S02 E06 | Full Circle: Mark Smith’s Journey at Ada College

In this episode of the Inspiring Working Lives podcast, we sit down with Mark Smith, who went from being one of Ada College’s first students to now shaping its programs as part of the staff team. Mark shares his journey of growth, resilience, and the full-circle moments that define his story. 

We talk about Ada’s growth from a single sixth form to a multi-region college, the challenges of tech education, and how Mark approaches leadership, social purpose, and turning ideas into real opportunities.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Hello and welcome to the Morgan Hunt Inspiring Working Lives Podcast. Today's guest is Mark Smith, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of ADA, the National College of Digital Skills, a specialist further education college focused on preparing young people for careers in technology. Mark began his career as part of the inaugural Teach First cohort in 2003, teaching in schools serving disadvantaged communities. This experience gave him first-hand insight into the challenges facing young people and the gap between education and the skills demanded by modern employers. After teaching, Mark worked with Lloyd's Banking Group in the UK and South Africa before returning to the education and social impact sector. He later completed a master's degree in education at Harvard University and worked with the Future Leaders Trust, supporting the development of school leadership across the UK. Inspired by his classroom experience and exposure to industry, Mark co-founded ADA, the National College of Digital Skills, with Tom Fogdon. Established in 2016, ADA was the first new further education college in England for more than 20 years and was created to address the UK's digital skills gap through employer-designed apprenticeships and industry partnerships. Under Mark's leadership, ADA has grown into a nationally recognised institution with campuses in London and Manchester, delivering programmes in software, engineering, data analytics and cybersecurity and helping young people from all backgrounds access careers in the digital economy. Mark, thank you so much for coming into Morgan Hunt today to meet with us. I'd like to start off by asking you about your childhood. How was it and did you have career aspirations at an early age?

SPEAKER_02 2:37

First of all, thanks very much for inviting me, and it's a pleasure to be here. My childhood, um, I had fantastic parents. I was raised in a very supportive household as an only child. I have predominantly fond memories of growing up for sure. Um did I have early career aspirations? Not particularly, I can distinctly remember um when I was I think 11 or 12 years old, no, maybe a bit older, 14 or so, sitting in a room at home, and my mum was just telling me about my granddad's business, which was a carpet cleaning business actually, um, and um uh she was saying about how it had some challenges but also some opportunities. And I remember going and sitting by myself and basically writing, sort of sketching out what what I think in hindsight would have been a business plan essentially, um, for how he could double his revenue um and um grow grow the company. Um, and uh yeah, it's something I didn't think about for for many many years, but I can remember now clearly sitting down and writing that and you know, yeah, um uh thinking about how many people you would need to hire in order to be able to increase your revenue and and those sorts of things. So I wonder um if that was the my my first steps in terms of uh um being an entrepreneur and thinking about how to build organisations. That's wonderful. So that just came from nowhere.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Your your mother started talking about it, and you thought, gosh.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Yeah, I yeah, I mean yeah, I think those were the circumstances. I can definitely remember sitting down and writing because I remember I can remember writing£100,000 of revenue and then getting to like a hundred uh a million pounds worth of revenue. Um and I always remember the reason I think I thought about it was because I raised the well, I wrote the business plan for Ada and I raised£100,000 to that was like the first uh philanthropic donation to get the college off the ground, so um uh yeah that was the the amount of money I had to play, or Tom and I had to play with in the first year in order to be able to kind of get it off the ground, so uh as well as pay ourselves a salary. So uh um yeah, um it that's it certainly reminded me of of that activity I did when I was 14.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Connection down the years, yeah. Wow. Okay, that's amazing. And from school, uh the w where did you go next? Where did your uh sort of education lead your initially?

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Yeah, um uh so uh I got two A's and a C at A level, um, and if I got two A's uh and a B, so I was one percent off getting a B in my English language A levels, and I didn't I got a C so I didn't go to Oxford Um and study law, um uh which I think probably in high site was the best thing that ever happened to me. Um uh so I took took a gap year, did the fairly normal thing, worked in a bar for a while, earned some money, um, uh went travelling um uh and and really enjoyed that um and yeah, let off some steam. Um and then I came back, went to Warwick. Um uh I was saying pithily, I did a full-time degree in rugby and a part-time degree in history. Uh but yeah, um, and really enjoyed that as well and and did work hard on occasion. Um really enjoyed leading my rugby club in my final year, which is kind of I guess the first proper leadership role I'd had as well. Um not sure I did a great job of it, but anyway, um got through it. Um and um yeah, and then just came to the end of university and was just I didn't sort of I I I wanted to I wanted a good start to my career, but at the same time I very much felt like I really wanted to to help people and to give back and you know to um I guess try and make a difference, I suppose. And and um yeah, Teach First came along. Um I found out about it um uh reading uh I probably shouldn't say this on uh re reading the newspaper on the toilet at a friend's uh uh when I was visiting a friend's university um and um yeah and then went back and and applied and then um yeah went to the assessment centre and ended up being part of the first Teach First cohort in 2003. Um uh and that was pretty pretty transformative, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Um so Teach First was a sort of big initiative from the Blair government in terms of look how can we enhance schools, particularly in difficult areas where you know times were hard and such, and how could we inspire the pupils? Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah, very much. The idea back in 2003 was you kind of did two years, and then while keeping your options open to see what other careers you might want to pursue longer term, I think that's evolved a bit now into it's a bit more of a standard, more standard teacher training programme, um though still with real aspirations for kind of attracting the very best in into the teaching profession, um, which in the age of AI I think is gonna be an important thing. Um, but yeah, um uh so yeah, I was parachuted into um Bethel Green Technology College, not too far from here, actually. Yeah, just around the corner, um, uh, which at the time was a very challenging school, it's now a fantastic school, but back in 2003 it had its real challenges, um, and it was a very eye-opening couple of years for me. Um at the time it wasn't unfortunately a terribly well-led school and actually fell into um offstand inadequate and was closed down quite shortly after I left. Um, but um yeah, it was a real eye-opener for me and just made me realise how how much talent there was there was um in society in general that that was just unfortunately not really realising, you know, getting the opportunity to realise and come to fruition, and and that sort of sparked a um a desire to do something about that longer term. And I went to work at Lloyd's Banking Group on their graduate scheme after my two years of teaching, and I hoovered up a whole host of business skills there, and but I couldn't quite shape that sort of I guess that in that passion, I suppose, at the end of the day, for trying to help young people from you know more disadvantaged backgrounds realise their potential, um, and ultimately that's flowed through to setting up Ada.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Okay, so that first day when you turned up in that college, did you go, oh my goodness, this is uh slightly more real than I was expecting it to be?

