In our monthly feature focussing on people who have crossed organisational and sectoral boundaries, Mark Gibson talks about his move from the then-Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) to the Whitehall and Industry Group
Mark Gibson resigned from the civil service after being told by his bosses that it was unlikely that he would be promoted to permanent secretary level. “I wasn’t sacked, but I was told that I was not earmarked for one of the top jobs,” he says. As he was leaving, he was approached by the Whitehall and Industry Group, a charity promoting closer ties between government and the private sector. His contacts in business and government made him a perfect fit for the role.
Despite this, he says, some board members needed persuading that his experience in the public sector stood him in good stead for the role of chief executive: “I had done an MBA and a number of secondments into business so I wasn’t fazed by that, but I needed to make sure that I spent a lot of time on preparing papers for the board. I am responsible, so I need to understand the numbers.”
The new financial responsibilities were the biggest change from his previous role. “In the public sector, the taxpayer provides all the income. Charities either have to beg or earn it,” he says. “I always say that charity is half way between the public and private sectors – you are working for the public good like government, but having to raise income like business.”
Whereas Gibson’s role in Whitehall had enabled him to delegate many of his executive tasks, he found himself in a much smaller team, pitching in with tasks – such as recruitment and finances – previously handled by dedicated departments. “I was going back to being closer to the coalface – relearning a lot of skills,” he recalls. “That is something I have enjoyed a great deal, although not everyone in that situation does.”
One of the biggest changes in his new role is being the public face of WIG. “As a civil servant, I was not accountable in the same way. The brand and reputation of the organisation is tied up with the chief executive – I learnt a lot from watching politicians deal with journalists in my previous job.”
His Whitehall experience, he says, has also helped him guide a strategic course for the charity. “It helped that I understood the Whitehall decision-making process; I could think long-term. The danger sometimes with people coming in from private sector is they are a bit driven by the short-term.”