in total the teams i have led have raised more than £80 million for education

I started out as a telephone caller for my old school - a great way to start your career in fundraising because you have to build a rapport, make a case and ask for a donation within 10-15 minutes.  So you get a lot of practice about what works (and does not work!) quite quickly.  I have always enjoyed meeting donors and potential donors and have now held over 1,000 major gift meetings.

I have been a Development Director in a boys' day school, a girls' day school and a co-educational boarding school and advised a number of state schools.  So I have the full monopoly set!  This gives me a unique breadth of experience across school fundraising, allowing me to learn and apply what works in different contexts whilst being able to support most school Development Directors wherever they work.  I have also worked in higher education.

I have led teams of one (just me for a while during a development office start up!) and teams of over 60.  So I have strong experience of both small and large teams and how to lead and manage them - including how to create the culture where fundraising can thrive. 

The teams I have led have created campaigns ranging from £10m to £400m and in total they have raised more than £80m for education.  They have won awards and have broken records.  In all cases the teams I have led have doubled their fundraising returns. 

Most importantly of all this fundraising has had real-life impact on people and some of the biggest challenges we all face.  Donors I have worked with have funded bursaries for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and built sixth form centres, sports facilities and libraries.