Lara Hudson

Education Consultant - Excelsior Group at Excelsior Group

Speaker

Lara is a distinguished early years professional with over 25 years of international experience, including more than two decades in the UAE education sector. Her extensive background gives her a deep and nuanced understanding of educational leadership, organisational development, and quality improvement. She is known for providing the strategic vision, direction, and oversight needed to establish robust operational controls, effective administrative systems, and strong people practices- consistently driving financial sustainability and operational excellence for the organisations she supports.Holding an LLB in Law alongside a suite of education qualifications- including FE Trainer, Assessor, and Teacher- Lara’s expertise spans multiple educational levels and sectors. In the UK, she served as Head of Education for a Zoo, leading learning programmes from early childhood through to university level across all areas of zoological education. In the UAE, she has held senior leadership roles including Chief Operational Officer for two major training companies, delivering a wide range of UK qualifications from leading awarding bodies. She has developed courses for awarding organisations and government entities and is widely recognised for her engaging delivery of accredited programmes and CPD. Her experience includes designing and delivering training in education, leadership and management, health and safety, first aid, and train the trainer pathways. She has also organised large scale conferences and sector events, including those in partnership with companies such as TTS, and has been a guest speaker at numerous conferences and exhibitions.Lara’s most recent role was as the Director of Early Childhood and Development for a leading UAE education group, where she shaped strategy, strengthened quality, and championed best practice across multiple early years settings. Now working as an independent education consultant, she continues to bring a wealth of expertise honed over decades in the sector. Her career is defined by a deep commitment to nurturing young minds and supporting educational organisations to achieve excellence. With a strong foundation in both theory and practice, she excels in designing and implementing innovative curricula, operational systems, and leadership frameworks that foster developmental growth and organisational effectiveness.Lara has written for both online and print educational publications and has provided consultancy services across the wider education landscape. Her work spans start up planning, curriculum design, training frameworks, policy and procedure development, and pre inspection reviews. She has also delivered consultancy internationally, supporting organisations in Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India, and China. In addition, she has authored internationally recognised training programmes, CPDs, and qualifications for leading awarding bodies and has played a pivotal role in establishing new training companies and supporting emerging awarding organisations across the region.