upGrad, the online higher education company, announces the appointment of three senior hires to strengthen its leadership team in the UK and the US.

Tom Atkinson joins upGrad as VP for Sales and Partnerships in the UK. Atkinson brings with him experience in international expansion, having led the sales growth of edtech businesses ITPM and Ducere Global Business School. At upGrad he will be responsible for strengthening the business’s foothold in the UK, Europe, and Middle East. This will include launching upGrad’s B2C arm in the region, developing industry partnerships across sectors, and creating innovative new B2B offerings.

Joining Atkinson in the UK, Octave Auger joins upGrad as VP for Growth in the region.  Auger will oversee upGrad’s marketing and communications. This will include brand building across social media, PR, and events, growth-driving initiatives across bought, earned, and owned channels and improving the end-to-end customer journey.

Across the pond, in North America, Aaron Edgell joins as VP of Marketing. In this newly created role, Edgell will lead end-to-end marketing where he will manage all aspects of digital marketing, advertising, brand strategy, PR, and SEO as the edtech company scales up operations in this region. Prior to joining upGrad, Edgell spent the past four years building in-house marketing agency at the National University System (NUS) in San Diego. Prior to joining NUS, he held marketing leadership positions at companies and agencies working across the education, technology, and health and wellness sectors.  

 The new hires join upGrad at a time when the global entity is aggressively strengthening its foothold across geographies, with the UK and the US at the heart of their growth ambitions.