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, so Bethle Green back then was a uh a different place, and it's just at the top of Brick Lane, actually, the school. So um uh Brick Lane was a very different place as well uh in 2003. And uh um yeah, so I walked, um I was living in Shadwell and I walked up uh uh walked up um along Brick Lane at very early in the morning, not wanting to be late on my first day, and yeah, um I can yeah, I can remember it being really quite an eye-opener and being quite really quite scared to go. Yeah, uh as I guess you are with any any job on your first day, but just yeah, really quite nervous and having to stand in front of a class full class full of students um after you know what is really just six weeks of initial teacher training um uh was certainly a pretty intimidating experience. Some of my early um efforts in in teaching were um uh well very enthusiastic, but uh possibly in in hindsight a little bit naive. Um I think I paid I was playing Bob Marley in my first uh uh year nine history lesson, um, and yeah, I mean it just as you can well expect, it uh it turned into a um a very lively lesson, should we say. Right. Yeah. Sometimes they're the best.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Okay, right, so then you you do the two years in teaching, and then Lloyd's Bank comes calling. So that's a very different environment for you.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

Yeah, I um uh I think if my school, so it's very interesting that you know there's 170 of 170 of us in that first teach first cohort, a very entrepreneurial cohort. Like the number of people that have gone on to found charities and education-related organisations is staggering, to be honest, um, out of that cohort. So it's probably the best network I've ever ever been involved in. Um, but yeah, um, and my my flatmate who I was living with was in a fantastic school down the road and carried on teaching um after I left. But I just you know it was a really challenging school that I was in, and it wasn't particularly well led, unfortunately, and it meant that after two years I just felt a bit burnt out. Um and um yeah, um I thought I'd go and explore, I guess, what would be a quite different world in terms of Lloyd's banking group, and and I was hungry to hoover up, you know, business more general business skills as well. And and so yeah, I was on their um graduate program, um, group management training program for two years and did a number of sort of placements in in different teams, retail banking strategy, um helped launch mobile banking for the first time, uh, just as smartphones were coming in, got that sort of dates you, doesn't it? But uh and the early contactless pilots over in Canary Wharf as well, um, before contactless was uh a thing, really. Um so yeah, so that was really enjoyable. Went to South Africa and worked in offshore banking down there for six months or so, um, which was also very enjoyable. Really love South Africa as a country, um uh and yeah, um and then yeah, did did a lot of um business case modelling, um PowerPoint slide decks, strategy presentations, um sort of the things I learned I learned how to build business models more than anything else, I would say. Um, and that sort of uh equipped me quite well further down the line.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Okay. So that's quite a pivotal time really in sort of recent technology, isn't it? That switch to mobile banking. Which we all kind of bank through our phones now, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yeah, so back then you were it was it was just before smartphones came in, um, and it was about how you basically use text mess text messages to transfer money, um uh which you know just feels um very old-fashioned now, really more than anything else. But yeah, um uh yeah, so really that's where I kind of came had my first significant contact with technology project management and and yeah, the role that technology was going to play in our lives and and how you know you can improve customer experience um uh working on that. And yeah, it was was really interesting and and fascinating working, you know, working at a bank that is reasonably traditional and had been around for a long time and was suddenly having to deal with you know what were some pretty seismic technology changes that were coming down the line and that it knew it needed to get to grips with, but uh um wasn't probably uh terribly well placed to take advantage of compared to um some of the sort of challenger banks that were start just starting to come through at that point. So uh um yeah, it was a really interesting couple of years, and and again working down in South Africa was also you know really eye-opening um in Johannesburg. Um really eye-opening experience. Um, and I also you know had the opportunity during that time I took I took a month or so off as well as leave and helped set up a school in um Uganda as well, working uh um working in Kampala as well. So yeah, it was just a really interesting time in sort of mid-twenties to to kind of explore different avenues.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yes, wow. Okay, so there's always that sort of calling uh to improve society and to help out and young people and how they can be developed positively, even in the middle of that Lloyd's bank.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Yeah, I guess so, yeah, yeah. Um, yes, yeah, very much so. Um, and yeah, was doing some mentoring at that point, just trying to help um young people who were, you know, had business ideas and and trying to help them kind of hone those business ideas. So, yeah, I guess running through it is a theme of kind of helping people get things off the ground and and yeah, helping um particularly those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And then education calls again for you?

