Andrew Cooksley

Andrew Cooksley grew up in Cardiff and left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications. After a lot of jobs and false starts, he started ACT Wales’ leading Training provider in 1988 at the age of 22.

Andrews’ vision from the beginning of ACT was to completely focus on the customer and deliver world-class training. ACT started off with just 12 members of staff, and now employs over 300 people, trains up to 6,500 learners a year and operates two centres in Cardiff and four others in Caerphilly, Bridgend, Barry and Aberdare.

Andrew believes that the positive ethos of the company is what sets it apart from other training providers, and this is reflected in the fact it has been awarded the largest single Welsh Government training contract providing ACT with a £25 million turnover.

Andrew and his senior management team ensure that ACT is constantly evolving and that staff are given plenty of responsibility and opportunity to define their roles. Andrew likes to ensure that all staff feel valued and have a clear part to play in the success of the company and this was recently reflected in the fact that ACT was awarded a gold grading (the highest Available) in the highly ambitious and hugely sought-after Investors in People Profile standard.