Zac Ashkanasy

Principal

Connect on LinkedIn

Zac has nearly three decades of business and consulting experience across a range of clients and continents. Boards, executives and staff value his provocative, creative and practical mindset and engaging nature.

Clients voted Zac the ‘Most Client Focused Management Consultant’ as part of the annual Australian Financial Review awards for professional services. He leads the Nous Global Higher Education practice group.

Influential work

In Canada, led the world’s largest and fastest cost take-out and change in operating model of a research-intensive university
In Scotland, conducted a suite of revenue growth projects for a globally connected university, including reshaping their program offer and establishing a global foundation college
In the UK, redesigned and implemented a new professional services operating model for one of the world’s leading art and design colleges
In Australia, led an institutional size and shape program for a high performing university with an emphasis on student mix and campus capital implications
Led a multi-jurisdictional university collaboration on how to measure civic engagement and the implications for global league tables.

Outside of Nous

Zac has worked with corporations including Sky TV (UK) and KPMG. At Sky TV he assisted with the transition from analogue to digital TV. At KPMG, he started his professional career as an auditor but quickly moved to management consulting.

Zac holds a Master of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Queensland.

In his spare time...

Zac is a keen athlete and was a guide runner for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. He enjoys driving his kids around to their many and various activities, hanging out with his partner, gardening, cooking and sneaking in the odd movie or two.

Expertise

Key Capabilities

Organisational Performance

Transformation & Implementation

Related Sectors

Health & Ageing

External Links

Associated Projects

We developed and helped implement a strategy to transform a leading NZ university

New operating model helps a Canadian university to realise more than $100 million in savings

Supporting the growth aspirations of a national professional association

A new employability roadmap is helping a university’s graduates to find work

Redesigning a research university’s programme architecture to focus on student needs

A new digital strategy transforms the student experience at a UK university

Working with institutions in three countries to advance measurement of university engagement

Co-designed Y4Y Youth Force helps prepare young people for work

Business-critical improvements for a university’s finance function

A strategy to improve access and success for underrepresented students at a UK university

Evaluation of a mental health and wellbeing network for a London borough

Transforming student admissions to reduce processing time while maintaining quality

Supporting Queen Mary University of London to develop a 10-year growth strategy

A five-year education strategy for a UK university to deliver on an ambitious vision

University of Derby uses powerful tools to achieve a high-performance culture

Accelerating service innovation with Vision Australia

Discipline, determination, and daring: university leadership in a changing world

Microcredentials are ascendant – how can universities get ready?

Without good data, universities developing microcredentials are stumbling in the dark

Reimagining university life: How operational leaders are creating the post-COVID campus

The environment for Canadian universities is changing. How can governance structures adapt?

Inside revitalising culture in Plymouth

Change is coming to employability services – so what does it mean for their workforce?

Beyond boom and bust: Building resilient UK employability services across the economic cycle

Universities are taking community engagement seriously – now we need to measure it