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Yeah, so I got I um I uh was I was at the Teach First alumni conference basically, and and um yeah, just got chatting to to the um CEO of Teach First, Brett Brett Wigda's, and um he mentioned they just got a grant from the government to do more around the kind of Teach First alumni community. Um, and was I interested in coming on board? And I'd be working very closely with a uh gentleman called Lord Um Andrew Adonis, who's the kind of um uh was then the education or schools minister and then became the education secretary. Um uh and I went and had a conversation with him. Um, and he again, as you said, you know, Teach First at that point was really the darling of of the Labour administration, so um there was a lot of opportunity there. Um and so yeah, went back to Teach First and very headed up those schemes and the expansion of the alumni program at Teach First and how those you know um alumni could be used to go back into schools and work with particularly gifted and talented students, but more generally around kind of careers, advice and guidance. And um back then it was all about how to get more young people to university, you know, that sort of 50% to university target that was Blair's mantra in the particularly in the final years, and uh um yeah, um kind of how how Teach First could contribute to that. And then at the same time, it's really interesting. It was also the time that Teach First got a significant expansion grant from um uh from uh the Blair administration um to kind of uh I think treble its numbers and go to new regions, you know, it had primarily been London based to begin with, and it you know, to expand up to Manchester and then go on to elsewhere as well. So I was there at a I was sort of at a there at working at Teach First at a very interesting time where you know an organization gets given you know what it what was a pretty sizable expansion grant um and yeah, how you how it dealt with that really, and and went suddenly from kind of 40-50 people to like 250 within about two or three years, two years, something like that. And um yeah, it was a it was a really interesting time being part of the kind of wider leadership team of Teach First and and seeing that growth um and a really exciting time as well. And yeah, um Teach First is is is a fantastic charity, and you know it was uh it was great to be part of that wider leadership team, kind of helping, helping really establish establish it as a national institution.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Right, okay, yes, okay. And then at some point Harvard appears in the world.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yes, yeah, so it's a two, I think it was two or three years at back at Teach First working working for the charity, um, and then um yeah, I sort of felt like I'd you know kind of bluntly learned as much as I was going to from the role and and yeah, was starting to think about my next opportunity, and um I was a little stuck if I if I was honest at that point. I didn't quite know where what what was next, what was the right thing to do. I started thinking about how to tie together what felt like a quite a disparate bunch of experiences, um, you know, teaching and then working at a bank and then heading up a kind of widening participation program at using Teach First Alumni, and you know, by that point I was sitting on ministerial advisory boards and and things, and but I wasn't, you know, I was only in my late 20s, so I wasn't quite um probably ready for senior management roles uh uh just yet. I certainly didn't think I was. Um and uh um yeah, uh and so I started looking around for a course that would sort of bring all of that learning together, and and yeah, slightly sadly, really, I couldn't find a a course that would allow me to kind of study business, uh education, business and policy in in one program in in England or in the UK actually in total. Um and that sort of interdisciplinary study is not something that universities in England do terribly well. Um I I don't think uh maybe that's changed a bit now, but yeah, um whereas yeah, there's a program at Harvard, um essentially they call it it's called the special studies pathway of their education master's program, where you can essentially kind of you have to do half half your courses at the education school, and then the rest you can do at any basically any of the schools at Harvard. Um as almost as you have to kind of you have to be artic have to articulate why you want to study the programs that you the this the modules that you want to study and how they kind of all fit together. Um and if you can articulate that then you know um off you go and yeah, um you have to go and register at all the the business Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government and then obviously at the education school as well. And yeah, so I sort of was a bit of a bit of a nomad really. Um but uh um yeah, it was really interesting, very, very different uh cultures. Harvard Business School is just a very different culture to the education school at Harvard, and and again very different to the kind of public policy um school of government uh as well. So yeah, very uh very different environment. But uh yeah, it was a really interesting year studying, um, yeah, studying predominantly education, but yeah, some business business courses as well, some non-profit management courses, some finance courses, um, and sort of some really interesting policy courses, and particularly one called Sparking Social Change at the Kennedy School, which was you know just fascinating learning about how you create social change really and bring that about. And yeah, um, so yeah, it was a really interesting year for me. Um quite lonely. Um I think I was the only British person out of 600 master's students, um, predominantly American, obviously, but then yeah, um I yeah, and and I was a bit older as well. I was most of them were sort of mid-twenties, and I was just turning 30 when I was over there, so and I sort of I made the slightly naive decision to go back and stay in halls of residence as well. So I was uh um yeah, and uh I was a yeah, I was quite lonely actually while I was over there. Um it was quite a challenging year for me in in a variety of different ways, but um I learned I certainly learnt a lot.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

And you got through it?

