Declan Swan is the newly appointed Director of the Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP) – the professional body for everyone working in the employability/welfare to work sector. Supported by leading sector employers, the IEP aims to raise the profile of the sector and raise its performance through improved professional standards and qualifications. Declan’s role is to establish the IEP as an influential, valued and high performing organisation that supports practitioners, nurtures talent and drives sector performance.



Previously, Declan was Chief Executive of the Institute for Education Business Excellence (IEBE); Chief Executive the National EBP Network (NEBPN), and; Chief Executive of Welcome Skills Ltd (an international learning broker). As Director of the Hospitality Industry’s National Training Organisation, Declan led the development of the Sector Skills Council that later became People 1st. He began his career in the hospitality business working at senior level for a range of national and international hotel companies.



He holds a BSc in Management from Trinity College Dublin, an MA in Social and Market Research from Westminster University, London and studied Strategic Planning at the Ashridge Management College.



Declan has undertaken a variety of charity work, including fundraising to refurbish and run a kitchen for homeless people in Fulham in 2003, and volunteers his time to support enterprise activities in local schools across Surrey. He ran to the Virgin London Marathon in April 2011 raising money for the National Children’s Bureau (NCB).



He is a Fellow of RSA, a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and an Affiliate Member of the British Institute of Innkeeping.