Gaynor Coley

Gay Coley was one of the Founding Directors of The Eden Project in Cornwall - taking the helm as MD from 2001 to 2013. It was thanks to her extraordinary skill and vision that £140m in funding was sourced to build it - turning it into what has been dubbed 'the eighth wonder of the world' in the process. She wrote the business plan and delivered it in spades; pioneered sustainable operations and local sourcing and recruited local staff on potential rather than experience, winning awards for the quality of customer service. This created a company that turns over c£20m a year, has attracted over 20m visitors and an economic impact of over £2bn. It is still hailed as a great beacon for social enterprise, making profits while delivering great purpose.

Prior to Eden she was Finance Director at the University of Plymouth where she was the first woman in the SLT and worked with the Vice Chancellor to see them move from a rule bound Polytechnic to a vibrant entrepreneurial University.

Gay is a great believer in educational entertainment and in achieving success for the benefit of all, rather than the few. After Eden she dramatically increased visitor numbers and audience diversity as Director of Public Programmes at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. The Spice festival attracted an ethnically diverse audience previously absent from Kew and the Intoxication festival triggered a wide debate on how we handle the effects of mind altering plant based substances, gaining coverage in the media from the Telegraph to the Sun. The Christmas lights has attracted a wider family audience and significant additional revenue.

She then went on to Chair the Board at The Wave Group Ltd, Bristol a young company building the first inland surf lagoon. She led them through the hard financial times of COVID to success with a private equity investment that will see the second site in London coming soon.

She is now the Founding partner and CEO of Xanadoo - a major new visitor attraction proposed for South Wales. Gay describes this as vital . "If Eden and the marvellous David Attenborough have convinced us we need to halt environmental damage then the next challenge is how do we change? Xanadoo will show how we have solved seemingly impossible challenges in the past and will then crowdsource a vision of a better world, inspiring visitors to get creative and active to drive systematic change." The project has just passed due diligence on demand feasibility and is now fundraising.

Gay is a Non Executive Director and Audit Chair on a listed Investment fund, Lowland and Foresight Enterprise, a Venture Capital Trust, championing ESG, sustainable investment and widening the understanding of the benefits of investing.

She mentors for the Stepping Up Learning Academy which aims to unlock potential and develop talent while ensuring a fair representation of Black, Asian, disabled & LGBTQ and women in positions of leadership. She also assists a variety of charities with their fundraising activities.