working in Asia, he localized student recruitment strategies and build both academic and non-academic partnerships across the region. Understanding educational institutions as community builders, he developed a regional ecosystem with alumni, universities, and institutions to foster sustainable growth.

He has been a regular panelist in education conferences, most recently participating in the QS HigherEd  Summit for China and Asia in 2022. Dirk empowered and coached team members and peers on Student Recruitment Strategies, Analytics, and Admissions.

Dirk holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a double major in Finance and HR from the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. He pursued an MBA and an Advanced Management Program at IE Business School, Spain. Most recently, Dirk completed a micro-MBA in EdTech and Higher Education Leadership from ConnectED, Australia.
Dirk is passionate about the education industry and considers himself a life-long learner. He continuously explores how to improve technology-supported processes and investigates how learning agility can impact student recruitment processes.

Dirk is the strategic advisor for the EdTech start-up speechsquare.