About Us
Maple Bear international schools offer full Canadian programs utilizing Canadian methodology and curriculum developed by our own experts from the ground up for preschool.
We take our responsibility to our students and their parents very seriously. Strict quality controls ensure we deliver the very best Canadian practices in education in all our international schools.
Global International Schools
There are currently more than 58,617 students in 421 Maple Bear Early Childhood, Elementary, and High Schools operating in Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Brazil, China (Mainland and Hong Kong SAR), Guatemala, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, USA, and Vietnam.
We will be opening soon in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Greece, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Uzbekistan.
Maple Bear arrived in the United States in 2014. There are currently Maple Bear early learning centers in Arizona and Texas.
Maple Bear Global Schools has offices in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto in Canada as well as subsidiary offices on all continents.
Maple Bear USA
Janel Villegas
Implementation Manager
Janel’s love for children has been the guiding force in her life, education and career. Her varied international experiences in education, training, and business development in the early childhood industry have taken her around the world to interact with a variety of individuals from multiple nationalities and cultures. Her background and education in the Early Childhood Years and Administration includes being a teacher, and a principle or director of five nursery/preschool centers. Janel’s experience as a trainer in the Child Development Association (CDA) courses allowed her to share her international experiences in education best practices from around the world. She is in the unique position to relate to parents, teachers, and administrators with her experience in having taught, trained, and led in the Canadian, EYFS British, and American curriculums.
While living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), she worked in preschool centers that had her take the lead in training and development of staff, as well as spearhead projects and award winning accolades. She applied her skills at writing and presenting to contribute toward winning the Dubai Quality Award, The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award, Arabian CSR Award, Dubai Human Development Award, Dubai Women Establishment Award, SME Customer Focus Award, and the SME People and Culture Award. She was also part of the team that prepared centers for the ISO 9001 audit, and was instrumental for establishing the European Foundation for Quality Management Model across all the centers.
Janel has applied her extensive business experience of over 20 years, and her Master of Business Administration (MBA) with an emphasis in entrepreneurship & franchising to provide Early Childhood centers with not only quality assurance and academic excellence, but has also helped centers achieve excellence as an organization in serving the community.
Her business development experience with preschools includes being the Corporate Business Strategist for the largest preschool chain in the Middle East, and the UAE Regional Academic Director for Maple Bear, a rapidly expanding Canadian global education that has over 300 centers in more than 17 countries. After living abroad for 20 years, she is excited to return home to Dallas Texas and continue her relationship with Maple Bear in expanding in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Judy Hiebert
Virtual Academic Director
Judy served in Manitoba schools for over thirty years at the Kindergarten – Grade 6 level. She valued her experiences as a classroom teacher, resource teacher, vice-principal and principal. Judy holds a Masters in Education (Administration), Post-Baccalaureate (Special Education) and a Bachelor of Education.
Excited to continue engaging her passion for education, she joined the Maple Bear team in Fall 2017. Judy is presently a trainer in Brazil and a Virtual Academic Director for Maple Bear Global Schools. Her experience has been exciting, challenging and very rewarding.
Judy believes that meaningful relationships are the building blocks for a positive learning environment and that curiosity and creativity are essential to the learning experience. She also recognizes that ensuring learning for children is best achieved through facilitating teamwork and providing professional development for all teachers and staff.
Judy lives in Steinbach, Manitoba with her husband, a professor of sociology. Their two adult sons and daughter-in-law bring much joy to her life. Her avocational interests include hiking, swimming, reading, gardening, and travelling.
Veronica Araujo
Marketing Analyst
Veronica is skilled in Social Media Management, Video and Image editing, Paid advertising, Google Analytics, and E-mail marketing. Although originally from Venezuela, she spent time studying in Belgium, giving her valuable intercultural experience that helps her effectively connect with diverse audiences. She has an A.A. in Business Administration and is currently pursuing a degree in Public Relations, Advertising, and Communications with a minor in social media and E-commerce.
Harry Bell
Virtual Academic Director
Harry lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with his family. He has worked in public and private education for 39 years – as a classroom teacher, Art and Physical Education specialist, Student Services teacher, Teacher-Librarian, K - 12 Curriculum Coordinator, Divisional Citizenship and Community Partnerships Coordinator, school administrator, and trainer. He has worked in both English and French Immersion schools throughout his career. Meeting new people and sharing in the love of learning is what draws him time and again to working with students, teachers, support staff, administrators, families, and community partners. Rather than striving to be an “out-of-the-box” thinker, Harry suggests the box should be thrown away altogether, in favor of limitless possibilities to influence excellence in education.
