Gaynor Coley

Gaynor Coley "joined the Eden Project as Finance Director in 1997, having been Director of Corporate Finance at the University of Plymouth. She describes the move as like 'stepping from an oil tanker on to a small, fast-moving speedboat with little petrol'. Her first job at the Project was to make it financially and commercially secure and she led the development and delivery of the £86m public and private sector funding package that allowed the Project to be delivered on time and on budget. This provided a template that has been used by many other projects throughout the UK. Her Finance Team was recognised as the Accountancy Age team of the year in 2001. In May 2001 she became the Eden Project Managing Director and steered the team through their first full season and a record-breaking 1.8m visitors. She then oversaw the process that has brought the current phase of the project to fruition. Gaynor grew up in Wales, graduated in Economics from University College London in 1979, and has a postgraduate certificate in Education from London’s Institute of Education. She trained in the City of London with Touche Ross, moving to Cornwall in 1987 with KPMG. She moved into the food industry with her first Financial Directorship in 1990. Her role model in life is Mary Poppins: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to snap your fingers and have all the chores done.'"