Ryan Heal (R. 1989-94) wins "The Outstanding Brightonian Award" - Old Brightonians - The Alumni of Brighton College (original) (raw)
Tuesday, 06 December 2011
We are thrilled to announce that Ryan Heal (R. 1989-94) has won the 'Outstanding Brightonian' Award from The Argus.
A born and bred Brightonian, Ryan is currently Managing Director of Brighton’s Juice 107.2FM. He began his radio career with Southern FM in the late 90s before moving to Juice in 2006. Under his stewardship, Juice 107.2 has increased its listenership by over 50% and is now widely recognised as the local commercial radio station that refl ects the City, its people, its culture and its business community. However, it is behind the scenes, and without fanfare, that much of the work we honour Ryan for has been done.
His core skill is perhaps in winning the respect and trust of infl uential people throughout the city and being able to recruit them to the causes he supports, safe in the knowledge that he has no hidden agenda - his priority is always the charity.
So it is no surprise that he received more nominations than any other Brightonian.
One of the highlights of this year has been a sporting lunch that raised a recordbreaking £177,415 for Sussex’s Children’s Hospice. Chestnut Tree House recalls that it took only one phone call to secure the support they needed from Ryan’s business – what they did not expect was that he would invest so much of his personal time, energy and passion to become one of the hospice’s most important advocates.
Ryan’s reputation has spread beyond the City and throughout the county. Perhaps his own proudest legacy is to have raised awareness of Chestnut Tree House and helped the Hospice to raise the funds it needs to reach and help more children and families across Sussex. We have no doubt that this is a man that the City is going be hearing a lot more from.