Stuart Rolland

Stuart Rolland is a member of the bd-capital Operator's Club and Chairman of Ascenti.

Stuart has more than 30 years’ experience in senior operating roles across Education and Tech-Enabled services, bringing with him deep expertise in a number of functional areas including business transformation & change management, organisation and process design, identification and nurturing of top talent, culture development, M&A and strategic planning & execution.

Most recently, Stuart was the CEO for Cognita Europe for 6 years between 2016 and 2022. Cognita own and manage a worldwide group of 100+ schools in Europe, Latin America and Asia. Stuart built up the European business to become a network of over 50 schools generating over £200m in annual revenues. Under Stuart’s leadership, the business significantly grew both customer and employee NPS. Cognita was sold in 2018 to Jacobs Holding for £2 billion, generating a 3x return for KKR / Bregal.

Stuart is deeply passionate about the development and safeguarding of young people, and served as a Governor and a member of the Risk and Regulatory Committee at Berkhamsted Schools Group, one of Britain’s leading independent schools, for 12 years between 2011 and 2023. 

In addition to his experience within education Stuart has significant experience in tech-enabled services (both B2B and B2C). Most recently, Stuart served as Chairman and Interim CEO of Simply Conveyancing between 2022-2023 – a legal services company offering tech-enabled personalised conveyancing for home buyers and sellers.

Prior to Cognita – Stuart led the development and roll-out of British Gas’ smart metering programme to 10 million homes in Britain. Following his success as Managing Director of the Smart Metering division – Stuart was promoted to the Executive Team of British Gas where he served as Chief Operations Officer and  Managing Director of British Gas Business – the £3bn division of British Gas serving half a million British businesses. 

Outside of work, Stuart is a keen rugby fan (although his playing days are long since over) and an avid sailor and skier. He can often be found connecting with his roots on the west coast of Scotland, where he is happiest spending time with his family in the wilderness of the Highlands.