Babington hires ‘turnaround’ specialist as next CEO

One of England’s largest apprenticeship training providers has appointed an “international growth and turnaround” specialist as its next chief executive. 

The board of Babington has announced that Mark Basham, currently a self-employed angel investor and board adviser, will join the provider as chief executive on Monday, July 3. 

The appointment follows the sudden departure of David Marsh, who left the business just over a month ago after five years as chief executive. 

Basham was previously CEO of AXELOS, a company set up by the UK government and Capita, which runs certifications in best practice such as ITIL and PRINCE2. 

On leaving AXELOS in April 2022, he went on to become a self-employed angel investor and co-founder of HIT Global, an IT service management training company.

The self-described “high-impact CEO” said he was “excited to get started.”

“Apprenticeships are a key element of the UK’s economic strategy ensuring the availability of appropriate skills and resource. I am certain they will play an increasingly important role in the talent strategy of all businesses across the UK for decades to come. Babington is well-placed to support this trend and I am excited to get started.”

Joining Basham will be Mike Kinski who will become Babington’s first chairman. 

Kinski is currently a special adviser at Babington and will “provide significant additional expertise to Mark and the executive committee as they seek to build on Babington’s strong reputation in the training and learning sector,” according to a statement.

Babington is currently rated ‘good’ by Ofsted and trains thousands of apprentices and adult learners each year in areas like accountancy, administration, management and employability skills.

The provider is yet to file accounts for 2022, but its financial statements for 2021 show turnover reached £26.1 million in 2021 with a profit after tax of £3.4 million. 

However, Babington’s holding company, Project Sinatra Topco Ltd – now called Babington Managed Services Topco Ltd – showed a loss of £2.5 million in the same year.