SPEAKER_02 20:04

I got through it, yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Um wow, and what a thing to say, been to Harvard, you know, and yeah, not something everybody gets to do, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Um and yeah, I uh um I got a lot of stick from it for my friends uh taking the piss out of me for it. Really, but yeah, it was uh uh it's it's an interesting, it's certainly an interesting place, and yeah, the facilities are amazing. And yeah, they have a super store, they have a department store at the university that is just full of merchandise. Like literally, you could you cannot you can buy everything with a Harvard logo on it, and uh um but it's like a full-on three-story department store. Um, but yeah, no, it's uh it's a very interesting year.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Probably makes a fortune as well.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah, I would imagine they do, yeah. Yeah, um, yeah, so yeah, very, very interesting year. Um uh but also made me really think about you know, then it wasn't cheap. Um I I was lucky enough to get on the property ladder, um uh um, but I had to sell my flat in order to be able to cover my tuition fees over there, and you know, it wasn't it wasn't cheap, and I think in hindsight I probably did get value for money out of it, but a lot of the time when I was over there I was questioning whether I was getting value for money, um, and it sort of really started me thinking about the sort of value proposition of university in general, um and I yeah, I think I I I'd certainly brought that back with me to to England after the master's, and it was one of the things that sort of was informing my thinking when I came up with the idea for ADA.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Okay, right. So the idea for ADA, there's not been a college established in 20 years, and suddenly you come up with this idea. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Um so uh there's a number of different things came together, really. So I came back from the States um and um I I think at first in the States I had quite a hard time when I came back from the States personally. Um, I um didn't really know what I wanted to do next, so I sort of left the America and and wasn't particularly sure what I wanted to do, but thinking, oh I've got a year in America studying my master's, I'll work out what I want to do next. I came back and I still didn't really know what I wanted to do, and and yeah, I felt and yeah, I I was bluntly, I was a little bit depressed for for a while, um, and yeah, really um yeah, not not in the best place. Um, and then um just started to I I one of the really good things that happened was um I started mentoring a young man, Matthew, um, weirdly on the programme that I'd set up a teach first before I went to America. But uh so back up just as a volunteer back on that programme, I started mentoring him and he um uh grew up in in South London um uh and um in a very humble background, came from a very humble background, was desperate to become a software developer, but was ultimately failing his computer science A level because he knew more than his teacher did. Um so working with Matthew um sort of opened my eyes really to um how frankly how poor the quality of sort of digital education is in in many schools and colleges and some universities as well. Um, because particularly computer science is quite a specialist subject, it's very hard to recruit the teaching talent, a lot of vacancies, a lot of people who aren't um sort of don't haven't studied computer science or teaching it as a second subject and things like that. So often the teaching can be quite um mixed quality, um as it particularly was for Matthew. Um, but also then talking to him, he was just dead set. He was like, if I become a software developer, I can earn more than£30,000, and that you know he just was adamant that would be transformative for him and it you know could support his mum and do all these different things. And I it sort of started talking to him really opened my eyes, and I started paying attention to this, and then I started I went to a session with Nestor and I heard you know there's a hundred thousand vacancies in the tech sector, um, and only 3,750 students in the entire of England studied computer science A-level in 2013, and I was like, wow, that's just a massive supply and demand mismatch, really, um, uh, in terms of yeah, um, what's been studied in school and taught in schools and colleges, and and what industry really needs in terms of its tech talent, and um uh and then and then I sort of put it all together, and then and then I was like, well, and then I was working with um Andrew Donis on uh he was writing a book called Education, Education, Education, and sort of I ended up being proofreading um bits of that for him and sort of took yeah, he he he sort of made me realise the FE sector was going to increasingly come under the spotlight in terms of reform and and actually the the beauty of an FE college is you can you know it's it's the only uh type of education institution in England where you really can bridge their kind of education to employment divides. You know, if you're in a school, you go up to 18 and then it stops, you know, and they uh or if you're a university, you know, you pick them up at 18 and go from there, whereas you know an FE college can go from 16 years old or even 14 years old all the way through, if you wanted to, to master's level education. Um, and I really wanted um, I believe passionately that I wanted to set up something that would support young people from 16 years old all the way through to a good quality entry-level job and be able to support them all the way along that journey. And yeah, ultimately the FE college model is the only one that really allows that, and so um yeah, and so I sat down one weekend and I just put it all together and said, Well, could we set up a specialist technical college and focus focusing on recruiting as many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds as possible to kind of harness tech as a tool for positive social mobility and yeah, put make our specialism around tech and get as many young people into good into good quality entry-level tech jobs as possible and kind of help meet that 100,000 vacancy in the tech sector. Um and so I put all of that together into a into a business plan one weekend, um, and then um yeah, and then you you know you hit the you hit the pavements and start pitching it to as many people as you can. Um I was lucky to find eventually through the Teach First Network that I mentioned at the start, being part of that 2003 cohort, one of the people I learned to teach with introduced me to this um this this tech entrepreneur Robin um uh and Robin Toomes, um, and then he had an initial um went a beer with him really actually in in a pub in Piccadilly and um and then he was like come and meet um uh my co-founder as well, a guy called Noel Haydn, um, and went and and pitched it to the two of them a bit more formally, second time around. Um, and uh yeah, with a sense of humour, they emailed me at five o'clock on Christmas Eve 2030, um, and said uh yeah, said you can have a hundred thousand pounds, we'll give you a hundred thousand pounds to um uh try and take the venture forward. Um uh but they put some caveats in place, so they gave us I think it was 25 to begin with, um, and the other 75 was uh reliant on us becoming a registered charity. Um uh so um yeah, um so we had 25k to begin with um until we became a registered charity.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

This episode is brought to you by Morgan Hunt, a public sector recruitment agency with over 30 years of experience. Whether you're looking for your next role or growing your team, we match purpose-driven people with organizations making a real difference. Visit Morganhunt.com to find out how Morgan Hunt inspires working lives.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

Okay, so you get the offer, five o'clock Christmas Eve. What happened on Christmas Day?

