Dr Vivek Mohan

Head of Academic Quality, UniAthena

Vivek is Associate Dean. He is an award winning researcher with several years of experience in planning, designing and delivering business management programs in the higher education and corporate sectors in UK, Europe, Middle East and India.

Dr. Mervyn Emmanuel

Head of Academics and Student Engagement, UniAthena

Dr. Emmanuel is Head of Academic Delivery, he is is an ambitious, Educational Psychologist and Life Coach with comprehensive knowledge in Educational Psychology, Organizational Behaviorism.

Over the last 20 years Emmanuel has conducted conferences in more than 25 countries, internationally, and still continues to network with people across all spectrums to bring about transformation. Currently, he facilitates workshops and training programs within the United Arab Emirates as well as lectures at Universities and Colleges for Higher Education.

He derives immense joy in helping people to discover their purpose in life. For this reason, he aspires daily to motivate, inspire, enlighten, encourage, counsel and educate people to realize their latent potential and how they can harness their gifts and talents to bring about positive change, ultimately fulfilling their destiny. Dr. Emmanuel’s Motto in Life is simply, “Your Success is His Success”.

Dr. Andrew Hambler

Board Member | Ex-Officio

Dr. Andrew  Hambler is an experienced academic who has worked for 16 years in universities in the United Kingdom as a Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor. Andrew’s degrees are from Durham University, University of Manchester and the University of Leicester. He studied for his doctorate at Durham University. Andrew worked with Westford University College for many years as a partnerships manager and link tutor and has a detailed understanding of the needs and expectations of experienced professionals undertaking study internationally. He is an experienced doctoral supervisor and examiner and has advised a number of Higher Education institutions in the UK and overseas on their course development, including the introduction of professional doctorates.

Dr. Hambler's research is in the areas of labour law and human resources and he has a particular interest in the role of religion at the workplace. He has published several articles, book chapters and a monograph. He started his career as an HR Consultant for the global financial services company PwC. For some years, he was an officer in the British Reserve Forces. Andrew helped to design and write the DBA programme and he continues to provide advice and guidance to the programme team as well as undertaking some supervision, research training and examination work.

Dr. William Painter

Board Member | Ex-Officio

Dr. William Painter has held numerous positions in higher education, as a professor, a department chair, a program director, a Chief Academic Officer and Liaison, and Dean at several institutions. He is a visionary leader in online education and student engagement and has always been guided by the principles that everyone should have access to higher education and that learners should be in control of their own success.

He is responsible for management programs including MBA, Executive MBA and PG Diploma that come under the Westford Education Group. Since 1988, he has been active in international private and public post-secondary and higher education. Dr Painter has worked with leading Business schools such as Groupe Ecole Superieure de Commerce, NCC Education, Laureate Online Education as  International Director and later assumed the role of Chief Academic Officer for the University of Liverpool/Laureate partnership .He has also served as Chair of the Social and Culture Studies Department for Stephens College, Dean of International Studies for City Vision University, and Executive Director of Bellevue University’s Center for Online Studies. 

Dr. Painter has an undergraduate degree from North Texas State University and Master’s degree from the University of North Texas. He completed his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Col (Rtd). Anil Ahluwalia

Chair of the Board

Anil Ahluwalia has had more than 30 years of experience as a trainer. He is a Master Trainer and acclaimed as an outstanding leader in the domain of Academic, Corporate, HR and Business Management Training Services. He commanded a large organization, and was involved in extensive training while serving in the Indian Army. He was also deputed by the Indian Government to train the Botswana Defence Force. Anil is presently spearheading conduct of all training courses for Westford Education Group in UAE, India, and other regions, as the Group Academic Director. He has also conducted training courses from graduate to post graduate levels, including workshops and seminars for varied nationalities in diverse job industries. He is also a qualified experiential learning trainer. His highly motivating seminars and workshops are well known for their high-quality content backed by his inimitable and engaging style of delivery. His energizing sessions are insightful and stimulate participants to unleash their innate energies, fulfill their potential and create an intense desire for success and personal excellence.

Anil Ahluwalia is an alumni of the prestigious St. Stephen’s College, Delhi; National Defence Academy, Pune; and also an MBA graduate from the Symbiosis University in India. Having worked in India, Botswana (Southern Africa), Oman and UAE, Anil has been a driving force behind our continual improvement philosophy, with intense focus towards improvement of people commitment and behaviour. He takes immense pride in dealing with the most important resource, the human resource and believes that people sometimes limit their own progress by building barriers with self-defeating prophecies and he enjoys assisting people to successfully overcome them.