Team

Creator and Author of Thinking into Character, CEO and Co-Founder Regent Group

Dr Selva Pankaj is the author of the Thinking into Character book and creator of the digital platform. Having fled from his home country, Sri Lanka, as a result of civil war, Selva came to the UK where, as a qualified accountant, he developed a career in the financial investment and merchant banking sector where he spent 16 years from 1994 to 2009. His career in the investment sector involved work at a wide variety of firms, many of them high-profile, and global firms which include Pricoa, Rockspring, Fortress with a Joint Venture relationship with Goldman Sachs and Prudential Financial Inc amongst others. Some of his major achievements include involvement in major capital raises of over $1.5 billion of capital, tax restructuring and the co-ordination of IPOs. In the late 1990s, Selva was trying to earn a little extra to support his family and starting offering A-Level accountancy tuition to local students at £20 per hour. This inspired him to set up Regent Independent College, the very first business in what has now become Regent Group, and in 2009 he left his City career to become Regent Group’s CEO and began its transformation.

He has been inspired in the development of Thinking into Character by living legends, Prof. Clay Christensen from Harvard, with whom he spent 2 weeks on an executive education course – Disruptive Innovation – and Bob Proctor, America’s famous prosperity teacher. He has also attended an Essentials of Leadership programme at the London Business School and spent years learning about the science of success, with principles underpinned by Andrew Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Stephen Hawkins and Wallace. D Wattles to name but a few.

In autumn 2019, Selva attended the Leading Change and Organizational Renewal course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he learnt how to combat the inertial forces that plague big organisations in order to design a company that can generate streams of innovation. Whilst there, he also attended a private coaching session with Prof Carol Dweck, author of best-seller Mindset, famously used by CEO, Satya Nadella, to turn around the fortunes of Microsoft

Global Managing Director

Tharshiny Pankaj is a graduate of Brunel University where she studied Computer Sciences. In 1998 she took the post of ICT & Computing Teacher at a sixth form college. In 2000 she played a large part in the founding of Regent Independent College and has been deeply involved in the day to day running of the various businesses and been intrinsic in the growth of the Group.

Chief Financial Officer

Paras joined Regent Group in 2008 as a Finance Manager and since then she has managed all financial aspects of the Group’s businesses. She has an ACCA Qualification, an MBA in Finance and an Engineering degree and previously worked in the real estate sector.

Head of Academic Operations

Victor Joined Regent College in March 2019, having previously obtained a degree in Design and Marketing at Central Saint Martins and worked for three years in the fashion design industry.
He started Regent College as Academic Administration but evolved into his current position in Resource Planning in October 2020.
His responsibilities include compiling reports to support the planning and smooth running of College activities. He reports to the Academic Dean, but works closely with multiple stakeholders across the organisation.

Head of Strategic Development – TIC

In 2018, Abdi Farah enrolled at Regent College for an English course while working as a bus driver. Over the next five years, he achieved remarkable academic and professional success, including an MBA, a BA in Business Management, Transport manger and becoming a Managing Director of a Transport Academy. He also earned multiple diplomas in management and leadership, and is soon to pursue a Doctorate in Business Administration. Abdi attributes his success to the principles of Thinking into character that he learned at Regent College and is motivated by boundless aspirations. Abdi Farah returns to Regent College, not as a student, but as the Head of “Thinking into Character.” With this role, he seeks to ignite a transformative spark in every student, guiding them on a journey of profound personal and professional metamorphosis.