The Board of LED Community Leisure are very pleased to announce the appointment of Olly Swayne as the new Chief Executive of LED.
Olly brings a wealth of commercial and operational experience from a career spanning three decades, having held senior leadership positions, most recently as the Director of Commercial Integration at Caterfood Buying Group (Bidfood UK), where he managed strategic initiatives aimed at driving growth and operational excellence across multiple regional businesses.
He was also Group Commercial Manager at Loungers PLC, where he played a pivotal role leading the commercial operations team and managing purchasing, supply chain, and compliance for one of the UK’s fastest-growing casual dining operators. Prior to this Olly held various senior positions at SSP Group PLC, where he accelerated growth across airport concessions at Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter airports, which led him to roles in business development and business change, across the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavia. His proven track record of delivering results through strategic planning, operational efficiency, and stakeholder engagement makes him a valuable addition to the LED team.
As Chief Executive of LED, Olly will lead the organisation in its mission to provide exceptional leisure services for communities across East Devon and beyond. His strategic vision and commitment to enhancing community well-being align perfectly with LED’s goals of promoting active lifestyles and fostering a vibrant leisure, wellbeing and healthy culture.
Olly expressed his excitement about his new role, saying; “It is a real privilege to be joining such a talented team of people at LED and to be given the opportunity to contribute to the organisation’s future success. I look forward to working closely with the LED Board, the wider team, East Devon District Council, other stakeholders, our members and many other partners to further enhance the leisure facilities, outreach services and commercial operations. I want to make a positive impact on the lives and enjoyment of everyone living in and visiting East Devon and beyond”.
Richard Purchase, Chair of the LED Board said; “We are delighted that Olly will be joining LED shortly and can help shape the future direction of the organisation whilst looking at and building on the commercial successes we have already enjoyed. Our partnership with East Devon District Council is important and Olly will have the establishing of a strong working relationship with officers and members as one of his key priorities.”.