Jo Owen

SpecialityFounder, Teach First
Founder, Teach FirstJo is one of the leading social entrepreneurs in the UK. He founded Teach First - the largest graduate recruiter in the UK - and is founder or co-founder of seven other NGOs in education and re-offending. His charities have a combined turnover in excess of £100m. Jo is also a multi-award winning author and speaker - the only person to win the CMI Gold Award four times for his books which have been published in over 100 editions globally. His titles include How to Lead, Tribal Business School, Mindset of Success and Global Teams, published by the Financial Times. Previously a partner at Accenture, Jo started his career at P&G in brand management. His career highlights include getting sued for $12bn; building a business in Japan without speaking Japanese; starting a bank; becoming the best nappy salesman in Birmingham and putting the blue speckle in Daz. He is currently chair of the Education Commission, supported by the CBI, ASCL and NEU (the main teaching unions) and with cross party support.