Middle Leader Certification

Nancy Lhoest-Squicciarini is Head of Middle Leadership for ECIS, hosts the #ISLECISLoft, and facilitates the Middle Leader Cafés. With close to four decades of experience in education, Nancy has held a range of leadership positions and remains committed to fostering inclusive learning environments. Known for her motivated and personable approach, she designs, implements, and facilitates diverse learning opportunities and experiences.
Nancy has worked as a facilitator and trainer with leading organisations that provide professional learning for international schools worldwide. She is endorsed by the International Association of Facilitators (IAF), a global community dedicated to promoting excellence in professional group facilitation to create engagement and impact. Before joining ECIS, she served for twelve years as a trainer with the Principals Training Center (PTC) and was also a trainer for the Council of International Schools’ (CIS) online evaluator course.
Nancy is committed to supporting “Women in Education” by building communities that cultivate alliances and allyship. She is a Trustee and Global Strategic Leader for @WomenEd and one of the country network leaders for @WomenEdLux.
In 2022, 2024, and 2025, ISC Research recognised Nancy as an #Edruptor, a highly rated influencer within international education.

An energetic, tenacious, strategic and evidence-driven change agent, leader and challenge seeker, Teresa Belisle is passionately curious about learning, creating cultures of possibility, and having a positive impact. 

Through her career, Teresa is grateful to have taught, facilitated and led educators from early childhood through adult levels in France, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, Thailand, the Czech Republic, and online. Her experience has been in public and private school sectors, both nationally and internationally, as well as with not-for-profit and non governmental and accrediting organisations. 

After 11 years at the International School of Prague and 38 years as an educator, Teresa is taking a year to rethink and reconsider how best to live, learn, and lead in today’s world as she re-envisions and refocuses the final chapter of her career.

Keryn Dowling is a dynamic and accomplished international school leader with over 25 years of se: experience in teaching and leadership across diverse international schools. Currently a senior leader with Dipont Education in China, she believes in being an instructional leader first, championing inclusive, high-achieving learning environments that empower both students and educators.

An experienced ECIS consultant as well as IBEN PYP & MYP workshop leader, Keryn brings deep expertise in Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching. Keryn leads impactful professional learning experiences, equipping educators with practical strategies they can implement immediately. Passionate about driving meaningful change, Keryn is committed to shaping thoughtful, future-focused learning environments that support every learner’s success.

Helen Morgan is Head of Leadership Development and Learning at ECIS. In her role, she collaborates with schools, groups and organisations to design and deliver impactful training, coaching and consultancy. She has a track record of building strong relationships with some of the most innovative and influential international schools in the world. 

Prior to her role at ECIS, Helen worked extensively as an independent Educational Consultant with a range of international schools and organisations. These include Cambridge International where she was a Lead Training Consultant, and High Performance Learning where she successfully set up the Fellowship of World Class Schools.  

Helen is also an accredited Senior Practitioner Coach with the European Coaching and Mentoring Council, empowering executive leaders to drive improvement. She has a master’s degree in education and holds the National Professional Qualification for Headship.

Jimena Zalba is an experienced, accomplished but above all passionate educational leader with over 25 years serving international schools in the Serbian, Czech Republic, Romania and Cambodia as a PYP coordinator, Associate Principal and Elementary Principal. During her tenure as a school leader, Jimena has, in close collaboration with other educators, led the design and implementation of innovative school improvements with a high impact on student learning.

When teachers and colleagues describe Jimena, they use words such as ‘caring’, ‘change agent’ and ‘systems thinker’. Jimena leverages these qualities to build and sustain thriving school cultures with a relentless commitment to learning and wellbeing for all.

In addition to being a transformational leader, Jimena is a passionate and avid learner. She holds a Masters in Education, a Post-Master’s in Educational Leadership and a Doctorate in Education Leadership (EdD). Her EdD research focused on developing the professional capacity of educators in international schools.

Yasmine Aslam – Hashmi is an international school educator with over 18 years of experience. She has taught in Canada, South Korea, Vietnam and Switzerland where she currently resides.  She has taken on multiple roles within schools as an educator, department head, curriculum developer, instructional coach, and academic and action researcher. 

Yasmine holds specialists in creating equitable and inclusive schools, special education and teaching English acquisition to multilingual learners. She has taught middle school Mathematics and Science, Secondary Learning Support and English Acquisition, in addition to IBDP Theory of Knowledge. She is currently a Secondary Mathematics Teacher at the Inter-Community School Zurich, Switzerland.

Yasmine is an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion both within education and the greater community. A trained United Nations (UN) Human Rights Defender, she was an invited speaker to the UN Human Rights Council with a focus on injustices within indigenous communities, and race in Switzerland. She worked with UNICEF on the Goal Area 2: Every Child Learns – Global Annual Results Report. She was the co-chair with International Schools Services (ISS) Diversity Collaborative – Data Committee. Currently, Yasmine is one of the co-facilitators for the ECIS DEIJ Leadership Development Cohort.

Michael Neumann is the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Coordinator at St. George’s International School in Luxembourg and a co-facilitator of the ECIS DEIJ Leadership Development Cohort. He has worked across primary and secondary settings in roles including homeroom teacher, IT specialist, curriculum coordinator, and assistant principal. His work focuses on supporting inclusive school cultures, developing staff capacity, and integrating equity and belonging into everyday practice. 

Michael is particularly interested in using qualitative and narrative approaches to explore school culture, identity, and systems. His practice is grounded in inquiry and shaped by a commitment to collaborative, sustainable change. He works to support schools in moving from individual efforts toward structures that foster belonging more broadly.