Curriculum

Vitae

Graham Gardiner FRSA

22 Manor Road, Mitcham, Surrey, CR4 1JA 0203 488 009 0759 553 5200 graham@aspiren.org

Personal Statement

I am an experienced leader and social entrepreneur who is considered a crea;ve thinker and innovator: passionate
about service design, business modelling and social change. Winning Na;onal Awards and elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society for Arts, my passion is enabling people and organisa;ons to nd solu;ons, and developing services that
support vulnerable members of our communi;es in securing more fullling lifestyles. Currently working part ;me as
Implementa;on Director for OurCamden, an innova;ve membership service in Camden.

Key Achievements
Successfully designing & tendering for a new social business
for Camden, designed to reduce social isola;on, increase local
spend and improve health & wellbeing.

Establishing a network of social enterprises, chari;es and

businesses in No[ngham with over 400 organisa;ons
connected. Now establishing this in London
(rs_hursdaylondon.com)

Establishing as successful social enterprise that grew to have

10 services, over 50 sta serving over 3500 people a year within
6 years.

Winning the Na;onal Business Commitment to the

Community Award in the Chamber of Commerce Awards

Being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts in

recogni;on of my contribu;on & commitment to social jus;ce

Being a Finalist in the Na;onal Business Awards in 3

dierent categories over 2 years, winning the East of England

Employer of the Year Award.

Designing and launching The Local Impact Measurement Tool

to help small businesses and organisa;ons measure their impact.

Key Skills
Inspiring & Mo;va;ng Leadership
Successful Social Entrepreneur
Powerful Presenta;ons
Innova;ve Service Design & Development
Sound Budget Se[ng
Flexible approach to Problem Solving
Posi;ve & Inclusive approach to Change Management
Sound Business Planning
Award winning People Management
First-class Interpersonal & Communica;on Skills
Outstanding Training & Group Facilita;on
Excellent ICT skills
Clean and clear websites using Wordpress

EducaAon & Training

Diploma in Religious Studies

Work Experience
Director, Aspiren Ltd & Urban Catalysts CIC

June 2009- Current

London Bible College 1982-1984
Providing Training, Coaching and Consultancy to people who work with people. Current
This 2 year course enabled me to be accepted
& Recent ac;vity includes Implementa;on Director for OurCamden Trainer for
as the minister of a Bap7st Church in
Age UKs Developing Paid for Services network Coaching NHS Managers Coaching
No:ngham
CEO of local Age UKs across England Service review and re-design for
O & A Levels
Hugh Chris;e
No[nghamshire Hospice Service design & development work with a NHS advocacy
Secondary Modern School, Tonbridge, Kent
I achieved A-C grades in History, Sociology and service Organisa;onal review, service design and business modelling for Self Help
No[ngham Providing training for a range of agencies, including No_s tPCT,
Government & Poli7cs. I achieved O Level
passes in Maths (A), History (B), RE (B), English Leicestershire & Rutland County PCT and Derby City Council
(C), Geography (C), Sociology (C), Govt &
Co-Founding Director, Building Blocks SoluAons
Nov 2002-June 2009
Poli7cs (B), Social Economics (C)
A social enterprise, working primarily with people experiencing mental health
I have also undertaken a signicant number
dicul;es. Grew to have 10 services, over 50 sta, over 30 income streams and won
of vocaAonal related courses in the last 10
years, many of which are 2-4 days, but did not na;onal, regional and local awards for our services. I was responsible for Leadership
Business Planning (including Budgets) Funding & Tender applica;ons New
lead to any accreditaAon. These include:
Service Development our Advocacy & Involvement Service our Childcare services
Brief Therapy, Service User Involvement, Full
Cost Recovery, working with substance users, (I was the Responsible Person for OFSTED) liaising with the Board.
Mental Health and homelessness (12 day
Framework HA, Several Managerial & Frontline Support roles Feb 1995- Nov 2002
course) , Business Planning, Housing
Framework HA is a housing charity that oers support & housing to vulnerable adults. I
Legisla;on, Understanding TUPE, Asset Based
started work as a volunteer pot washer at the Nightshelter (Oct 93- Feb 95) which led to
Community Development, Housing Law,
Supported Housing Management, Supervision a support worker role at a high needs hostel. In June 96 I was tasked with developing
& Appraisal, Welfare Rights, Working with Self Park House, a new quick access, short stay hostel. This was very successful and won
Harm, Working with Grief & Loss, Basic NLP
awards for our approach to working with people. I was then asked to replicate this in
Worksop, the rst ;me our organisa;on oered services in the County.

References can be provided by:
Jobs prior to Feb 1995 include !Accounts Oce Manager and Purchase Ledger

Richard Kent, No[ngham
City Council
Jonny Whitehead,
Controller for large TransportaAon Company ! Sales Ledger Controller ! Petrol
Director of
Age UK
StaAon Manager ! Minister of a BapAst Church ! there are no gaps in my
Development,
Nina Dauban, CEO, No_s Community
employment history.

Founda;on

Training and Coaching Experience

Within Building Blocks SoluAons

I was the Director with the responsibility for
Sta Development. We grew our own
managers and senior managers for which
programme I led on Leadership and
Management training and was the mentor for
all new managers

Other courses I provided for Building Blocks
were:

Working with Grief & Loss
Brief Therapy,
Service User Involvement
Mental Health Awareness
Asset Based Community Development,
Supervision & Appraisal
Working with Self Harm
Basic NLP
Managing Volunteers
Dealing with dicult situa;ons
Professional Boundaries

In addi;on I have provided courses for

Derbyshire Connexions ( Mental Health

Awareness, Working with Volunteers) and
No/nghamshire County Council Childrens
Services (Service User Involvement, Mental
Health Awareness and Managing Volunteers)

No[ngham Social Enterprise Hub (now First Tuesday) October 2010- Present

Originally funded by No[ngham City Council (now funded by Aspiren) , we provide
business support to No[ngham's Social Enterprises ( and businesses that want to make
a dierence) encouraging start up and growth. I provide face to face business support,
networking events and regular workshops. Recent workshops include:

Business Model Canvas Master class
Using Mailchimp
Using Social Media
Applying for investment
Being Entrepreneurial without losing your soul
Impact Measurement
Business Planning

Business Coaching

2004-Present

In addiAon to the above sessions I have had a number of Coaching Clients I have seen
over the last 8 years. These have included a number of entrepreneurs in Start up
phase , Statutory Managers wanAng Non line Management supervision and CEOs
seeking external coaching.

Graduate Enterprise School

October 2012- March 2013

Funded by JobCentre Plus we developed a face to face business support programme for
unemployed graduates who wanted to set up their own business. Out of the 12
a_endees 6 started up their own business and 4 found employment. We devised the
course to include Business Modelling, Business Finance, Personal Skills, Marke;ng,
Service Design and the Nuts and Bolts of se[ng up your Business. I also provided one to
one coaching.