Ten Stories: Introducing Our New Chairman of Trustees

We are delighted to introduce Richard H Tucker MBE, who assumed his role as Chairman of Trustees for Building Heroes at the beginning of 2024, in readiness to celebrate our Decade of Impact.

Richard Tucker joined the Royal Air Force in 1976 as a mechanical Transport driver. The trade of Driver was one of the largest trades in the RAF and offered considerable opportunity to travel, for which he enjoyed enjoyed tours from Sardinia, Cyprus, to four in Germany, Northern Ireland, Ascension Islands and the 1st Gulf War without doubt was both enjoyable and at times challenging. Equally, his trade presented every scenario to gain qualifications from Airfield support roles, General MT and Management to specialist skills such as VIP & close protection work.

Having left School with no qualifications, Richard married his childhood sweetheart who encouraged him to utilise the opportunities afforded by the MoD Distance learning scheme. This programme enabled him to gain a Masters in Transport & Logistics regardless of where he was serving and with the modular approach formed the basis of my MBA which he concluded at Sunderland University during his resettlement.

Richard said: "The lessons learnt from serving nearly 20 years leaving under “Options for Change in 1996” as a SNCO were immense. Responsibility and accountability of commanding, teams sometimes in challenging operational conditions which occasionally required local and immediate improvisation teaches an individual how to adapt and in turn grow both in statue and managing people. The experience and confidence to stand back, reflect, evaluate, and then if applicable take any corrective steps needed to ensure the objectives set were achieved has been a bedrock of personal development and the enabler to grow both within Senior Corporate Management roles, overseeing 2000 personal as General Manager of a large Food Distribution Site, to now running my own business employing 51 individuals of whom 17 have a veteran or dependant background."

Joining the Building Heroes Board of Trustees

Richard was invited to join the Board of Trustees by the then Northern Lead for the Building Heroes course in 2019 and after a meeting with Brendan Williams, the Founder and Chief Executive at the time, he recommended his appointment to the Board.  

Richard said: "I welcomed the opportunity to broaden my passion in helping veterans into work. In 2016, I was honoured to receive an MBE for helping those with mental Health and suffering with seen or unseen disabilities back into work from the New Years Honours List. As a new trustee, I wanted to be involved, and began attending the Graduation Ceremonies, supporting the academy heads and promoting the Charity. This was the first time a Trustee had been appointed outside of the Crawley Southern area and so I enjoyed a “Blue Sky” opportunity."

During this time, Richard also received confirmation to a Publicly appointed role as Member of the Employers Recognition Scheme (ERS) for the North East, the additional role collaborated nicely, as being a member of the ERS, he was empowered to meet with employers cross the North East.

Becoming Chairman

The former Chairman, Pete Bradbury served for ten years and under his watch and guidance, together with Brendan Williams, the Charity had significantly grown with its presence receiving the prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise - Promoting Opportunity. Pete felt having completed ten years that it was the right time to stand down and thus sought candidates from the Board of Trustees.

Richard said: "I considered having served as a Trustee from 2019 that my knowledge and understanding of the charity stood me in good stead, coupled, with my own thoughts as to how we could strengthen the board, support the academies, enable influencers to work collectively with Academy leads and bring experience to the board from the specialisms of law, accounting, and construction would be invaluable as we continued to grow. I was also aware of the new challenges the charity would face from selecting a new CEO to increasing regulation and of course delivery, against a backdrop of decreasing service leavers, the need for skills in the construction industry and untapped opportunities for veterans."

Having reflected on these points, albeit daunting in some respects, the pathway ahead presented Richard with the Chairman opportunity and it was one that he decided to embrace and enjoy.

What do you enjoy about being Chairman?

"As Chairman without doubt, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the role, Is the ability to meet our team of dedicated staff, from academy leads to the senior team along with witnessing the celebration of those completing their courses and of course our volunteers."

What do you enjoy about working at Building Heroes?

"The most amazing thing about Building Heroes’ is that everyone from the CEO to our newest volunteer is completely and utterly committed to the charity and the experience our graduates enjoy."

What are your plans for the future?

"The future is of course a plan, one that is flexible, capable of adaption with goals that can be measured, from financial success to the number of graduates trained and awards won."

What have you already changed?

"As we brought in the New Year, we needed to engage a new CEO capable and experienced in strategic thinking, managing change, together with financial competency alongside all of which, an understanding of the educational market with a drive and passion for the charity, clients and ethos.  We have succeeded with our 1st step in a new vision for the charity in appointing Christopher Charles."

What's next?

"We operate in a difficult and crowded market, but one from which commitment, the ability to shine and deliver high class quality training and an unmatched dedication to our clients is there for Building Heroes to grasp, a light in a dark and crowded room.

I look forward to the time when Building Heroes is a leader, indeed influencer assisting Government and educational bodies in the re-skilling and development of our valuable and highly trained graduates, a charity that others benchmark themselves against."

Any final comments?

"The vision is bright, the future exciting and importantly achievable."

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Richard fulfils his role with Building Heroes while also being a member of the Worshipful Company of Paviors, Chair of the North East MoD Employers Recognition Scheme, Member of the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association NE, Chair of the Armed Forces Network for the Province of Durham.

Richard is also appointed to Public Office as Member of the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee and we extend a huge thank you Richard Tucker for taking the time to share his story with us for our Ten Stories for Ten Years of Success.