Lori Green
Director of Maple Bear Tempe (Tempe, Arizona)
Prior to becoming Director of Maple Bear Tempe, Lori worked in several child care centers in both Washington and Arizona in a variety of functions, including cook, caregiver, school age coordinator and Summer Program specialist. Her work with Woodland Community schools after school program was later implemented into their elementary schools. From 1998 until 2014 she worked for Summa Associates/Bright Horizons, as the Infant/Toddler program coordinator, as well as Assistant Director.
Lori studied Early Childhood Education at both Clark Community College and Maricopa Community College. She has worked at Maple Bear Tempe since 2014 and played an instrumental role in opening the center.
Katherine Senase
Director of Maple Bear Justin Road (Lewisville, Texas)
Katherine’s passion to work with children started at a young age by observing her mother be a preschool teacher. Katherine has been working in childcare for the past 12 years as an Assistant Teacher, Lead Teacher, Office Assistant and Director. She has been the Director of Maple Bear Justin Road since 2019 when the first Maple Bear opened in Texas.
Katherine has an Associates in Child Development and her Texas Director Certification.
Belinda Corona
Assistant Director of Maple Bear Tempe (Tempe, Arizona)
Belinda has worked in childcare for over 15 years and has had many changing roles through the years. She started working at Maple Bear Tempe in 2014 and played a key role in the opening of the center. While at Maple Bear, she has worked as an Assistant Teacher, Lead Teacher, Coordinator, Kitchen Manager as well as various supervisory roles.
Belinda has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She believes wholeheartedly in the importance of quality early childhood programs, and finds purpose in applying her experience and knowledge to this field of work.
Stephanie Chamberlin
Assistant Director & Curriculum Coordinator of Maple Bear Justin Road (Lewisville, Texas)
Stephanie has 12 years’ experience in childcare. She has been with Maple Bear Justin Road since it opened in Texas in 2019, and she serves as the Curriculum Coordinator and a Director at the Lewisville location. She attributes her love for teaching to her mother, who has been a preschool teacher for many years. Stephanie has a certification in Criminal Justice and has studied Early Education at Dallas Community College. She recently received her Director’s Certification.
Maple Bear Faculty
The University of Winnipeg Faculty of Education and Maple Bear Global Schools have been in academic cooperation since 2014. The Faculty of Education at The University of Winnipeg delivers General Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Education (PBDE) courses online and in-person to students who have been admitted to programs offered in collaboration with Maple Bear schools. A number of Maple Bear teachers have graduated with a PBDE through The University of Winnipeg Satellite Teacher Education Program offered in various schools throughout Brazil.
Founders
Rodney Briggs
Co-Founder
A graduate of the University of Manitoba with an MA in Political Science, Rodney served as a Canadian diplomat from 1981 to 1996 with postings to Canada's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the Kingdom of Thailand, the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea. He also served as President of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
In 1996, he joined the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada as the Vice-President responsible for the Canadian Education Centre Network project and in 1997 became the first President of the newly-formed non-profit company, the Canadian Education Centre Network. In this capacity he was responsible for building the network from three centres in the Asia-Pacific region into an entity with a presence in 17 countries spanning the globe. While with the CEC Network, Rodney conceived and developed the Maple Bear education system. In March 2007, he purchased Maple Bear from the CEC Network.
As President of Maple Bear Global Schools he traveled extensively, expanding Maple Bear’s global footprint to over twenty countries.
In March 2021, Rodney retired from his operating role as President & CEO of Maple Bear Global Schools. He remains active as board member and a shareholder in the company.
Gerald Macleod
Co-Founder
Gerald Macleod held both a B.A. and B.Ed from the University of Saskatchewan, a Masters degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, and a Masters of Education (second language and immersion specialization) from the University of Manitoba. In addition he held a Diplôme d’études françaises from the Université de Poitiers, and a Diplôme d’études internationales et du développement from the Université de Toulouse, France. He also received numerous academic awards, including the Government of France scholarship for Graduate Study in France.
His education credentials were extensive, beginning as a teacher in Montreal, Saskatoon and Winnipeg; as Vice-Principal and Principal at all levels of the Winnipeg school system and as a university professor of Education Administration at the Collège universitaire de Saint Boniface, Manitoba.
Gerald served as School District Director of International Education in Winnipeg; Director of International Education in the Department of Advanced Education for the Province of Manitoba, and as a consultant in international education globally. He frequently presented on international education topics to teachers, principals and school boards.
Gerald passed away in early 2021.
Giving Back
As part of this commitment, Maple Bear also believes in giving back in the countries in which we operate by donating charitable funds to local education initiatives impacting on children and families.
In addition to funding projects, the Maple Bear curriculum incorporates themes of social responsibility and community service so that students at Maple Bear schools are exposed to the concept and undertake age appropriate activities. The goal is to turn a whole generation of students on to the joy of giving back.