SPEAKER_02 28:03

Yeah, that's a good question. I can't remember what happened. Certainly I was happy. Um I wasn't loving, monitor wasn't loving the job I was in at the time, so um uh I won't go in, I won't go into that in too much detail, but uh um yeah, I you know I was I think it's probably relief more than anything else. Um uh you know, I put so much into it, and I kind of knew I was getting positive vibes from different various different people, so I was kind of new, I I thought I was onto something, but um obviously it's not you know you're not it it's a it's a charity, so you no one's gonna get you know, you're not they didn't they're not gonna get a return on their investment, they never have, um a financial one at least. Um hopefully they've got a social return on investment but not a financial one, and and um so it's yeah it's quite an unusual thing to find you know two people who are willing to make that you know upfront donation for something that was you know essentially just a PowerPoint deck at the time. Um anyway, um yeah, very much quickly in the new year. Um uh I bumped back into Tom. Um actually that was uh just before I got the got the confirmation of the funding. We actually went to a 10-year reunion of um the first cohort of Teach First teachers. So it was on the way to that 10-year reunion um in 2013, having started teaching in 2003, um, that uh I bumped into Tom, so I learned to teach with Tom. Um, and uh he was working at Deloitte at the time and he um yeah, I said, Look, you know, I've got this idea, I think I'm about to raise this money. Um, you know, what what do you think? Um and so he got quite excited, and then um we went to the pub. Um there's a bit of a recurring feature at that pub. Um uh and um uh we yeah, we we talked about it uh uh a number of times and and yeah, then eventually the money came through, and then we got back together in the new year, and and um yeah, I was like, I'm gonna quit my job and and do this, and you know he was like, okay, I'll I'll you know come on board too. Um so uh um yeah, so that was it. And uh uh I think I started mid-February, and then he was on board from beginning of March, something like that. Um that was beginning of 2014. Um, and then uh I think the big challenge was we we had enough money to pay ourselves for a couple of months, um, but because we it actually took longer to become a registered charity than we had expected, so there was about two and a half months where we just worked unpaid, um, uh knowing that once we got that registered charity registration it we would unlock. But yeah, that that was quite a lean time, I would say, um, for sure. Um, we went out to Estonia, um, it's all a bit fuzzy back in those days. We went out to Estonia to see an IT college in Estonia that we'd heard about and and sort of learn see if we could learn a bit from them, so it was really interesting. And then we just we were very lucky we got introduced to um two civil servants who were writing the kind of brief for this uh for for the national colleges policy at the time um under um would have been Matthew Hancock, who was the skills minister underneath Vince Cable, who was the um Secretary of State for um Department for Business D Biz Biz Business Industry and Strategy. I don't know. Um anyway, uh very long uh under the coalition government. So uh um and yeah, so we sent them our presentation and and said this is what we want to do. And um uh if I'm honest with you, a lot of that presentation appeared in the National Colleges call what was called a call for engagement. Um so um yeah, we just you know we got very lucky in terms of timing. Um, and yeah, these this National Colleges policy came out, they were they wanted to open new colleges. I don't think the they had any idea how hard it what the implications of opening a new FE college because no one had done it for so long. Um so but anyway, um it would be it became the perfect policy for us to kind of um incubate ourselves really. Um and the first year was a lot of it was the feedback from government was just like you know, how are you credible? Why are you credible? Like you're just two guys with a PowerPoint presentation, and you know, how do you you need industry behind you? So a lot of the first year was just trying to get the kind of coalition of supporters that we needed to be credible. Um uh so first and foremost, we um went and sort of uh incubated ourselves within something called the Aldridge Foundation, which was set up by Sir Rod Aldridge, who was the founder of Capita. Um Rod, yeah. Um so he had some pretty swanky offices on Piccadilly in a very weird set of coincidences in the same building as the two guys who'd given us the£100,000. Um so literally, as I was we were coming out of a meeting, I was like, oh, we were coming down the stairs and meeting those two guys, and we were Robin and Noel, and then I was like, Oh, the Aldridge Foundation, oh they're an education charity, let's see if they want to give us some desk space. And we literally knocked on the door and uh um uh went and had a chat on and ended up they gave us it, they gave desk space for 18 months and access to some of their resources and and expertise, which was really helpful. And you know, frankly, being that you know, being rubbed by Piccadilly Circus was just great in terms of industry mission meetings and and things like that. So um yeah, I don't think we'll ever get better office space than that. Um, but uh um yeah, so that was that was us, and then there was just a lot of yeah, trying to get trying to get industry supporters on board. Um, and yeah, we ended up with Deloitte, Bank of America, um, Games His Um IBM and King Games, the Candy Crush people, um, as our kind of founding supporters, and the Aldridge Foundation as our um sort of founding supporters, um, and then got introduced to number 10 um to a guy called Dan Korski, who was Cameron's innovation advisor at the time. Um, so yeah, sort of had a bit of time at number 10. Uh, they hosted a couple of round tables for us as well, um, so that was really fun. Um, and then yeah, ultimately we wrote the bus sort of wrote the much more detailed business plan for the college, and ultimately David Cameron announced it December 2015. So um, yeah, it uh it sort of took 18 months or so really to get that coalition of support, get the approval from government, and then that sort of secured that unlocked uh sort of revenue to get the college off the ground. Um uh sort of operating funding, I suppose, matched by some philanthropy, um, donations from from Deloitte and Bank of America and others, and some um pro bono donations as well, so comments, things like that, and then ultimately um yeah, some some revenue funding from government and and capital funding as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Um uh yeah, um maybe we'll go on and talk about premises in a bit. We will, yeah. But so that's fascinating. It always seems to be Christmas time, you get these great announcements. Yeah, it was December, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, I I've sort of given a I mean that that period was just I mean it was crazy. We were working 80, 80 plus hour weeks, uh, 100 hour weeks sometimes. Like it's just it's so much, it just took so much effort to get it, convince people really, and and get it, yeah, get get it over the line. Like partly that you know government is not particularly good at doing things it doesn't have a pre-defined process for. Um so um you know most of the other national colleges that were set up were kind of subsidiaries of existing entities, um, whereas we were just coming from coming from nothing really. Um you know, we had no financial track record, you know, and nothing at all. And and um yeah, it's only there were a number of points where it looked like it was just going to collapse. Um, and yeah, we had to, you know, we just you just had to persevere and hang in there, and eventually, you know, we just number 10 coming on, number some being introduced to number 10, number 10 saying, Yeah, this is a good idea, we should do this, that kind of at that point I was like, I I don't, you know, I think I think this is going to get off the ground at this point, but uh um yeah, it took uh took a long time and and the challenge of it taking a long time is then they were like okay we want to open by September 2016, so they announced it in December 2015, and we were like, well, so we've got seven months to open a college, we didn't even have a building at that point. Um uh so um yeah, it was a uh yeah, the start of 2016 was was pretty punchy as well.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

But not only are you trying to sell this idea that this is what we should do, and governments going, well, we've not done it before, we don't know how this is all gonna work, but you're running up against austerity during this time as well, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02 36:36

So it's not like there's masses of funding out there for no, um, and we've always been, you know, that the the National College called for engagement initially said you know national colleges needed to be 50-50 funded by industry and by government. Um I think that was possibly a bit naive, but we have always had um industry funding from the get-go, it's always been around 10% of our operating budget, a bit more to be a bit more in the early days. But um, yeah, we've always supplemented um our sort of what I think of as earned income from our from government revenue streams um per learner income to to um yeah with with philanthropy income and it's always allowed us to deliver a bit above and beyond for our learners, which it's hopefully leads through to to the out great outcomes that we get, but also you know build the capacity to to be able to continue to grow.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

