15th January 2025
Richard Brown joined Education for Health as the new CEO at the beginning of January 2025.
During his first week, we sat down to get to know Richard a little better, and find out more about his journey so far.
What has been your career path so far?
I went to university in Manchester in 1986 and completed a degree in Environmental Studies, but when I graduated there weren’t really any jobs in that field at the time. I went into a private business selling advertising space and did that for a year or so, then ran a magazine which was a ‘What’s On?’ type of guide to life in Manchester.
I then moved on to work at the Big Issue in the North selling advertising space, predominantly in the recruitment section. I developed this into quite a big revenue stream and got promoted to the Classified Advertising Manager. I progressed through multiple roles within the organisation – Advertising Manager, Income Generation Manager, Head of Special Projects – before moving into the role of Executive Director and finally Managing Director. At that point in the journey, you realise where you fit into what social enterprises and charities do, and I really loved being part of that, adding value and doing something that helps people. I ran the company and the charity at the same time, generating a combined income of about £5,000,000 in 2005.
Following that I started working at a counselling organisation called Listening Ear in Merseyside. Much like when I started at the Big Issue in the North and had no experience of homelessness, I didn’t know anything about counselling but the skills I’d gained of running a business or charity helped me to develop my career. Listening Ear offers counselling to those affected by traumatic bereavement and suicide, and when my dad passed away under difficult circumstances in March 2024 I decided I needed a change as I found it very difficult to continue working in that area.
I took a short career break and then saw the Education for Health role and thought ‘this sounds great, I’ll apply’ and here we are!
Why did you want to be CEO of the company? What attracted you?
I’m an ambitious person but it’s not for me, it’s for the charity or the organisation that I work for. I want that organisation to be the best it can be: I like things to be logical and clear and fair and as a CEO you can make that happen. I find it fascinating to understand how organisations work and I like to make them as efficient as possible. I’ve been fortunate to be in the position to do so in my last two roles and I think I can assess an organisation quite quickly and work to make the changes that need to be made in a timely manner.
I like the way Education for Health looks at things. When I applied, I liked the vision and the values and felt that it is really doing some really good work – it just felt like an organisation that really has something different.
I now want to explore how we look at expanding our offer. I have 30 years experience working in the charity sector and I want to use that to help continue to grow Education for Health.
What do you feel is our biggest strength is right now?
Our products and services are very strong and I think we need to look at how we can get more people to access them and benefit from what we have to offer. The staff team are also a massive strength – they’re all enthusiastic about what we do, and love being part of our work to improve patient care.
What’s your vision for the next 5 years? What are your long term goals?
The long-term plan is to be the leading healthcare training provider, supporting healthcare professionals to improve outcomes in physical and in mental health. We want to be the go-to organisation.
What are your interests outside of work?
I absolutely love growing tomatoes, and I love cooking and food in general. And football! I’ve done lots of football projects with vulnerable groups including the homeless, and I’m a qualified football coach: I’ve worked with kids from age 6 to adults and followed teams all the way through that journey. I’ve recently started coaching again and love playing and watching football – my team is Liverpool Football Club.