New CodeClan CEO Loral Quinn outlines plans to scale Scottish digital skills academy

The new boss of Scottish digital skills academy CodeClan is planning for scale at the organisation, aiming to work closely with the entire tech ecosystem and boost engagement with industry.

Loral Quinn, formerly chief executive and co-founder at “fintech for good” Sustainably, is taking the reins from departing chief executive Melinda Matthews-Clarkson, who is stepping down after five years in the role and plans to take a sabbatical back in her native United States.

Ms Quinn began her career as a marketing executive at Standard Life, and moved to Edinburgh Fund Managers in 2001 ahead of Aberdeen Asset Management acquiring the firm in 2003. At the latter firm, she headed digital marketing, and latterly was head of digital strategy and insight, helping to scale the asset-management group to the FTSE100 while leading teams across 30 countries in Europe, North America, and Asia.

She says she wants to bring her experience of leading global teams, combined with the lessons she learned as a start-up founder, to CodeClan, which says it now has more than 60 staff, while turnover is close to £3 million.

'I want to bring my experience of leading global teams, combined with the lessons I learned as a start-up founder, to CodeClan,' says new CEO Loral Quinn. Picture: contributed.

The skills academy specialises in 16-week software-development and 14-week data courses, having run 141 immersive cohorts in software-development and data to date from its Edinburgh and Glasgow campuses and remotely, while it is increasing its provision of bespoke courses for organisations across the corporate and public sectors.

It will also offer courses in low-code and no-code, which are among the fastest-growing areas in software-development, whereby systems allow non-coders to develop tools using graphical interfaces rather than coding, and it is set to launch new courses in 2023 including more part-time and evening classes, and Sustainability Engineering 101 to help businesses transition to net zero.

Earlier this year, CodeClan Youth Academy was established, with the venture sponsored by Baillie Gifford aimed at giving young people both a real-world experience of how a technology-driven business operates and the kind of programming skills required in an industry environment. It is expected to welcome even more students in 2023.

Ms Quinn said: “There are 20,000 software jobs out there, and CodeClan is perfectly placed to help close the digital skills gap, and the current hiring and upskilling crisis. We are going to get there by scaling the operation, and scaling the engagement of industry partners who benefit from the graduates we produce. We are now able to help organisations train non-technical teams, and we see this area being one set for considerable expansion over the next few years.”

In 2016, she co-founded Sustainably, which directs money to good causes by rounding up customers’ cashless transactions and donating “spare change” automatically every time they shop. It raised investment in London and New York, including from SoftBank, Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman’s Founders Factory, and Gareth Williams while chief executive of Skyscanner. Sir Richard Branson named Sustainably his start-up of the year in 2019.

Ms Quinn added: “[CodeClan] can become even more integral to the ecosystem value chain in Scotland, will champion inclusivity and diversity, and be accessible to as many students and businesses as we can. To make more of an impact, we need to work closely with the entire tech ecosystem from start-ups to scale-ups, corporate and public sector, so, increasing engagement with industry is going to be front and centre.”