Okay, so it if you look at your life in reverse, as we've just done, it seems like it's all heading to this moment. From writing the business plan for the carpet cleaning through to your education experiences, what happened at university and further education, you did it at Harvard, and also the Lord's bank stuff, and then suddenly you'll find yourself here at this moment where you're gonna take this college off the ground and build it for the first time. But I guess you're gonna need a campus.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Yes, yeah, very much gonna need a campus, and and more importantly, you're gonna need some learners as well. So uh um, yeah, it was um uh we had a bit a bit more funding by this point, so we went out and we could recruit a small team. Um we've got a project manager, capital project manager, um uh and yeah, Lady Um Holly who came in and helped with the marketing, um, and we had a secondie from Deloitte who was helping us um sort of in many, many different ways, really. But yeah, still a very small team. Um uh but yeah, we we um we must god knows how many sites we went to visit uh to see about potential uh potential campus locations, so the Barbican, I think, um and trying to think of the other ones, um places over in Croydon down in Croydon, over in East Ham, I think, um uh yeah, um and ultimately um went up to Haringay um and uh to Tottenham and um bumped into a uh counsellor there called Joe Goldberg who um in another one of these weird roundabout things actually he he worked with us on our initial branding for the college. Like we you know we realised we needed a like a logo and a brand and all of that, and we'd been introduced to him and then he was like, Oh, I'm a counsellor up in Harringay, why don't you come and have a look around? I haven't thought about some of this stuff for years. Um and come and have a look around, and and so we were like, okay. So we went up and and then all of a sudden we didn't realise he gave us the big he he he read that we had our announcement from David Cameron, and he was like, he gave us the big cell, hired a car for us and drove us all around Harangay and was like, you can have a campus here and you can have a campus here or here, and ultimately we ended up in Tottenham Hale, right by the train station on the Victoria line. Um, and we were like, well, this would be a great location. Um, and um yeah, um so we we ended up um in a converted job centre to begin with, um, uh, on a little business park, um, about a five minutes walk from the Tottenham Hale station. Um wasn't much from the outside, but very cool on the inside. So we worked with some great architects called Zero Zero who did a really good refurb of the place and ultimately the the building company were great as well. In 19 weeks, they did a you know it was a derelict office space that was squatted through to you know a functioning um uh functioning build uh campus. So uh um yeah, um so that was um that was certainly interesting. I I'd never done anything like that before. Um uh yeah, and and I I must admit that the building side of running an FE college is something I completely underestimated. It's just you know it's complicated, it's a cutting throat. There's a lot of people you know um who want to take your money, frankly. Um and uh I think yeah, I think I was a bit naive probably about um uh about that side of things. But um Tom was stronger on that side of things, fortunately. Um, and you know, we had by that point we had a board of governors who were you know able to help as well, but uh um it was still tough. Um uh so yeah, so we opened, we were only ever supposed to be in this small converted job centre for um a couple of years, while the bigger campus was uh we had we had 31 million pounds of um capital funding from the GLA and from the DOV that we'd begun, and and um yeah, that's uh uh Boris Boris when he was still mayor of London had um overruled his um capital advisory board in order to sign off uh quite a lot of capital funding for us. Um I'd had to fly back from my wife's from New Zealand. I'd gone to New Zealand to meet my wife's family for the first time, and um I had to fly back early from there so that I could come and pitch to Boris and this panel about so I could have we could have more capital funding. But yes, we got it, and ultimately we were gonna build this big new campus in right by Tottenham Hale Station. Um and it was you know it was gonna be part of the regeneration of Tottenham Hale, which we were so excited about and so passionate about, and you know, we really um uh we pinned all our hopes on it and and we went hell for leather um for two or three years to try and make it happen, but it just it was just so hard and and yeah, um I won't name names, but yeah, the the uh the the landowner and the building company, uh the building contractor that we were trying to work with, the construction company that we were trying to work with were just so mercenary. Um in the end that um they sort of saw the government money in the pot of gold, and they were just like, you know, let's uh um yeah let's jack the prices up as much as we can and and in the end uh rightly so that the government just said you know we can't we can't justify this. Um but um there was you know definitely definitely some money wasted, I think, unfortunately, and I still feel bad about that now, but uh yeah, it I think it ultimately it just wasn't we just couldn't make it work. Yeah, so uh yeah, um so yeah, we had our our job centre in Tottenham Hale, we were there for seven years in the end, um all through the pandemic and everything. We we needed extra space, so we took on some additional space down in Whitechapel, um uh which was a sort of a converted primary school down in Whitechapel to train our apprentices. So we were training Google and Meta and Deloitte's apprentices in what was uh a converted primary school down in Whitechapel, which um uh was you know we were sort of selling them the dream of this new campus, but it the new campus increasingly didn't materialize, and yet we had these massive global companies training their apprentices with us in what was you know barely fit for purpose circumstances, if I'm honest. Um and yeah, um so it was all getting quite challenging from that point of view, and then you know, and then overnight the pandemic happened. And yeah, buildings were no longer important. So yeah, we we went into the pandemic having having launched our apprenticeship programs in 2017 on the day the levy came in and you know yeah done done very well in the early years with those apprenticeships. Yeah, um going into the pandemic was was really tough and you know obviously the volumes just the volumes fell off a cliff as well. You know, the demand for entry-level tech talent during the pandemic was was virtually non-existent. So uh um it was a particularly challenging time. Um and and at that point the DFE were like, well, if you can't find yourself a long-term home you know, in terms of a campus, you you know, they uh um you know we're not sure we're gonna we're not sure that capital funding is gonna be there for much longer. Um so yeah, um and then they so it keeps falling back on you to sort this out, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, it's just yeah, they started charging us rent on the so the building we were in in Tottenham was never we never owned it. Um rented, so yeah, they started charging us rent as well during the pandemic, which really ate into our reserves as well. So uh um yeah, it was uh fortunately we had what we we'd had a windfall donation that sort of allowed us to ride it out, but um yeah, it all got a little bit hairy um uh during the pandemic. Um despite that we made the very bold decision in the midst of the pandemic to to expand to Manchester. Um so uh um yeah, um there was there was definite ups and downs, and uh um yeah, while we were desperately trying to find a home in London, um again, you know, a couple of tech entrepreneurs who'd done very well for themselves, Jason Stockwood, who's now the Minister for Investment, um, and Chris Slater had just sold their business simply called Simply Business, um, which is a um uh business insurance company um and done quite well for themselves, I think. Um and they really liked the idea for ADA, and they were like, you know, let us give you a bit of money and and open our um black books and and see if we can get it off the ground up in Manchester. So uh um yeah, so we in the midst of the pandemic, I'm still um uh we had a new board chair as well, Tiff, um, who just started, it was her first meeting, poor lady, and you know, I was like, yeah, we've got to do this, we've got to go to Manchester. You know, there's there's enough money on the table from Jason and Chris, and also from Manchester City Council and DCMS um to you know to de-risk this. Like we can we can do this, put someone on the ground up there, you know, see if we can make this work. Um, and we got some pro bono training space as well up there for free to begin with as well. So I was like, we can do this, even even though things in London are pretty tough right now, like you know, we we should do this. Um it's not gonna come along again. Um uh yeah, I I had to I had to ram that one through a little bit um uh with my with my board of governors. Um but uh we but they did to be fair, they they you know after their right amount of scrutiny, they um they said yeah, let's do it. And uh um yeah, um thank yeah, uh you know, so I'm really grateful that we did uh um Manchester's thriving now.

