The Geoff Herrington Foundation (GHF) was established in 2015 in memory of Geoff Herrington who sadly died in May 2005.  Geoff had little formal educational training, apart from one GSCE and an apprenticeship in Motor Mechanics.  With characteristic drive and determination, he went on to found his own businesses, initially developing and selling storage equipment for numerically controlled machine tools.

Geoff later co-founded the global Supply Point Systems group, which involved the design, manufacture and marketing of a diverse range of automated distributed storage solutions for engineering, maintenance and healthcare applications.  Geoff spearheaded the work for which Supply Point Systems was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise and Innovation in 2004.

Geoff had enthusiasm, passion and vision. He provided an exemplar of humane entrepreneurship – never ceasing to support his employees and treating them with fairness, honesty and integrity.  Geoff was a mentor to numerous people who worked with him, always putting people at their ease and making them feel valued and worthwhile. He guided them, gave them opportunities, placed trust and confidence in them, enabling them, in turn, to grow and develop.

Geoff was passionate that all young people should have the opportunities to develop their own full potential, especially those disadvantaged by not being ‘successful’ in the formal educational system or who faced other social or economic disadvantages.  GHF seeks to fulfil his ambition of supporting young socially or economically disadvantaged people by broadening their knowledge, skills or horizons in order to increase their chances of finding employment and to enable them to fully participate in society as independent, mature and responsible individuals.

Dr Sara Arber founded the GHF in February 2015 in memory of her late husband, Geoff Herrington, and has been Secretary of the GHF and a Trustee since its’ inception.