Zelmira Koch Polk (Senior Advisor) is the managing director of the Hearth Advisors, a global education and healthcare advisory firm. Zelmira specialises in company turnaround, growth, strategic acquisition/integration with focus on international market entry. Zelmira leads the Ed/Health tech teams and working on AI impact on sectors. She has spent the last 20 years working closely with governments and private sectors globally restructuring and building education and healthcare systems and businesses. Zelmira spent the first part of her career working in crisis management with Dilenschneider Group and M&A banking at Credit Suisse First Boston before focusing on education and health. Zelmira founded and ran the international division of Chartwell Education Group, international consulting firm established by former Secretary of Education Rod Paige.
Zelmira is a Chartered Director and serves on the board of directors of Obrizum Group, an AI-powered adaptive online professional training group, AIDG Genomics, a diagnostics company focused on oncology, hereditary and infectious diseases, and the advisory board of World Innovation Summit (WISE).
Zelmira previously served on the board of EdTech X Holdings, the world’s first publicly listed SPAC focused on education, ARFA Röhrenwerke AG, a Swiss steel company, served on international advisory council of the International Crisis Group and Oxford Weidenfeld-Hoffman Scholarship Trust.
