Scentia Logo
Scentia is a leading Australian education and training group with a portfolio of student offerings across short course programs, vocational qualifications, tertiary education, and bespoke corporate solutions that is unrivalled in scope, scale, and delivery.
About scentia
About Scentia
The rate at which transformation is occurring today in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is unprecedented. As change accelerates there is a massive societal need to equip people with
‘future skills’.

Employers’ views on the value of skill currency has shifted in this new reality. They need workers who can continually reskill over their entire career span. For teams to function well in the fast-changing environment, individuals need excellent soft skill development. Digital skills will be required across all jobs, while new jobs will be rapidly created. Lifelong learning is increasingly seen as the solution to the challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Our Vision
Be the most relevant future skills training business in Australia.
Scentia
2 x Registered Training Organisations
1  REGISTERED TRAINING ORGANISATION
2 x Higher Education Licenses
2 x INSTITUTES
OF 
HIGHER EDUCATION
200+ Future Skills Courses
200+ FUTURE SKILLS COURSES
Established Corporate Relationships
ESTABLISHED CORPORATE RELATIONSHIPS
Unrivalled Delivery Modalities
UNRIVALLED DELIVERY MODALITIES
Our Brands
AIM Logo
About AIM

The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) has developed the skills and knowledge of Australia’s business leaders, current and emerging, since 1941. Over 80 years, AIM’s portfolio has grown to include hundreds of training programs across 10 distinct faculties. These programs range from single-day short courses to advanced Diploma programs, and are delivered at AIM Campuses in major cities around the nation, as well as online and through virtual classrooms.
AIM Business School Logo
About AIM Business School

AIM Business School is the accredited higher education arm of the Australian Institute of Management, which focuses on the delivery of postgraduate business and management qualifications.

AIM Business School offers a range of tertiary qualifications that are designed for working professionals, including specialised Graduate Certificate programs that all articulate towards the Master of Business Administration.
ACHW Logo
About ACHW

The Australasian College of Health and Wellness (ACHW) is a nationally accredited higher education training institute that offers the highest level of qualification in Applied Health Science available in Australia. ACHW’s qualifications range from Undergraduate Certificates through to the Associate Degree in Applied Health Science (Dermal Therapy) and the Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Clinical Aesthetics).
AIM Public Sector Logo
About AIM Public Sector
AIM Public Sector is committed to providing Australia’s government and civic workforce with the professional development that is designed specifically for the unique nature and intricacies of the public sector. AIM Public Sector is supported by the expertise of the Centre for Public Management, a dedicated public sector leadership and development group.
ACHW Logo
About ACHW
The Australasian College of Health and Wellness (ACHW) is a nationally accredited higher education training institute that offers the highest level of qualification in Applied Health Science available in Australia. ACHW’s qualifications range from Undergraduate Certificates to the Bachelor of Applied Health Science (Clinical Aesthetics).

Our Board

James Murphy, Chairman

James Murphy is a Partner of Next Capital. Based in Sydney Australia, Next Capital is a leading independent Australian private equity firm investing in growth-focused Australasian companies. Next Capital is the major shareholder of Scentia, which is the holding company for the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) and the Australasian College of Health & Wellness (ACHW).

Mr Murphy has substantial experience as a director and chairman, with current or historical roles across businesses including Alloggio (tourism), Country Care (assisted technology distribution), Jucy (tourism), Eptec (asset remediation), Interhealthcare (allied health), NZ Bus (public transport), Iseek (data centres), Funlab (out of home entertainment), Lynch Flowers (flower distribution), Forest Coach Lines (public transport), Infinite Aged Care (residential aged care), Scottish Pacific (financial services) and GoBus (public transportation).

Prior to his time at Next Capital, Mr Murphy worked in corporate finance at UBS and Grant Samuel, and was a strategy consultant at Accenture.

James holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales.

Bing Jiang, Director

Bing Jiang is a Partner at Next Capital. Based in Sydney Australia, Next Capital is a leading independent Australian private equity firm investing in growth-focused Australasian companies.

Bing has substantial experience as a director, with current or historical roles across businesses including as a chair of Enviropacific (environment remediation), Alloggio (tourism), and Funlab (out of home entertainment).

Prior to Next Capital, Bing worked in the M&A team at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, executing numerous M&A and IPO transactions involving private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, and banks.

Bing has a Bachelor of Commerce, and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Queensland.

Mark Baldassarre

Mark is the Managing Director of the Silverfern Group.

Mark brings over 25 years of private equity and international banking experience to Scentia. He has extensive experience in the acquisition, integration, and expansion of businesses as well as providing strategic direction to company boards and management teams.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Mark has successfully invested in numerous businesses and industries including defense, healthcare, engineering services, consumer goods, logistics, warehousing, waste management, tourism, telecommunications, and media.

