Amit Sevak is named next president and CEO of Educational Testing Service
Amit Sevak, an educator and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in higher education and education technology, has been named the seventh president and chief executive officer of Educational Testing Service (ETS). The headquarters for ETS are in Lawrenceville.
Sevak is the founder and chairman of Mindset Global, a Maryland-based global education investment firm. Previously he was the president and CEO of Europe University in Madrid. He has also been the president and CEO of INTI International University and Colleges in Kuala Lumpur. Before that role, he served as the chief operating officer at the Universidad Tecnológica de México in Mexico City. He has also served as the vice president for Adtalem Global Education in Chicago.
“Amit is a transformational leader — I am excited about the experience and commitment to our mission that he will bring to ETS,” said Jeffrey Sine, chair of the ETS Board of Trustees. “I am confident Amit will be an inspiration to colleagues and customers as the organization moves forward in its work to advance access, quality and equity in education and learning worldwide.”
The ETS Board of Trustees announced the hiring of Sevak on Monday. The leadership change comes at a time when the standardized testing landscape has experienced dramatic changes due to both the pandemic and other factors, such as schools no longer making tests like the SAT mandatory. ETS has had a few rounds of layoffs since the pandemic began.
Sevak will succeed Walt MacDonald, who has served as the president and CEO of ETS since 2014.
“Walt MacDonald has been an incredibly effective leader who has consistently prioritized the mission of ETS to ensure the greatest good for all learners,” Sine said. “He leaves behind a legacy of a 38-year career at ETS, during which time his leadership had an immeasurable impact on so many individuals inside and outside of the ETS family.”
Sevak will begin his new role as head of ETS on June 15.
“I have long believed in the incredible power of learning that is embodied in the mission of ETS,” Sevak said. “ETS enables education opportunities for millions of individuals all over the world, I am honored to join the ETS family in advancing this vital mission.”
I hope the new CEO takes the time to review the current leadership’s plans to outsource a significant portion of the company overseas.
I would think the board’s agreement to hire him would have been contingent on his consent to follow through on outsourcing. They even created an officer position in order to hire someone to oversee outsourcing *cough* I mean strategic sourcing.
An encouraging hire. I wish him the best of luck.
Thankfully not another hire from Pearson.
Likely he was hired to execute current leadership’s plan to outsource.
Just curious – as a former ETS-er who took the 2020 pandemic package – what functions are they planning to outsource? One of the reasons I took the package (in addition to it being a good time and good payout for me) was that I didn’t like the direction I was seeing the company going.
Portions of: IT, TD, research, facilities, marketing. Work moving to India.
Thanks for the info. I worked in TD, and had some ties to research. It’s sad to see that they’re planning to outsource some of those functions in particular. Over the years, ETS has outsourced more and more of its functions. I was glad for the opportunity to leave when I did, because it was apparent that TD work in particular was becoming less and less appreciated and supported.
Glad he’s not from Pearson, but the damage is already done. They recently hired that vice president of strategic sourcing who came from Pearson.
Ida said the jobs would be going to India in October of 2023. What is not being said is they are leaving next summer. Do not be gullible of any assurance they try to give unless they cancel it. They have it divided in a way that can dampen opposition. Get organized soon.
So what will actually be left? Just sales, marketing & officers? Oh, and “process,” of course. I visited campus a few months ago (it’s a nice place to walk) and was shocked to see that Anrig Hall had been demolished. How are they dividing things? Maybe organizing will have more success now than it did in the late 90s.