IRIS appoints Managing Director for Education to drive forward Smarter Schools initiative

IRIS Software Group (@IRISSoftwareGrp), one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies, has today announced that Simon Freeman has been appointed as the new Managing Director (MD) for Education.

Simon joins following a unique career in public services, bringing 15 years of experience in leading organisations to deliver outstanding customer experiences through innovative technologies.

Simon will be driving forward IRIS’ evolution, leading the education offering and focusing on meeting the needs of senior leadership teams in Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) and independent schools. He will play a key role in further establishing IRIS as the UK’s leading supplier of software solutions and services that help teachers and parents use data to create smarter schools and improve the lives of students in the post-pandemic world of blended learning. 

Prior to joining IRIS, Simon began his career as an engineer, quickly taking on strategic roles across BT, moving around its leadership programme, including living in India whilst focusing on delivering service for customers worldwide. He later moved to services specialist Serco where he was COO of the Ministry of Defence’s Business Services division. Most recently he was the MD of Capita’s local government business, where his role was to reshape the strategy and transform the business to enable local government clients to deliver effectively for the many hundreds of thousands of residents they served.  

Alongside IRIS’ other sector MDs, Simon will focus on making sure IRIS truly understands its customer base within education and how its products put productivity back into the hands of educators to focus on what’s truly important; improving the lives of students. 

Speaking on his appointment, Simon Freeman, MD for Education at IRIS Software Group said, “I am incredibly honoured and excited to join IRIS and lead the ever-growing education practice. The COVID-19 crisis brought with it significant new challenges for all schools and MATs in how they deliver educational needs. My focus is to ensure IRIS deeply understands the needs of our Education clients, and that IRIS’ customers have first-class technology solutions to support the role of the educator, backed up by outstanding customer service. 

“I’m very passionate about improving the lives of the people we serve and I’m looking forward to helping IRIS continue to improve and ensure we maximise all possible educational outcomes.”

David Lockie, Chief Operating Officer at IRIS Software Group said, “We are thrilled to welcome Simon to the team. The education sector has experienced extensive changes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past year. Simon’s appointment to lead our education sector will enable us to make sure MAT and school leaders are equipped to facilitate blended learning and improve the life chances of students, wherever they are.”