Michael Iannini
Michael is ACAMIS’s Leadership Development Facilitator, Board Treasurer for SPAN, Special Advisor for NESSIC, and an affiliated Council of International School’s (CIS) consultant with the following areas of expertise:
Appraisal and professional development
Leadership training
School governance
Strategic planning
Michael’s expertise has contributed immensely to the building of an effective Board. He has been instrumental in the development of a sustainable HOS performance evaluation process, building upon the benchmark evaluators of his Success Profile Analysis and has facilitated our Board review and training, bringing governors together for an annual reflection and deep dive into the work for the year and driving strategic direction for the year ahead.
Edward Lau
Board Chair
Derek Pinchbeck
Head of School
International College Hong Kong
Michael Iannini is the founder of PD Academia, with over 26 years of experience in school leadership development across Asia. His career began as a research assistant at Arizona State University’s Child Development Laboratory and progressed to becoming an Early Years Educator. Since relocating to China in 1999, Michael has advised and trained hundreds of international schools, specializing in strategic alignment, leadership development, and impact-driven professional development.
As the author of Hidden in Plain Sight: Realising the Full Potential of Middle Leaders, Michael’s leadership development approach is rooted in his platform, www.middleleader.com, where he shares insights and interviews with leadership influencers. His partnerships with ACAMIS and NESSIC reflect his deep understanding of the unique challenges facing China’s international schools.
Michael is dedicated to delivering customized solutions, engaging with stakeholders to align PD initiatives with strategic goals, and guiding schools through complex environments with an adaptive, hands-on approach. His commitment to holistic development ensures lasting impact and measurable success in school leadership.
“Michael’s work with our Board has empowered us to take positive, purposeful actions in the areas that are likely to generate the greatest return on investment in terms of improving Board performance. I would also like to commend Michael on being very accommodating and flexible throughout this process.”
Book an appointment with Michael
What People Are Saying
Listen to YCIS's experience in developing a mentoring culture at their schools.
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The training has been very successful and has enabled our middle leaders, some of whom are fairly inexperienced, to develop a wider understanding of the leadership role and be provided with tools to scaffold their leadership journey.
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— DR. HELEN KELLY
Lower School Principal, Canadian International School of Hong Kong
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Michael helped us to understand each parties governing responsibilities and facilitated discussions to focus our work for the coming year. This led to the school contracting Michael to design and facilitate our international recruitment process for the new Head of School.
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— JOHN WILSON
Chairman of Board of Governor, International College Hong Kong – Hong Lok Yuen
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Michael involved himself deeply in the project, spending several days a month in Shanghai over the course of 9 months to administer the needs analysis, train our managers and support them in the development of PD opportunities for their staff, and also develop such opportunities himself with his team at PDAcademia. His contribution to our school has been very beneficial.
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— EMMANUEL BONIN
Deputy Head, School Shanghai American School
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The consensus of our team was the successful outcome derived from Michael’s careful pre-analysis, including perceptive interviews of the participants before the program commenced, and an uncommon ability by anecdotal good humor to draw out everybody’s opinions, encouraging interactive discussion and create a sense of common ownership.
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— JOHN PATRICK BASKETT
The J.S.P. Schools Association
