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Jon Foster-Pedley, Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement - Sub-Saharan Africa), University of Reading, and Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa.
Jon Foster-Pedley is a distinguished academic and business leader with an international career spanning more than 45 years and six continents. As the Dean and Director of Henley Business School Africa since 2011, he has overseen the institution's rapid growth and transformation, with a vision to build the people, who build the businesses, that build Africa. Under his leadership, the business school has won numerous awards and accreditations, including being voted the number 1 MBA business school in South Africa for eight years in a row, cementing its reputation for innovative leadership and learning design. In 2025, Jon was appointed as Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement – Sub-Saharan Africa) at the University of Reading, UK, expanding his mandate to build capabilities and create opportunities across the region.
His remarkable career is defined by a deep-seated commitment to educational and economic transformation in Africa. From his early days as an airline pilot and aerobatic competitor to his time in aircraft sales for British Aerospace and Airbus Industrie, he has always pursued purpose. He was a faculty member for strategy and creativity at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business for 16 years, where he co-designed the influential Executive MBA programme in 2009. As marketing and education director at Airbus Industrie in Toulouse, he also presided over a joint venture to train European aerospace executives in commercial skills. Through his leadership at Henley, he has become a prominent voice for ethical business and social development. This advocacy is exemplified by his founding of MBAid, an NGO that bridges the gap between aspiring MBA students and the social enterprises that need their skills most.
Jon’s influence extends beyond university administration. He is a Life Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK, and a Distinguished Professor at Woxsen University, India, with expertise in strategy, marketing, and innovation. He served as the past Chair of the Association of African Business Schools and is a pro bono board member of the Alliance of Management Development Organizations in Rising Economies and SOIL’s Board of Advisory –the flagship higher education initiative of India-based non-profit the Himalaya's Valley Educational and Charitable Trust. He is a long-standing member and former chair of the British Chamber of Business in Southern Africa and was a Visiting Professor in creativity and innovation for the Namibian Business Innovation Centre.
Jon completed his own MBA at Ashridge in the 1990s and studied airline economics at the University of Westminster in 1987. He is married with two children and is a passionate blues guitarist and committed commentator on current affairs. You can catch his insights in his regular column in South Africa’s Daily Maverick.