SPEAKER_01 47:05

So yeah, and it's an amazing city, Manchester as well. Yeah, super cool, yeah. I love it. But then the London premises comes up.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Yeah, so yeah, just when we were really starting to, you know, they made us they'd made us pay rent for two years, so um that had eaten up almost all of our financial reserves at that point. Um, and um uh yeah, it was all looking a bit bleak, and then all of a sudden, yeah, we got a phone call one day, and they were like, there's this, you know, um failed for failing University Technical College in in Pimlico. Um uh you know, we think it's gonna close down. Um you know, would you be interested in that building? Um and yeah, I think I can I can almost I think I pretty much put the phone down and got on a tube straight down to Victoria and and went to see the um the outside of the building at least. And uh um yeah, um we we were we just we managed to get to the top of the queue um you know straight away and and yeah, we're able to get hold of that, you know, confirm, confirm it and get hold of that building pretty quick. So uh um yeah, um uh and you know it was already a school, had been set up as a an engineering college that had a lot of big heavy equipment in it and things, which you know wasn't really what we were all about, but uh um yeah, we certainly felt we it was you know with with some using some of the money, and in the end we actually returned a huge amount of the money to the GLA and to the DFE, but uh using some of that money we were able to take that building and and refurbish it, and you know it's now our flagship um uh Pimblico campus, and it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

And it looks like it was built for you, it is an amazing building, and it's in a pivotal part of London with great views, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

Yeah, yeah, so yeah. Um I think we um uh we had a great uh capital project manager. Um she'd been with us for five years or so, so she'd seen the you know the all the pain of of trying to make the Tottenham campus work, and you know, she's incredibly resilient, lady, Sophie, and uh um yeah, um if if I if more than anything, I was just happy for her because I think you know I don't she she'd um sweated blood, what's what's the phrase, blood, sweat, and tears to to find us our permanent home, and and yeah, um she was able to project manage that one through to delivery and did a fantastic job, and yeah, very much kind of treads that line as as we wanted it to between kind of feeling a bit like an office space and a bit like a workspace, and also you know, still feeling like a college as well. So uh um yeah, it's uh um it's a fantastic place to go to work every day.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

So many people who sit in that chair and answer my questions they they're dealing with very challenging circumstances. You know, they're running big organizations with loads of issues and problems, and top of the list is often finance in terms of how they keep going, but you're not only doing that, you've had to build the thing on the way. So it's quite a special thing that's happened here. Um how do you cope with those very different challenges as they keep coming at you through this whole sort of genesis story of uh ADA?

SPEAKER_02 50:08

Uh I I'd I I I wouldn't say I've I have a particular strategy, I think you um I I I think there's been definite stages, you know. I um in terms of ADA's development, you know, the early days were very entrepreneurial, very, you know, just do whatever it takes. Um and um yeah, uh and then there was a sort of second stage where it was okay, this is you know, we've got we've got some funding now, and and you know, ultimately we found some learn you know the learners to enroll, and and it's like the ball started to roll. Um and then it's you know, then it's very much you start to it becomes about how do you get as many, really get as many people coming into your campuses and and coming and learning about you as possible. Um and um becomes yeah, very that period was very much about sort of in my head was about sales more than anything else. Like how do you how do you just yeah, um sell it, sell that sell the proposition as well as possible. And then now it's you know as it starts to mature as an organization, I guess it's it's become a different, you know, strategy becomes more important, financial management, you know, cash flow management, um, risk management, bluntly, yeah, become you know the things that our um slightly more grown-up organisations can can focus on. So um, and then and also you know, talent management as well, which I would say is probably right at the heart of all of it. Um so yeah, it's it's been different hats at different times, I would say. Um at the end of the day, it was you know, I think it's just an unshakable belief that it was a really good idea. Um, and I've only ever, I think there was only ever one or two people who's ever told me they thought it was a bad idea. You know, no one, no very few people, you know, most businesses or ventures, you know, in general, you know, there's people who think it's a good idea, people who don't, but hardly anyone's ever said this is not a good idea. Um the challenge has has been you know navigating a very uncertain path in order to to get to where we've got them to. Um uh yeah, um, and yeah, I guess it's uh um in some, I mean you look back and it's very enjoyable. I think I'm I'm not actually very good with dealing with or I've become very good at dealing with stress um I think uh over the years, but I'm not actually the best at it. Tom's much calmer than me and and kind of he sort of rolls with the punches a bit more. I'm I'm I'm a bit more kind of up and down, I would think, I think, but uh I wouldn't say I wear it lightly um necessarily, but uh um yeah, um it has been a lot of fun um at times as as well as you know very challenging as well. And and ultimately, you know, it's like any organisation, uh it's the people you work with, and you know, we've we've been lucky to have some absolutely just fantastic staff who've some of whom have been there for you know a decade or more now and and seen that journey um from you know start to start to where we are now. So uh um yeah, it's been fantastic working with them all through this period.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

Brilliant. And in terms of students, and what's 350 for coming back?

