Chief Operating Officer, Victoria Gibbs, celebrates 10 years at elite tutoring company, Tutors International.
OXFORD, UK: Victoria Gibbs joined Tutors International (TI) in January 2011. She has several integral roles within the company, demonstrating her depth and breadth of aptitudes. She prepares the finances of TI’s international companies and financial transaction records in multiple currencies. Project management is also a central part of Gibbs’s role. She also conducts administrative functions for the domestic and international companies under the Tutors International umbrella, like Sea Tutors. She is also a Visa specialist and performs an HR role within the company.
In regard to her marketing and PR performance at Tutors International, she has written shortlisted entries for the 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015 Education Investor Awards. Just last year, she successfully negotiated a 21% reduction in advertising costs.
10 Years of Change and Growth
Gibbs details how her role has changed in her decade at Tutors International:
“My job has changed enormously in the last 10 years. As the company has grown and developed, so has the complexity of my role. When I started out, I think we only had three companies to contend with: two in the UK and in America. Now, we have multiple UK companies, one in the US, one in Hong Kong, one in Canada and until last year we were also running one in Singapore. In addition, we have explored both the Chinese and Japanese markets, although the current pandemic has put those plans on hold right now.
“Operating in so many jurisdictions has been a steep learning curve.
“I have had to redesign various admin systems and processes to deal with larger volumes of tutors, as well as responding to new legislation from within the UK and of course Brexit is bringing its own set of challenges regarding visa requirements.”
CPD
Victoria Gibbs is an advocate and committed practitioner of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). She has bettered her expertise at every opportunity over the last decade.
“I enjoy the feeling of “levelling up” professionally. I've always stressed the importance of continuous professional development and have been lucky in that our CEO, Adam Caller, has supported this in his staff. I have always had the training I have asked for, and I think this has helped me take on more responsibility as I have progressed through the company.
“Adam kindly agreed to sponsor me through an MA in Education, which I completed remotely while in full-time employment. I am pleased to say that my understanding of the sector has increased exponentially. I am also very proud of my dissertation which was graded in the low 80s. That is certainly a personal best in terms of my academic career.”
Her most recent CPD achievement is gaining her Leadership & Management Level 7 Diploma in October 2020.
A Fulfilling Role
Pre-pandemic, Tutors International was an early adopter of the work-from-home model. Victoria explains how this has worked in her life:
“Now I have a young daughter, home working with TI has become even better as I am able to do the nursery run in my working day, and I get to enjoy her crazy Duplo creations if I need five minutes away from my desk in the afternoons. I simply tie up any loose ends from my working day once she has gone to bed.
“The other ‘best bit’ is the team that Adam has built around himself. We don’t often have the chance to meet up as we are well spread across the northern hemisphere, but this doesn’t seem to have had a negative impact on our working relationships. To prove a point, by 2016 our bookkeeper and I had built up such a good working relationship that the first time I met her in person was at my wedding!”
Gibbs also reflects on how feeling the impact of her hard work benefitting others is what motivates her:
“We have seen troubled children get back on track, school refusers embrace their learning, and teenagers achieving goals – both personal and academic - that they never thought possible. All the work we do is in pursuit of these moments, and knowing that Tutors International makes such a positive difference on these young lives makes all the hard work and effort worth it.”
Adam Caller
Victoria Gibbs’s employer and CEO of Tutors International, Adam Caller, comments on her professional milestone:
“I’d like to congratulate Toria on 10 years at Tutors International. I'm grateful for her continuous hard work and loyalty. She has always adapted and excelled in her role. She has been a real asset to the company's development over the last decade. I hope she'll continue to lend her expertise and commitment well into TI's future."
