About Us
Welcome to The Executive Development Network
Working with businesses across the country, EDN offers apprenticeships and training courses in leadership and management.
Tailored to empower teams and individuals, our programmes assist in cultivating better managers, board members, and leaders, directly enhancing engagement and retention rates across your workforce.
Our Mission
Upskilling Businesses. Changing Lives.
We are driven by unique philosophies that lead us to develop high-quality training programmes with outstanding results for our learners and our employer partners.
People
Our business ethos revolves around people and their growth.
We are dedicated to transforming lives, shaping futures, and creating better income opportunities for our employees, employer partners, and learners alike. Our moral purpose lies in helping everyone we work with to grow and develop, empowering them to reach their full potential in their careers and lives.
Planet
At EDN, we prioritise environmental sustainability to preserve the planet’s future.
We embed these principles in our curriculum and business operations, instilling learners with responsible practices and fostering a culture of environmental stewardship among our staff. This approach ensures that we play an active role in safeguarding the well-being and opportunities for the next generation.
Profit
As a business, we understand the significance of making a profit, but it’s not just about financial gains.
We have an economic responsibility to make a difference in the industries we operate in. One-third of our profits go to shareholders, another third to our employees who are co-owners of HIT, and the remaining third is reinvested back into our business.
Our History
In 1998, John Hyde started apprenticeship training company Hospitality Plus with an initial team of 18 staff. It went on to become the 4th largest apprenticeship training company in the country, operating from 40 sites and employing around 500 staff.
Prior to Hospitality Plus, John owned a small restaurant chain in Brighton and sat on the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board, one of 32 industrial training boards set up by Margaret Thatcher with legal powers to collect a levy. John was also instrumental in founding G10, a trade association for the 10 largest training providers in the UK, now known as AELP – the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.
2001
Hospitality Plus is acquired by the VT Group, now Babcock International. John signs a five-year lock out contract agreeing not to start a rival training provider.
2006
HIT Training is launched. In response to the Government’s new Train to Gain initiative, John Hyde and Jill Whittaker found HIT Training Ltd with 32 former colleagues from Hospitality Plus. The company specialises in vocational programmes in the hospitality sector. Within the year, HIT wins its first half-a-million-pound contract, plus smaller sub-contracts with 32 Further Education colleges across the country.
2007
HIT celebrates its first year and reaches 1,000 learners on programme.
2008
HIT launches Connect2Care, a division specialising in adult care. The company also has its first Ofsted inspection, achieving a rating of ‘Good’.
2009
The National Apprenticeship Service is founded to coordinate apprenticeships in England. HIT and Connect2Care Apprenticeship frameworks are launched.
2012
HIT and Connect2Care maintain their ‘Good’ rating with Ofsted. HIT is recognised as a Gold Standard provider with sector skills body People 1st.
2014
Turnover ‘hits’ £25 million. HIT employs its 500th employee in April after entering, for the first time, the ‘Times Top 100 Companies to Work For’, placing 92nd.
2016
HIT celebrates its 10th year and the HIT Chef Academy launches to acclaim across the hospitality and catering industry. HIT also introduces retail apprenticeships to its offer and is one of the first companies to adopt apprenticeship standards.
2017
John Hyde is awarded a CBE for services to education and training in hospitality and care at Buckingham Palace. HIT continues to meet Ofsted ‘Good’ ratings, with the Chef Academy cited as ‘Outstanding’. A new system for funding all new apprenticeships is introduced on 6th April 2017 called the Apprenticeship Levy, with HIT becoming a lead advisor to hospitality industry employers. Connect2Care starts working with the early years sector and becomes an Adult Care endorsed provider with ‘Skills 4 Care’.
2018
HIT wins a ‘Supplier Excellence’ award at the annual Foodservice Cateys 2018, the equivalent of the Oscars of the hospitality industry. Connect2Care starts work in healthcare and HIT is awarded ‘The Times Educational Supplement Training Provider of the Year’.
2019
HIT introduces its new mission ‘People, Planet, Profit’ demonstrating the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability, as a golden thread throughout the business and supply chain. It also launches the UK's first apprenticeship for brewers, in collaboration with an industry trailblazer group.
2020
HIT is named for the fourth time in the aspirational Sunday Times ‘Top 100 Best Companies to Work For’. At number 17, the company has continued to rise through the ranks from 92nd in 2014 to 88th in 2015 to 74th in 2018.
2021
Identifying a need for management and leadership skills training, HIT launches the Executive Development Network featuring quarterly ‘3rd Horizon’ events providing cutting-edge learning from a variety of different sectors – from sport to music, manufacturing, international retail and science. Connect2Care becomes the only provider to work with funeral services. HIT celebrates its 15th birthday.
2022
Jill Whittaker is awarded an OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours list for outstanding services to apprenticeships in hospitality, care and management.
2023
HIT Training Ltd announces the creation of an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) giving employees a majority share of the company. The move reflects the company’s commitment to creating an inclusive workplace that values the contributions of all employees. HIT also becomes one of the first independent training providers to become an employee-owned company. Jill takes up the Executive Chair position and Mike Worley becomes Managing Director.
2024
HIT Training Ltd wins ‘Best Training Provider’ at the prestigious Apprenticeship Guide Awards
Cultural Values
What we do matters
Everybody matters
Our experience matters
Working together matters
Our profit matters
Trusted apprenticeship provider
Work at EDN
Our specialist training divisions
We aren’t just experts in adult care, healthcare and early years training, we also own two other leading training providers…
