CDI's 10th anniversary - Chief Executive reflections

Jan Ellis, Chief Executive 2013-2021

I am delighted to share some of my early insights and experiences on the tenth anniversary of the CDI. Ten years is an impressive milestone given that 20% of small businesses don’t make it past their first year and a staggering 60% go bust within three years.

I was appointed as Chief Executive in October 2013 and first drove to the office in this new role one snowy day in early November. I will never forget the journey, or the call from Dan Hope telling me the staff were going home, concerned about being snowed in! And they were right - I ended up staying in a hotel in Stourbridge for three nights before I could brave the M40 south again.

Although there was a neat logic, supported by the DfE, for combining four professional associations into one UK-wide professional body, it was easier said than done and the negotiations, due diligence and admin took several years to agree. Some naysayers warned me not to take on the role, saying ‘it will never work’; ‘you’ll never be able to bring four very different organisations together into one cohesive entity, representing all the disparate interests’; ‘you’ll never be able to generate sufficient income to maintain a UK-wide professional body’.

Those who know me know that I like a challenge; I am hard working and relentless in pursuing goals. I was nervous but I saw the potential and felt sure that I could grow the membership and generate income by providing the sector with what it wanted – a professional voice; a custodian of the QCD; more accredited training, conferences and relevant resources. While I had managed business units in previous roles, there is nothing quite like being faced with your first set of quarterly accounts, trying to analyse what they mean and working out a plan to grow memberships, training and income. I knew that I needed to appoint someone to lead on the professional development side, someone who shared my vision and work ethic. I didn’t know Claire Johnson well, but I had huge respect for her as the author of the Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development and was elated when she applied for the role – as they say, the rest is history.

The challenges which dogged the early years of the CDI largely related to the skills of the staff and money, not just generating it but the legacy of an expensive pension scheme, inherited from the ICG. Apart from Dan, the staff were wholly admin focused. Dan was certainly ‘the go to person’ on IT and membership and knew the history of the organisation, but it felt like everything else fell on me (or Claire). We had to write everything (including the website) and organise everything. We did all this before remote working became custom and practice.

I also had to face the board at quarterly board meetings: when the money was tight, this could be scary. Our second President, Virginia Isaac, was particularly supportive. She really helped me to cut our costs and appoint a new firm of accountants. I successfully negotiated us out of the Local Government Pension Scheme which had the potential to bankrupt the organisation; the numbers were truly frightening and made all the more disturbing because the scheme did not relate to CDI staff.

My growth strategy focused on improving member benefits and creating the CDI Academy, which Claire made a reality. We also established a robust programme of training courses, webinars and events, including national conferences and the UK Career Development Awards. I always recognised that I would need to immerse myself in politics; members want their professional body to have a national profile and achieve column inches, which is hard to accomplish. We developed effective working relationships with the DfE and politicians and we were delighted when Ann Milton, Minister responsible for careers, launched the new Statutory Guidance at our 2017 annual conference in Birmingham.

The Covid years marked a watershed for the CDI in our ways of working and service delivery model. I think we responded well, pivoting the business at lightning speed, supporting the membership through the online delivery of everything from career leader and Level 6 training to national conferences and the UK Career Development Awards.

In summer 2020 I announced my intention to leave the CDI and managed the handover to David in 2021. Being the first CEO of the CDI was a huge privilege and I loved the job. Being at the start of something new is energising and once the building blocks were firmly established the CDI grew in terms of profile, member services and financial security. Gratifyingly, I think I proved the naysayers wrong.

David Morgan, Chief Executive 2021-present

I became Chief Executive in 2021 and inherited a CDI that was past its financial challenges and offered a broad and high-quality range of services to members. It had also reached a prominent position in the sector, including being cited in the DfE Statutory Guidance for schools and colleges, sitting on the Boards of Careers England and the Quality in Careers Standard, and working with Careers Wales on key projects.

My role was to build on the foundations that Jan and the team had laid, to enable the organisation to scale and maximise its impact. This began with the launch of the 2025 strategy in October 2021 that set our direction for the coming years. We recruited additional staff to further improve our membership communications and strengthen our CPD training and events. We’ve launched the #CDIBigListen surveys to get feedback from members on the CDI as well as life working in career development. And we’re close to completing our biggest ever investment project – redeveloping the CDI website and membership management system.

These, along with our newly replaced telephone system, will make it an easier and more engaging experience for members to access the wide range of membership benefits on offer. It also underpins the greater focus we will be putting on raising the profile of career development – with governments, stakeholders and the public.

Ten years on and it is still our mission is to enable CDI members to best support their clients and to champion the benefits the profession offers for individuals, the economy and society. With the fantastic CDI team, supported by the Board, our many volunteers and Associates, I look forward to offering ever greater support to our members over the next ten years.