Creative Youth Network (CYN) is the leading organisation in the West of England supporting young people to reach their potential. It consistently delivers high quality support for the most vulnerable as well as a range of programmes and courses to support young people’s development. It highlights the stories and issues young people care about through shows, exhibitions and other creative means. The organisation combines income from social enterprise activities, including the management of a large property portfolio.
CYN works to help young people remove or overcome the barriers young people face by:
Building trusting relationships with young people that enable CYN to address their individual needs.
Advocating for young people to influence policy and get young voices heard.
Providing a wide range of programmes and activities to help young people reach their potential.
Their various youth centres (including Bristol’s flagship city centre youth hub, The Station) are safe and creative spaces for young people to hang out, explore their interests and build positive relationships, filling the gap between school and home. Young people at all their Centres are supported by their youth workers in organising their own events. Cooking, DJing, arts activities, discussions or debates - activities are all planned to encourage and empower each young person to find their voice and reach their potential.
You can learn more about CYN at:
www.creativeyouthnetwork.org.uk and Impact Report.
The Challenge
CYN approached Moon Executive Search to assist them in identifying a new Chief Executive. Robert Nye, Chair of the Trustees comments:
‘The role of CEO is key to the future success of the organisation. The Board of Trustees sought a visionary leader with a passion for helping young people to reach their potential and an entrepreneurial flair that makes sure the Charity is well funded and growing. We were recommended to Moon Executive Search due to their previous success in appointing high profile CEOs and we were impressed from the outset by their network and reach, and their understanding of both the opportunities and challenges ahead of CYN.’
Simon Quinn, Director Executive Search and Vanessa Moon, Founding Director, led on the search, combining their collective local knowledge and national reach to inform the search.
The brief highlighted the need to identify a Chief Executive who shared CYN’s passion for supporting young people’s development and could take on responsibility for the development and delivery of the CYN strategy. It was also crucial for Simon and Vanessa to identify prospective candidates who could understand the strategic context in all the key areas that CYN work in – geographically, politically, technologically and in the issues young people are facing.
Our Approach
Armed with detailed information about the context for this CEO appointment, Simon and Vanessa conducted extensive research, considering of all the key requirements of the brief. They led on the search for individuals who could demonstrate the experience and expertise of operating at CEO level and who had the ability to develop relationships with key partner organisations, considering exposure to capital projects and large-scale contracts.
Longlisting candidates considered each individual’s track record of delivery of services, their financial acumen, the evidence they provided of their strategic capability and their leadership style and qualities.
The Solution
By inviting Expressions of interest and CVs and assessing personal motivations and career aspirations through initial screening interviews, Moon was able to produce a recommended interview shortlist to the CYN Board.
This shortlist included a diverse range of candidates, representing both local and national candidates. Each candidate was presented with detailed notes about their experience and skill set to help inform the Board considerations, which ultimately resulted in Mark Coates being appointed as CYN’s new CEO.
Simon Quinn said:
“With a personal interest in supporting young people who are often disadvantaged, I found this search fascinating. I was delighted to act as an Ambassador for such a wonderful Charity that makes a considerably positive impact on young people. The Board of Trustees were very responsive to questions we raised throughout the search, and this helped us manage such a professional and well-organised process. Undoubtedly, Mark Coates will make an enormous continuing contribution to CYN, and we feel privileged to have facilitated his appointment”.
Mark Coates, comments:
“I am enormously proud to have been appointed CEO of CYN. I know that I was an internal candidate in this process, but I was hugely impressed with the level of service Moon gave me. This included invaluable advice and guidance at each step of the process and is testament to the importance they place on the candidate journey. I look forward to my new role at CYN and would recommend other organisations using Moon to manage such recruitment processes in the future.”
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