EDUCATION
Opportunities – Grant Glendinning , chief executive of the Education Training Collective ( Etc .).
HOME RUN
New Etc . leader is back on home ground – and is excited by area ’ s potential
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON
When Grant Glendinning runs the four-mile Eight Bridges Way from Stockton to the Port of Middlesbrough , he ’ s exhilarated for many reasons .
Born in Hartlepool , his appointment as chief executive of the Education Training Collective ( Etc .) has meant a return to Teesside for Grant , who ’ s become an established education sector leader through his experience at home and abroad .
A keen runner – he usually does a couple of marathons a year – he ’ s already enjoying the Eight Bridges run alongside a river much-changed since his childhood .
But further fuelling his excitement is the potential our evolving region has – and the part Etc . can play in that evolution .
He told Tees Business : “ Running the Eight Bridges , it was amazing to see the potential to repurpose that industrial land .
You can see how that whole area is ripe for redevelopment .
“ And Teesworks is a huge opportunity not just for this college , but others , too . I ’ ve been down to our Redcar college and just seeing what ’ s happening there is really exciting .
“ Those things leap out at you when you come back to the area . But when you ally that to the opportunities for local people and the changes to the economy it will mean , you can see how this is really going to bring opportunities for the residents of the area . Then you have the infrastructure and town centre redevelopment – it all creates a positive change .”
Born and bred in Hartlepool , after studying sociology and politics at Salford University , Grant “ taught and travelled ” – including a stint in the Czech Republic , where he met his wife , Michaela . They have a daughter , Constance , six .
On returning to the UK , Grant spent 20
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