Kaplan Professional has appointed a new chief executive for its Australian operations, Neil Shilbury.

“I am delighted that Neil has decided to join us during this exciting period in Kaplan’s growth in Australia. Neil will immediately add value to the business due to his understanding of the financial services industry, his contacts, and exceptional strategic and leadership skills,” said the president of Kaplan’s Asia Pacific operations, Mark Coggins.

Shilbury was the managing director of corporate banking at Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) and was its previous head of business banking for New South Wales and Queensland. He also worked at ANZ investment bank as the joint head of its leverage finance unit and has held various other roles across ANZ in corporate and institutional banking.

“[This year] will be a challenging year for the Kaplan Professional unit in Australia. However, we believe Neil will leverage current market opportunities and build strength in our core focus areas of distribution, student experience and product development,” Coggins said.