Gavin Poole served as an RAF officer for 20 years before studying for an MBA. Now he heads up Here East, a tech campus in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park home to more than 30 organisations. He tells us about his unconventional career in this week’s Square Mile and Me

CV:

• Name: Gavin Poole
• Job title: Chief executive, Here East
• Previous roles: Ran the pre-eminent think tank in the UK for IDS, The Centre for Social Justice. Prior to that I was an RAF officer, retiring as a Wing Commander.
• Age: 50-something
• Lives: SW London
• Studied: Comprehensive School, apprenticeship, Military College, Cranfield, then King’s College London.
• Talents: Wannabee chef (see Instagram), skiing, known to do leadership…
• Motto: Learn something new every day.
• Biggest perk of the job? The people I get to meet. Seriously impressive across so many sectors. Medical tech, cyber, automotive, gaming, education, social enterprise, music, film, tv, commercial prop (and tech), legal. The list is very long. Goes back to learning something new every day!
• Coffee order: Latte (sadly). No syrups though
• Cocktail order: Margarita, with mezcal
• Favourite book: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
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