SPEAKER_02 53:13

Um just under 600 now on roll. Um uh so yeah, we've got fantastic sick forms. So I started off with 59 students um in Tottenham. Um I wasn't even in Tottenham to begin with, actually, because the building wasn't ready. So for the first three weeks, I think we were in Stratford in here east in a basically a giant warehouse. Um so I still look back on those 59 students and and think about the risk that they took to come to ADA. Um, and you know, I'm very eternally grateful for them. Um, and a large number of whom are still we're still in touch with on a regular basis. One who now works for us in our apprenticeship lecturing team as well, um, as fantastic software developer Dan, um, and it's yeah, that's been a really great full circle moment having one of your students, you know, hiring one of your students back on the staff team. So um that was very cool. Um, but yeah, um now yeah, good fast growing sixth form. Um uh and yeah, on the apprenticeship side, it's grown year on year. Up in Manchester, we started working with PWC a few years ago. That was a fantastic partnership up in Manchester, um, and the you know the campus has opened up in Manchester as well, now in central Manchester, so that's been great having that kind of multi-region feel. Um obviously, apprenticeship is a bit challenging at the moment in the tech space. Um, uh, entry-level hiring is definitely down, um, which is is proving challenging, and we're having to respond to and think about how we change our programs and and you know meet employers' needs. Um, I guess the beauty of apprenticeships is you know you you really are meeting employers' needs very directly. You know, they don't have to hire those apprentices, so um, you've got to come up with you know programs that are really responsive to what they need, and you know, right now it's AI and automation. Um so yeah, we've got a new program launching next week on AI and automation, level four. Um, if anyone wants to get in touch, uh I'd love to hear from you. Um but yeah, um uh and I think in in a year or so's time we'll we'll probably start to offer um uh sort of compressed um degree programs as well with a big focus on on value for money and employability as well. So I I think the college is we're going through a period of real change with AI, and and I think you know, as a National College for Digital Skills, we we believe really strongly we we need to be you know making sure that we're changing with the you know, changing based on on what employers need, but also what young people say they want and need as well. And you know, I think um as we were talking about just now, you know, with tuition fees being what they are, you know, a lot of young people are questioning the sort of value proposition of a traditional university degree. So we think there's something really exciting to that we can offer there that's uh maybe a little bit different and and better value for money for young people as well. So um, but it's exciting to have got the college to a point where we can start to you know think about doing doing different things and yeah, um uh how we can um you know introduce new programs and and flex our current programs. It's uh uh yeah, it's been for so long it was about finding a finding a home, um, finding a permanent home and then you know getting getting the finances to to a point where we could keep the lights on and and yeah, it feels uh a good moment to have gotten to that point, um albeit you know it is quite challenging at the moment with with the way things are and the tech hiring market.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

Yes, okay. Um am I right in saying that you've been called into government again to advise around AI?

SPEAKER_02 56:38

Yes, yeah, so um was delighted. Um uh I sort of randomly saw uh Government Digital Service um uh had a uh kind of call out for people to join its uh responsible AI advisory board. Um, and yeah, it's something I feel quite passionately about. Um and yeah, so I quickly um put in an application for that, and uh they told me I was one of 800 that's been chosen, so that's uh feels like a privilege. Um and it's great. The lady Jenny Tennyson is chairing the the um Responsible AI Advisory Board, and and she used to be on our board, she was used to be the CEO of the Open Data Institute, and she used to be on our board many moons ago, um, not for very long because she she had to step down because she was just so busy and she couldn't really make the time commitment. But um, yeah, it was great, it's great to be working with her again and um yeah, um uh sort of opening my eyes to how much government is is doing with AI and how much the opportunity is to kind of improve um citizens' experiences of interacting with government with AI, um, but also you know some of the challenges um that are presented as well. And you know, obviously people are there's a lot of sceptical people out there as well, so you know they don't want to suddenly be chatting to an AI chatbot um rather than a person, and which I can perfectly understand um and completely agree with, but at the same time, you know, there are lots of opportunities for efficiencies as well.

SPEAKER_01 57:59

Of course, yeah, particularly across public sector, yes, as well. Yes, okay. Um brilliant, thank you, Mark. Um, one last question then, and normally I say if there was a you know somebody out there fancied a career in leadership but didn't know where to go, what advice would you give them? But I suppose I broaden that for you, which is if there's somebody out there who has a social mission or a dream of a social mission they have, what what advice would you give to them?

SPEAKER_02 58:27

You know, the th there's a lot of people who say if you're just determined enough you'll find a way. Um, and I I do think that is right to it to an extent, um, but I think a lot of it comes down to you've got to be able to articulate your idea in a way that makes that people can understand both from a social mission point of view, as in you know, what why are you doing this and what what need are you addressing and articulating that need, but then you've got to you've got to be able to have the financials and the and the basic business plan behind it because you've got to be credible, um, and I think and and I think that's yeah, you you you've got to have that is you know if someone says I really like this idea, you know, how does it work? You've got to you've got to have that ready to to you know go in with the details straight afterwards, um, and this is ultimately this is what I need to make this work. Um and then the other thing I would say is it is is you know you've got it you've got to have a network that's gonna unlock the funding for you, whether that's you know for-profit funding for social purpose, um, which is you know great, and and I think you know there's um or whether it's non-profit, you know, philanthropy basically, um out there as well. And it it can be hard to build that network and find those funding opportunities. Um and um I would just there is I don't think there's no there's no pithy piece of advice you can give to that other than there are organizations out there that can help you, um you know, you've just got to be willing to find them and and find the people who can open the doors for you, and and it's you know one conversation. Every in the early days I was like every conversation, I I sort of my mental strategy was every com every useful conversation I have at the end of it, right? Who can you introduce me to? Now now who can you introduce me to? And ideally you come out of every meeting with two or three more introductions, and then you know you have to go and and meet those people, and then they make more introductions, and eventually you will find you know the people that you need to find. Um, yeah, um, but you know that that's that's a lot of work and a lot of time commitment, and yeah, um it's uh it's particularly hard if you've got you know if you've got a balance and ex you've got a job and you've got to balance a job and and other commitments as well. I I was lucky I sort of found myself in a job where I was given, you know, I had quite a lot of time to go and build the network that I needed and open the doors that I needed to access the funding and get it off the ground, and yeah, um it's uh not I can you know not everybody gets to have that, but you know, if you if you're committed enough, you find you find a way ultimately. But yeah, networks, the people you know are the people who ultimately make the difference.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

Yeah, knocking on a lot of doors.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

Yeah, um, but but I think it's not a barrier. I I think the thing I keep to stress is it's not a barrier. Like I'm I'm I'm not saying I don't I'm not I'm not I haven't been quite lucky in terms of the networks that I have access to, and and undoubtedly that's the case, but um I do believe you can build yourself a network, anyone can build themselves a network quite quickly that can be very useful to you. Um but it does take it takes a while and and it takes uh you need to be deliberate about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

Brilliant. It's been wonderful to hear your story today. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. And uh no problem at all. We look forward to the next journey for uh Ada and where it's going next. Cheers, thanks very much.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:52

Thank you for listening to Inspiring Working Lives, the Morgan Hunter podcast driving positive change and helping you to grow your career. If you've enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next inspiring conversation. More insights and opportunities and updates.