Our leadership team is committed to align all the strategic areas of the school with the mission statement, the heart of ISD. Read about the experience that our leaders bring to the school in their profiles.
My name is Tom McLean and I am honored to introduce myself as the Director at ISD. My application to Debrecen was inspired by the vision for ISD to be a key factor in the development of its region. I have learned, through conversations with ISD students, parents, teachers and administrators, how much the school means to the Debrecen community. There is a powerful desire to create a school culture in which everyone grows and that students develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to become successful contributors to society. I strongly believe that together we can leverage the International Baccalaureate (IB) to build a school culture in which everyone can flourish.
My understanding of international education has been shaped by seventeen years of experience teaching, learning and leading in five vastly different schools in Europe, Africa, South East Asia, and the Middle East. This experience has taught me that the IB provides an outstanding infrastructure on which to build a school that teaches students to think for themselves, care for others, and act in the best interests of all. I believe my most important role as Director is to help create the conditions in which our community can learn together as individuals and as an organization. Our community must build a shared vision, goals, and strategies around a common understanding of the IB but first we must take the time to learn about and care for each other.
My Scottish-Hungarian family are deeply invested in the success of ISD. Abi, my wife has a teaching role in the Kindergarten and our sons Jack and Sean joined the PYP at ISD. Abi and I are both global citizens with an interest in people and a taste for adventure. We met in The Gambia in 2006, while I was working in my first international teaching role and she was conducting cultural anthropological research on behalf of ELTE university.
Sean and Jack were both born during our time in the Philippines. They are kind, happy, and active boys with a love for sports, particularly football. They have benefited enormously from their international education thus far, but we believe ISD will add a new dimension by helping them to consolidate their identity as global citizens. Jack and Sean are native English speakers, but we have been committed to them becoming bilingual since their birth. Abi only speaks with them in Hungarian and we believe that immersion in the Debrecen community will result in them becoming native Hungarian speakers as well. Bilingualism will enable our children to become truly internationally minded by enabling them to think from multiple cultural perspectives.
Lucille Burden
MS-HS Director
Barbara works as ISD’s Head of Human Resources and Compliance. She is responsible for defining and implementing the HR strategy of the School, ranging from recruitment through HR management systems to all other aspects of employee relations.
In the compliance field she ensures that ISD has a solid framework for meeting a variety of regulatory and other, accreditation requirements as a key pillar of the school’s operational excellence initiative.
Barbara’s previous work experience includes legal, compliance and HR roles, both in Hungary and abroad. She worked as an in-house Legal Counsel of the Hungarian Customs Authority, as a Court Secretary supervising the legal compliant operations of non-profit organizations in Hajdu-Bihar County and as an HR project specialist while living in the UK for a US multinational company in the technology sector.
She studied business administration and HR management while living in Austin, Texas for 18 months. She graduated as a lawyer from the University of Debrecen in 2002, passed her Hungarian legal bar exams in 2007, earned a mediator degree in 2022, and she is finishing her LLM in HR Management in December, 2023. As a life-long learner herself, a heartfelt cause for Barbara is supporting mothers to continue to train themselves even while at home with small children and encouraging them to successfully return to building a career. Barbara is a proud mother of two teenagers, loves traveling and playing tennis in her free time with her children and her husband.
Zoltán has always been interested in numbers and economics, he made his economics degree at International Business School in Budapest. Before ISD he spent 15 years at various multinational companies where he gained several years of experience in controlling, financial analysis, data management, and project management.
He joined to ISD as Finance Manager in 2021 and was promoted to Business Manager in 2022.
He joined to ISD as Finance Manager in 2021 and was promoted to Business Manager in 2022.
Being a professional project manager with 10+ years of startup experience in strategic planning, HR, marketing and branding Katalin was on of the first employees of ISD and helped to establish the school from scratch. She is keen on implementing ideas that result in community improvement and social change in the long run.
She has three master degrees: she graduated as a PYP teacher in 2000, in 2005 she received her European Expert diploma at University of Debrecen, Human and Social Sciences, finally in 2022 she became an HR Expert and earned her third diploma at University of Debrecen, Faculty of Law.
During her career she obtained several professional qualifications, such as General Data Protection Expert and Consumer Protection Expert. She began as a PYP teacher but after the birth of her two children, she started working in online media covering four countries. She organized Wedding Exhibitions in three counties between 2007 - 2010.
Then she moved retail sales, where she worked as a Deputy Manager of a hypermarket franchise. During this time she was asked to coordinate the Hungarian distribution of a British retail company from Debrecen: she actively participated in the opening of 13 stores in Hungary, trained managers, second level managers and was awarded with the title of ‘Europe's store manager’.
She started to work at ISD in 2018 as Communication and HR Manager, brought all her professional experience, communication and organizational skills, enthusiasm and cheerful personality to ISD. She became part of the Leadership Team and is responsible for the Admission and Communication of ISD.
She has three master degrees: she graduated as a PYP teacher in 2000, in 2005 she received her European Expert diploma at University of Debrecen, Human and Social Sciences, finally in 2022 she became an HR Expert and earned her third diploma at University of Debrecen, Faculty of Law.
During her career she obtained several professional qualifications, such as General Data Protection Expert and Consumer Protection Expert. She began as a PYP teacher but after the birth of her two children, she started working in online media covering four countries. She organized Wedding Exhibitions in three counties between 2007 - 2010.
Then she moved retail sales, where she worked as a Deputy Manager of a hypermarket franchise. During this time she was asked to coordinate the Hungarian distribution of a British retail company from Debrecen: she actively participated in the opening of 13 stores in Hungary, trained managers, second level managers and was awarded with the title of ‘Europe's store manager’.
She started to work at ISD in 2018 as Communication and HR Manager, brought all her professional experience, communication and organizational skills, enthusiasm and cheerful personality to ISD. She became part of the Leadership Team and is responsible for the Admission and Communication of ISD.
