Profile of London Pilotlighter David Rivington, who brings to our charities the benefits of a varied career which has included jobs as an oil field engineer in jungles and deserts, an internship as a journalist at the Economist and senior business development roles at Apple Computers.
More recently David has founded, ‘bootstrapped’ and sold two companies in the telecoms business and is embarking on his third. It is this experience of growing, and occasionally downsizing, his own organisations which David said was most useful in his work as a Pilotlighter with the UK Youth Parliament.
UKYP gives young people between the ages of 11 and 18 a voice, and access to local and national government to influence the policies and strategies which affect them and the issues they care about. When David first met with UKYP Chief Executive Andy Hamflett, his key concern was that the organisation was already dynamic and well run, so how could he make a difference?
Andy came to Pilotlight looking for help with a communications strategy and governance. As the Pilotlighters worked with Andy to understand the needs of UKYP it became clear that a 'back to basics' approach was appropriate, beginning with work on a new mission statement. One year on, UKYP has a 3-year plan, won a major piece of funding for the next 3 years and has a clear picture of the work that still needs to be done in the areas of governance and succession.
David enjoyed meeting with the other Pilotlighters in an atmosphere he describes as 'collegiate', and said his fellow Pilotlighters (comprising of individuals from BP, Channel 4 and Morgan Stanley) each brought something different and relevant to the process. David was able to help particularly with some of the challenges related to managing a small and growing business, such as clarification of values and HR systems.
David, too, has learned from the experience, and was invigorated to find a world of dedicated people working hard to make life better for others which he would never have encountered in his professional and social life. He is a regular expert speaker at new member inductions and his tips for new Pilotlighters are to approach the charity with humility, and to listen until you are sure you have understood. David describes Pilotlight as a very efficient way to use his skills, and a way to give something back after the 'bit of good luck' he has enjoyed in business, although we suspect it's less to do with luck and more to do with the skills and judgement that we are delighted to offer to our partner organisations.