Chief Executive
Falmer, England, Gb
Chaired the steering group from which National Numeracy arose during my earnout period at Oxford University Press. Secured seed funding from Nationwide Building Society and built a Trustee board including Lord Claus Moser, John Griffith Jones and more recently Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England. Identified a gap in government-funded provision and built the team to create a free online tool to assess and address poor numeracy. Launched the National Numeracy Challenge in 2014, over 285,000 adults have engaged to date. Established relationships across government departments and with other senior stakeholders such as Chris Woolard at the FCA, Sir Charlie Mayfield (ex-Chairman of John Lewis) at BeTheBusiness, Doug Gurr CEO of Amazon UK, Shriti Vadera at Santander and Frances O’Grady at the TUC. Built relationships with over two hundred partner organisations now including 40 NHS Trusts. Secured support from partners such as Martin Lewis and MoneySavingExpert.com for the launch of inaugural National Numeracy Day, leading to over 25,000 adults to start their journey to improved numeracy. Frequently interviewed on radio and television.Developed and launched commercial products and services, which are gaining traction with NHS Trusts in particular. Income generated through commercial revenue, project funding, National Numeracy Day supporters and multi-year strategic partnerships including TP ICAP and most recently Santander. As founding Chief Executive, I have been directly responsible for securing over £9m in funding.