David P. A. Gravells

Profile

Experienced portfolio entrepreneur, chairman and company director with extensive, proven expertise in leading and transforming organisations across a wide spectrum of businesses and leadership roles in the ‘not for profit’ sectors

Areas of Expertise

• Creation and implementation of strategic and business development plans
• Corporate and board governance
• Leadership and the strengthening of senior management teams
• Inculcation of powerful corporate cultures
• Change Management and ‘100 day plans’
• Senior role in ‘Arm’s Length Bodies’
• M&A, Investment and funding
• Company rescues and turnaround
• Coaching and mentoring of boards and senior management
• Committed exponent of impactive ESG policies including board and senior management equality and diversity
• Leadership in Secondary and tertiary education
• Leveraging of personal networks to add commercial value
• ‘Digital by default’ transformation
• Leadership in publicly quoted companies
• Managing in the public and ‘third’ sector
• Quasi-judicial roles  

Accomplishments

• chairing, directing and managing over 20 SME companies achieving a demonstrable track record of: multiple personal investment in company acquisition; enhancement of shareholder value; and the exiting of businesses across multiple sectors including food services, facilities management, retail, CNC engineering and aerospace manufacturing, security systems, electronic engineering, international trading of commercial printing machinery, printing and publishing, vehicle security, commercial kitchen and restaurant design, printing and publishing, domestic fitted furniture, bathrooms and kitchens
• currently chairing a publicly quoted generalist venture capital trust, with funds under management of £85mn invested in approximately 40 companies with regular new investment and realisation activity, consistently achieving high yields for investors
• previously non-executive director and chair of Remuneration and Organisational Design Committee of the Student Loans Company (SLC), which is responsible for providing £18 billion per annum in funding for the Higher and Further Education Sectors and managing an asset book of more than £130 billion, representing an outstanding public policy success; instrumental role in implementing the SLC’s major transformation programme including successfully conducting very sensitive, high level and public disciplinary issues
• proactive personal ‘hands on’ control of critical operational issues in a variety of businesses, achieving inter alia; the remedying of ineffective and inefficient organisational structures and the reduction of overhead costs; launching and and implementing entry into mature markets as a disruptor; significant reduction in customer concentrations; sensitively resolving damaging interpersonal relationships; the prompt replacement of underperforming senior managers; restructuring and recovery of bank debt
• previously chair of the Trustees of the Grammar School at Leeds, the UK’s largest independent co-educational school: Voted ‘Outstanding Governing Body of the Year 2012’ and Sunday Times Northern ‘Independent School of the Decade 2020’
• previously a Justice of the Peace and Chair of the Harrogate and Skipton Bench
• appointed a member of the Parole Board for England and Wales