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Meet the board: Ed Gale

Ed Gale has been on the Big Life board since 2020. We caught up with him to find out more about his day job, the contribution he makes to the group, and how being part of the Big Life family has shaped him…

Hi Ed, could you tell us a little bit about your career so far?

I started out at Ernst and Young, one of the big four accountancy firms, within their audit department. I did a finance degree, and that was quite a typical move.

Just before qualification, some 15 years ago now, I moved into the corporate finance team where I have been focused ever since, first within Ernst and Young, including three years in Singapore, and then more recently Clearwater, where I’ve been since 2022 and I’m now a Partner

How did you come to be on the Big Life board?

I’ve been involved with Big Life for around seven years, starting as a trustee of Big Life Schools Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). Nearly five years ago, I was asked to join the group board.

When I first joined the MAT, I didn’t know much about Big Life, but I found out about the group through my then Managing Partner at Ernst and Young when they sent an email to our team to see if anyone would be interested. I had just returned from Singapore, and as my parents both worked in education, I felt it was an opportunity that fit me well.

Education has always been an important focus for me and my family. I’m passionate that schools should be places where everyone has the same opportunities, and I quickly found that Big Life Schools are places where that ethos is very central to the way they work. So that was my way into Big Life, and then I was really glad to join the board and see how that same approach is present in everything the group does.

How do you think your role at Big Life and your day job relate?

That’s a good question. I typically work helping businesses and shareholders realise value, and that is centred on the economic value from a transaction, meaning this is where I focus my attention. So, I think one of the things I really enjoy about Big Life is that people have different perspectives when we sit around the board table.

Although my insight on the board comes from my finance background—thinking strategically while balancing that with any risks—other people bring alternative perspectives about individuals’ experiences and the way our services can support them. There’s a very human side to decision-making that I can bring back into my day job as well.

That financial expertise must have been very useful in financially challenging situations. How do you see the way you support the group to manage its financial position?

I’m on the Risk and Audit committee, and one of the fundamental roles is to make sure that there is we are optimising the cash within the business. But that’s a balance because, of course, you have to make sure that we are continually growing as a group, as an example through continual operational improvements, with having the right level of reserves so that Big Life can continue to be robust, deliver services and meet unexpected challenges such as pay increases.

At the same time, you have to balance that with ensuring you deliver first-class services, and that means not cutting corners. It’s so important to have sufficient reserves, but we also need to ask how those are being used to innovate and ultimately benefit people and communities.

What do you make of the composition of the board? Have you seen it evolve since you joined?

There has definitely been change, but at the same time, what I really like is there’s a strong backbone of the team. So, in Edna [Robinson, the group’s chair], who has been on the board a a number of years, you’ve got fantastic experience across the sector, which means that she knows how to support the organisation and when to provide challenge.

Where there have been changes – for instance, with Rebecca Gibbons moving from Deputy Finance Director to Finance Director, we took a lot of time and care. It was something that we were planning for at least 12 months in advance, giving her opportunities to take on more responsibility. As a result, that transition felt almost seamless, and she has been excellent in that role.

In the last few years, we have also had new non-exec board members join us. I think that keeps us fresh and gives us new and unique perspectives, whether that’s Mike Burrows, joining with a wealth of NHS experience, or Liam Symonds, who is impressive in terms of the legal perspective he can offer us.

Then you have someone like Louise [Grant, the group’s non-exec Medical Director], and her skillset is so helpful for me. Something like safeguarding isn’t something I have lots of experience in, so having her around the table is vital or Andy [Rafferty, the groups Chair of Risk and Audit Committee], with his IT background that has been really important across the last 12 months

Across the board though, the main thing you can see is that everyone lives and breathes the Big Life values. It might be that my expertise and background is different to Louise or Mike, and will inevitably be more focused on finance, but everyone has that common thread in terms of the values, and everyone’s individual perspectives are vital in steering the group forward.

Do you think being on the Big Life board has changed you professionally or more generally?

I’d like to think that I already had many of the Big Life values, which is why I wanted to get involved. But it’s given me a greater awareness of some of the challenges that lots of people have in terms of accessing first-class services.

Above all, it’s given me the opportunity to sit around a board that otherwise I wouldn’t have had at a relatively young age. That’s been hugely developmental for me in terms of my career. I’ve grown from feeling quite new as a MAT trustee to feeling confident sitting around the table, giving my input, and supporting the group to be the best it can be.