Andrew Bethell

Director

Andrew began his teaching career at a comprehensive school in Hackney, east London . He  held the post of Head of Year, Head of English and Media, and Head of Sixth Form. He also developed a reputation as a curriculum innovator and was actively engaged in in-service training as a lecturer and course planner.

In 1987, Andrew Bethell left teaching to found an independent production company, Double Exposure Ltd. Under his creative and business leadership it quickly established a reputation as one of the country’s leading producers with the highly praised but controversial series about a year in the life of an inner-city primary school “Culloden”, and then his BAFTA and Emmy award-winning BBC series “The House”. Double Exposure was also recognized as the UK’s most prolific and successful producer of programming for teachers and schools, winning further awards around the world.

In early 2003 he joined the consortium bidding for Teachers TV as Director of Programmes. He was the founding director and was responsible for devising the programming and scheduling strategy for the winning bid. He was the creative and editorial driving force behind the success of the first genuinely public service digital channel and groundbreaking broadband offering. In 2006 he became Chief Executive and Creative Director. In 2010 he took on the role of Vice-Chair, and Director of External Affairs responsible for the global development of the Teachers TV model as well as promoting the use of high quality video in the improvement of teaching and learning in schools around the world. He was lead consultant for Pico Thailand in its successful bid to secure government funding for ThaiTeachers TV and supported the roll out of the current service with strategic, technical and creative advice.

In 2010-11 he was appointed CEO of Teaching Channel and led the team that established this ‘Teachers TV-style’ service in the US funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation. He is a founding director of WorldTeachers.tv a global project currently in development.

John Richmond

Commissioning Consultant

John had a successful career as a classroom teacher in London and then advisory teacher, researcher, academic and schools inspector. He was inspector for English and drama in the English county of Shropshire, and from 1992 to 1995 was visiting professor in the English department at the University of Nottingham.

In 1992 John moved into educational broadcasting, first as deputy commissioning editor and then commissioning editor at Channel 4 Schools. In these posts, he helped to manage Channel 4’s television service to schools in the United Kingdom, commissioning television programmes, accompanying resources and on-line applications for all subjects in the UK school curriculum for the age-range 3 to 19.

In 2004, John joined Teachers TV, first as a member of the channel’s commissioning team, and later as international development executive. As commissioning editor, he helped to supervise the production of programmes for the channel by its group of independent suppliers. He also advised on the acquisition of relevant programmes from other organisations.

During 2010 John was Vice-President, Production for Teaching Channel in the USA, where he was responsible for commissioning the channel’s first 200 programmes, and for acquisitions and scheduling.

James Melly

Technical Consultant

James worked in market research before joining the digital revolution in the mid 1990s. He project managed a five-language website for the 1998 football World Cup and had spells as Head of Project Management at Online Magic and Good Technology, two of the best-known London agencies of the first dotcom boom.

James joined Teachers TV during 2005 – its first year of operation – to manage a Video on Demand project that made the channel’s programmes available on several cable and broadband VOD platforms. He then took responsibility for managing all projects in the web team, covering the time when Teachers TV moved to being an online-only service.

As a result of a growing interest in data analysis, James moved into the Marketing and Communications team to oversee the implementation of a sophisticated CRM system. His final role before Teachers TV closed was as Audience Insight & CRM Manager, when he had responsibility for all reporting and marketing data analysis.

Viriya Pholpoke

Senior Consultant ASEAN region

Viriya Pholpoke is a Director and Advisor of Pico (Thailand) Public Co., Ltd. He joined Pico (Thailand) in 2003 as the Independent Director and the member of the Audit Committee.

Prior to joining Pico, Viriya was the audit and management consultant at Jaiyos & Co., a member of Touche Ross International (now Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Jaiyos). After Jaiyos & Co., he worked as a consultant on management organization, finance and strategy in the food and retail industry for multinational corporations as well as Thai companies. He also consulted on competitiveness strategy and on industry cluster development in Thailand.

At Pico (Thailand), Viriya plays an important role in business development and strategy formulation. In 2007 he was responsible for launching EDUCA, now Thailand’s most respected and popular education exhibition and international conference which last year attracted 50,000 educators. He led the team that developed and then secured the delivery contract for Thai Teachers TV to which he now acts as educational adviser and stakeholder manager. He leads on educational business development for ABA in the ASEAN region.