Prior to Silverfern, Mark was a Partner with ABN AMRO Capital Management Australia and Director with ABN AMRO Capital Amsterdam, a private equity fund, where he was involved in private equity, private debt, and venture capital transactions in Europe, the United States, and South Africa.

Mark holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Monash University in Melbourne and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Arvid Petersen

Arvid Petersen is Chairman of Petersen Group. Based in Sydney Australia, Petersen Group is a diversified investment company focussing on private equity, private debt, global equities, property and other family office related entities. Their private equity investments are primarily in private education and hospitality.

Mr Petersen has had a long and successful history in private education with his first investment in 1994. A founding shareholder of Study Group Australia, Mr Petersen led the growth of the company prior to selling to Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) in 2003.

In 2006 Mr Petersen partnered with CHAMP private equity to buy the global operations of Study Group. After growing the business significantly over the ensuing five years, the company was then sold to Providence Equity Partners in 2010. Mr Petersen remained on the board and retained a significant shareholding until the company was sold to Ardian in 2019.

Prior to his involvement in private education, Mr Petersen spent many years in the soft drink industry with Pepsi Cola, coming to Australia from Canada in 1989 to establish Pepsi Cola Bottlers Australia, where he was the founding Managing Director.

Mr Petersen serves on the boards of Scentia Education and the Petersen Family Foundation.

Martin Mercer, CEO and Director

For the decade up to 2020, Martin was the CEO and MD of two high-growth businesses. More recently, he was the CEO of a start-up disrupting the legal practice management industry. He has successfully led a disruptive challenger brand during its scale-up phase, an incumbent internet services business through a turnaround and ultimate transformation into a leading digital services business, and a start-up taking an innovative SaaS platform to market.

In addition to a dozen years of CEO experience, Martin has enjoyed senior leadership roles in functional areas including sales, marketing, product management, channel management, business development, and strategy and planning. This experience was acquired in both B2B and B2C contexts.

Martin is responsible for the performance of Scentia and its operating businesses.

Andrew Mills, Director

Andrew is the CEO and Founder of Roland Investments, an investment and consulting company specialising in the for-profit education sector, financial management and driving growth in SMEs.

Prior to founding Roland Investments, Andrew was the longest serving executive director at global education provider, Study Group. Over a period of 17 years, as part of the executive management team, Andrew was instrumental in the growth of the business from a UK one-school, 80-student start-up college to a leading global education group. During this time, he lived in the UK, USA and Australia.

Prior to his time at Study Group, Andrew was involved with a number of multinational companies within the healthcare, automotive and financial services sectors.

Andrew is currently a Non Executive Director of Endeavour College of Natural Therapies.

Andrew is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Directors.

Our Leadership Team

Martin Mercer
Chief Executive Officer
Scentia tenure: 1 year
Previous roles include:
CEO, Nebulaw Pty Ltd
CEO, Arq Group (formerly Melbourne IT)
CEO, vividwireless Pty Ltd
Warren Creighton, Acting CEO and CFO
Warren Creighton
Chief Financial Officer
Scentia tenure: 8 years
Previous roles include:
Finance Director, Study Group
Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Steven Smith, Executive Director AIM
Steve Smith
Executive Director, AIM Future Skills
& Chief Technology Officer
Scentia tenure: 6 years
Previous roles include:
Director, Solution Experience, Adobe
Director, Product Management, Cisco
Candice Heskey, Executive Director ACHW
Candice Heskey
Executive Director, ACHW
Scentia tenure: 7 years
Previous roles include:
General Manager, SAS Laser and
Skin clinics
Head of Faculty – Laser/IPL, The Australasian College of Health & Wellness
Jess Houston
Executive Director, AIM VET
Scentia tenure: 7 years
Previous roles include:
Chief Operating Officer,
Clark Equipment Australia
Commercial Manager, AIM
Head of Finance, Ivy College
Professor Sabina Ćerimagić
Professor Sabina Ćerimagić
Executive Dean and Executive Director, AIM Business School
Scentia tenure: 2 years
Previous roles include:
Deputy Academic Director, Business Co-Design, Business Faculty - The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
Trenton Barnier, Director of Marketing
Trenton Barnier
Chief Marketing Officer
Scentia tenure: 5 years
Previous roles include:
Product Marketing Manager, ABS
Senior Channel Marketing Analyst, Gartner
Liz Douglas, Head of People and Culture
Liz Douglas
Head of People and Culture
Scentia tenure: 6 years
Previous roles include:
Head of People and Culture, CareerOne
HR Specialist, CareerOne
Michael Kumar, Head of Technology
Michael Kumar
Head of Technology
Scentia tenure: 20 years
Previous roles include:
Financial Accountant, AIM
Business Analyst, Scentia
Samantha Turley
Chief Sales Officer
Scentia tenure: joined in 2024
Previous roles include:
Regional Sales Director, Salesforce and Managing Director - Australia, Traction on Demand

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