Overview

When Mike Baird was named Cybersecurity Excellence Cybersecurity Executive of the Year in 2023, he did so because his impact at Red Education had already been transformative – both for the company and for the industry.
Baird joined Red Education in February 2020, just as COVID-19 was all but shutting down the training industry, and was tasked with rebuilding the business and restructuring its systems and processes across all regions. It was a case of transformation or extinction.
Taking Red Education from a classroom-based to a virtual instructor-led training model, Baird led behavioural change, instilling a student-centric culture of adaptability.
In 2023, Mike Baird became CEO of Red Education, with achievements including new training provider agreements with CyberArk, Extreme Networks, Cisco and Zscaler and leading significant business expansion into new territories, including the UAE, Europe and the Americas.
As CEO, Baird has a strong sense of purpose for Red Education, with a fundamental belief in the importance of high-quality training in cybersecurity, as our sector struggles with skill shortages leaving organisations vulnerable to attack.
Under Baird, company revenue increased by 32% and student numbers increased by 29% from 2023 to 2024. The company has achieved a 4.8-star rating, reaching 3,000 student reviews in March 2024. Our social media following has increased from 20,000 in 2023 to over 35,000 today, and Red Education expanded its CSR program, added Laptops4Learning in the US and four scholarships for women.
In the last year, the company has also been awarded:
• two International Stevie Awards August 2023
• Palo Alto Networks Authorised Global Training Partner of the Year 2023
• Nutanix Best Performing and Highest Quality APAC Authorised Training Partner of the Year 2023
• Check Point Authorised Training Company of the Year 2023
• Globee Awards for Cybersecurity Gold Awards for Customer Satisfaction and Innovation Excellence