Neil Leitch OBE, CEO, Early Years Alliance
Neil Leitch OBE
Back in 2000, following a career in finance which culminated in him chairing the Finance Industry Standards Association, Neil was asked to volunteer his skills in business to what was then the Pre-school Learning Alliance.
Finding its ethos and dedication to the lives of young children chimed deeply with his values, Neil came out of semi-retirement to join the Alliance full-time and in 2008, was appointed as its CEO. In the years since, he has been a strident leader of the largest early years membership organisation in the country, overseeing its rebrand to the Early Years Alliance in 2019 – a change that reflected its ambition to give a united voice to all involved in caring and educating young children.
Neil has fronted numerous sector campaigns on fair funding, the mental health of the early years workforce and notably, Rewind on Ratios, which successfully protected adult to child ratios in early years settings in 2013. He has provided evidence to multiple government inquiries and he played a pivotal role in developing the two-year-old early entitlement offer. Neil’s membership of the Department for International Trade (DIT) Education Sector Advisory Group has also given his work international reach, particularly in China and the rest of Asia.
In 2014 when Nursery Management Today instigated their annual ‘Childcare Power 20’, Neil was first to top the list and in 2020 he received the Nursery World Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently, Neil was recognised in the 2022 New Year Honours list, when he was awarded an OBE for services to education. He remains a powerful voice for the sector, fighting to ensure early years is recognised as an integral part of our national education system.