Ian Baird

Director at GEVI

Speaker

Dr. Ian Baird is a strategic TVET leader with over three decades of experience designing and managing apprenticeship and vocational education programmes across the UK and Middle East.

As Director of GEVI Training Center, an Albatha Group company, Dr. Baird is leading the establishment of the UAE's first German Dual Vocational Education and Training centre — creating structured career pathways for Emirati nationals in Sharjah's private sector.

At ADVETI, he spent eight years developing the UAE's national apprenticeship framework, working directly with the Ministry of Education to shape the policies governing apprenticeship delivery nationwide.

Previously, as Education Operations Director for Pearson Saudi Arabia, he established three technical colleges under the Colleges of Excellence project.

Dr. Baird holds a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Swansea University, an MBA from Portsmouth University. His career began with a Vauxhall Motors apprenticeship — giving him a uniquely personal understanding of how vocational education can enable people to exceed their potential.

He brings to GEVI deep institutional knowledge and a lifelong conviction that skills-based education is one of the most powerful tools a nation can deploy in building its future workforce.