About me
On the cover of The Independent, Education Section, September 2005.
Find me on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or Skype Jacobkestner.
I am passionate about business, the internet, education and politics.
I work for the global education charity, Teach For All, developing digital products for the thousands of teachers and alumni of Teach For All programmes around the world.
In January 2011, after a brief stint at GEMS leading new business, I joined the international education charity Teach For All. Prior to this I worked for 3 years for Promise, a boutique brand and digital consultancy, in Europe, the Middle East and the US. I specialised in Promise’s online communities technology.
My work on the European rebranding and repositioning of ebookers.com, a leading online travel agent, won the 2009 Marketing Society Award for International Brand Development. In the Middle East I led Promise’s groundbreaking work for the Dubai Government – the design and implementation of a universal healthcare system for the emirate. In 2009 I moved to Washington, DC to open Promise’s North American office.
I have led business development for the online financial information company Africa Prices, based in Zimbabwe; worked for the microfinance charity the Micro Loan Foundation in Malawi; and taught history in a tough London school with the Teach First programme.
In November 2007 I co-authored an education policy paper presented to the House of Lords and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. In 2008 I was appointed to sit on the Teach First Ambassador Board and remain its longest serving member. In 2010 I debated the ‘DIY generation’ on panels hosted by Channel 4 at the Labour and Lib Dem Party conferences.
This year I have been appointed editor of Teach First’s 10th anniversary policy publication, leading a research team to produce a dissertation on the causes and policy remedies of the inequalities in the British education system.
I was a founding Director of a new Free School that will open in September 2012.
—
Here’s a cracking recommendation from a colleague at Promise:
“Jacob is a dedicated and effective manager who strengthens his team with a strong mentorship and capacity-building approach. He is a big picture thinker that commands the team to challenge conventionality and deliver unique and highly value-added results. Jacob’s gumption is contagious and pushes the team to exceed. I have yet to see a manager that maintains such honesty and humility in such a highly competitive industry. He is particularly strong at finding opportunities to build upon the team’s weaknesses in an effective and motivating fashion. Equally, he applauds good work, which makes for an inspiring work environment and positive team morale. He is as invested in the well being of the business as he is of his team. One would be lucky to have Jacob as a manager
Outside of his strong management skills, Jacob is an exceptional strategy consultant. He is able to tackle the most challenging questions with confidence and intelligence. Jacob draws from his diverse background and expertise to approach a problem from different perspectives. He has an acute ability to maintain focus and even stronger ability to prove a point. He is able to synthesize a large amount of information into logical arguments that he effectively communicates to his audience. Jacob challenges the status quo by thinking outside the box and pushing clients to the cutting edge. Clients instantly like working with Jacob and are quick to place their trust in his abilities to produce solutions to their toughest problems.
I commend Jacob in his role as my manager and a Senior Consultant at Promise, and for any of his future endeavors.”
And here’s the recommendation I’m most proud of (thanks to my ex-student Charlotte!):
You’ve inspired me to take an American History degree at university, sir. My learning of the Wall Street crash in year 10 became the foundation of my personal statement. Thanks 
—
A fuller bio:
Jacob Theodor Kestner read History at Manchester University and graduated in 2004 with a 2:1. That summer he joined Teach First; a ground-breaking programme that combines leadership and business-skills training, with two years’ teaching in challenging London secondary schools. It is the highest ranked charity in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers list. Between September 2004 and July 2006 he taught History and Politics in Albany School, Enfield, and was promoted to Deputy Head of Year 8.
During this time Jacob also worked freelance for a start-up fashion label and interned for BAE Systems in Washington, DC. Jacob was awarded a distinction (top 15%) in the Teach First ‘mini-MBA’ run at Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London.
After Teach First he undertook a five month project for the microfinance charity the Micro Loan Foundation, in Malawi; spent a month in Uganda writing a report for the education charity PEAS; and for three months worked for the online financial information company Africa Prices, based in Zimbabwe.
Returning from Africa in August 2007 he joined the brand and digital consultancy Promise Corp. He helped the European rebranding and repositioning of a leading online travel agent (for which Promise won the 2009 Marketing Society Award for International Brand Development) and from March 2008 –March 2009 was based in Dubai running Promise’s largest project to date – the design and implementation of a universal healthcare system for the emirate. For this project, and since, he has specialised in Promise’s online communities technology.
On returning from Dubai Jacob moved to Washington, DC to open Promise’s US office where he was rapidly promoted to Senior Consultant.
In January 2011, after a brief stint at GEMS leading new business, he joined the international education charity Teach For All to develop digital products for the thousands of teachers and alumni of Teach For All programmes around the world.
Jacob is passionate about education. The education research he has conducted since leaving teaching draws on his experience in the UK and has also taken him to visit schools and policymakers in Washington DC and New York. In November 2007 he co-authored the Teach First education policy book presented to the House of Lords and the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. His chapter, on school organisational structure, received widespread press coverage and was re-printed in several journals. He was interviewed by the British media. In 2008 he was appointed to sit on the Teach First Ambassador Board and remains its longest serving member.
In 2011 he was appointed to edit Teach First’s 10th anniversary policy publication leading a research team to produce a dissertation on the causes and policy remedies of the inequalities in our education system.
He has written on, and spoken about, both education and economics for the Guardian, the Economic Monitor, Forum, Teach First, the School of Economic Science, Human Scale Education and the Institute of Ideas Education Forum. In 2010 he debated the ‘DIY generation’ on panels hosted by Channel 4 at the Labour and Lib Dem Party conferences.
He was a founding Director of a new Free School that will open in September 2012.
—
