Poole, Gavin

Here East, UK

Gavin Poole is the CEO of Here East, a dedicated campus, for innovators, disruptors, visionaries with over 5,800 people – 4,000 who work for businesses on site and 1,800 who study – regularly based on the 1.2 million sq ft site.

He served in the Royal Air Force for more than 20 years as an engineering officer. Starting as an apprentice and finishing as an advisor to the defense ministerial team in government he commanded many squadrons and wings with diverse functions from ground and air engineering, operational Harrier squadrons and bomb disposal units. As a senior commander he served throughout the world across many conflict zones.

Upon leaving military service, Gavin joined the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) eventually leading the organization overseeing a period of intense business change, including a project to restructure the organisation and launch three new major policy initiatives including their modern-day slavery work which ultimately led to a change in law through the introduction of the Modern-Day Slavery Act.

In 2012, Gavin left to lead the Here East project and stand up the original vision and bid team. His vision for Here East has been instrumental in creating what has become the most successful re-development of an Olympic Press and Broadcast Centre globally, and one of the fastest growing business clusters in London.

Gavin is an aeronautical engineer (BEng) acquiring chartered engineer status in 1997, has a Masters in Defense Administration (MDA) and a MA in International Relations and War Studies from Kings College London.

Gavin is a board member of Plexal, the separate innovation centre platform business at Here East and was formerly a director/trustee of Scope, the UK disability charity. Gavin also sits on the Advisory Board of the Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates and is a London Technology Ambassador for the Mayor of London. In addition, he sits on the Advisory Board for London Tech Week as well as the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation.