SBT Charity Special…A tribute to Ryan Heal

This month SBT got an exclusive interview with CEO of Rockinghorse Ryan Heal, now stepping down after 8 years.

Ryan you have been involved in the Sussex Business Community for many years, tell us about your career to date?

Firstly, it’s incredible how quickly the years pass! I feel like I’ve been around for 300 years and I’m only 44! The career started straight out of University in publishing / commercial sales with Reed Elsevier, a great training ground for the career to come. I remember applying for the my first job in radio with Southern FM and being told by my soon to be boss Bob Hoad, that they couldn’t take me on at the moment but to keep in touch……..I don’t think Bob realised that to me that wasn’t a veiled offer and I hounded him every week for a year. He hired me in month 13! Bob still tells that story, and he was the first great mentor in my career. Bob and those glory years at Southern FM were very special and planted the “radio bug” in my DNA that remains strong to this day. In between stints in the recruitment sector, which everyone seemed to have a stab at in the early 00’s, it was my arrival at Juice FM in 2005 that re-ignited the radio connection. For years, Southern FM had been the only game in town when it came to radio. Every business looking to advertise on the radio in Sussex found their way to Southern FM, then all of a sudden this little upstart of radio station starts to make inroads into market share and the hyper local commercial  radio platform that Juice FM provided was gaining real traction. Around this time, the much loved Southern FM had been re-branded and re-launched as Heart FM. There is no doubt that Juice benefited greatly from Heart’s decision to move to a more national outlook, leaving Juice to build endless local partnerships for many years to come. I became Managing Director at Juice in 2007 and held that post until my departure in 2012. Having moved on operationally, I held the position of Chairman until the sale of Juice in 2018. I was incredibly proud of what we achieved at Juice against a huge global market leader and in the midst of the 2008-2011 economic crisis. At the time of the credit crunch recession, we were one of the only profitable radio stations in the country. It taught me the importance of relationship building and how local corporate partnerships still stand for so much and should never be underestimated.

You have been at Rockinghorse for over 8 years, have you achieved what you wanted to and how has the charity evolved during your time?

I moved to Rockinghorse to “give back” following our son’s illness and subsequent season ticket at The Royal” Alex.” I don’t think I would have made such a move had it not been for the personal connection. It didn’t feel like a career move that’s for sure. I recall being interviewed at the time and stating firmly that I’ll do a couple of years with the charity, get our son better and then move back into the commercial world………I blinked and 8 years flew by. I’m so proud of our achievements at Rockinghorse during my time, it’s no secret that the charity was struggling for direction, profile and engagement in the local community prior to my arrival in 2012. By 2014, the turnover was up 104% whilst, crucially, keeping the cost base the same and therefore generating a very healthy surplus. By 2017 this had reached record levels of surplus, not seen in the charity’s previous 50 years, while the fundraising team never grew beyond 4 members of staff with an average of just 7 full time equivalent staff at the entire charity. This was the case throughout my tenure. The staff have been incredible over the years and their utter dedication to the cause has enabled us to give so much away to our projects at the Royal “Alex”, the Trevor Mann Baby Unit and beyond. I always wanted to focus on what we actually gave away as opposed to how much we raised. Many charities out there will tell you they raised £1M, without telling you they spent £990,000 getting there! I was adamant from day 1 that I was going to run the charity as a business. This was a big change for Rockinghorse, but I think the outcome defends the strategy. Too many charities don’t incorporate commercial thinking into their overall strategy and I think that’s very short sighted. Personal highlights will include running the London Marathon in 2015 raising over £10,000, arranging a Royal visit to the children’s hospital in the 50th year Golden Jubilee and winning Outstanding Contribution to Charity & Outstanding Contribution to Sussex in 2018. As I move on from the charity, I know I’m leaving it in a much stronger position with a profile that has been resurrected beyond recognition (to what it was previously.) With the huge support base Rockinghorse enjoys, I have no doubt it will continue to be successful for many years to come.

After such an impressive impact on the charity, one as you know has a close place in my heart, our readers will want to know what is next for Ryan Heal?

As one chapter ends, another one begins and I’m very excited about the future. Using the experience gained over the past (nearly) 25 years, including 15 of those as Managing Director & Chief Executive, I’ll be starting up my business consultancy – BN1 Consulting – with the sole aim of working with local businesses to raise their profile, network, footprint, engagement and ultimately increase their bottom line. Additionally, I’ll be continuing with my “Best of British” Events which have been going since 2009 and have benefited many regional causes, including Chestnut Tree House & Rockinghorse, with hundreds of thousands of pounds being raised over the years. Admittedly, with the current pandemic, our larger scale events will take a little longer to return but hopefully not too much longer now. When they do return, I expect them to be as popular as ever given the pent up frustration of not being able to engage with our networks and professional communities for so long. I look forward to helping a variety of regional charities through these events – Book early for 2021/22! Finally, and until such times when the larger scale events return, I’ll also be launching the Best of British Members Club – BBMC for a smaller, select group of businesses and business leaders so watch this space!