Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri

Hailing from a business family, Mrs. Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri, founded the Beaconhouse School System in 1975 which is the largest and oldest private school system in Pakistan, perhaps even in South Asia. It is spread over 30 Cities throughout the country and overseas and has a student body nearing two hundred thousand and a staff exceeding fifteen thousand. Beaconhouse prepares its student for the Cambridge ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels as well as the local Matriculation examinations.

Nasreen Kasuri did her Bachelor’s in Applied Psychology and History from Kinnaird College, Lahore. She then studied Child Psychology at the postgraduate level at the Punjab University. She has also done her Master in Business Administration (MBA) and holds a joint degree issued by the Universities of NYU (USA), LSE (UK), and HEC (France).

It is hard to imagine that Beaconhouse had its beginnings in a small nursery set up by Mrs Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri in 1975, which is now one of the largest school systems in the world, with a presence in 9 countries, Beaconhouse has spearheaded the introduction of a progressive, broad-based approach to education and the concept of global citizens, besides making a significant contribution to the transformation of private education in Pakistan.

She has also played a pivotal role in women’s empowerment in the country. Over sixty per cent of Beaconhouse employees are women, with a very high percentage in upper management. Beaconhouse places great emphasis on the professional development of teachers and has its own very successful teacher training programme set up in collaboration with leading UK universities.

Nasreen Kasuri has served on the Boards of many government and non-government organisations. Actively involved in a number of non-profit and charity organisations, she received the Sitara-e-Eisaar from the Government of Pakistan in 2006 for her philanthropic and humanitarian contributions. She is currently also Chairperson of Pakistan’s first liberal arts university, the non-profit Beaconhouse National University.

In September 2012, Nasreen Kasuri received the Woman Power 100 award in London. Pakistan Power 100 is an event that honours the achievements and contributions of influential men and women from within the international Pakistani community, and recognises the positive impact they have had on a local, national and international level.