David Holdsworth was appointed as Chief Executive of the Charity Commission on 7 February 2024. His prior roles include Chief Executive Officer of the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Deputy CEO of the UK Intellectual Property Office, and Deputy CEO and Registrar of Charities for England and Wales at the Charity Commission.

Sayyeda Salam joined Concern Worldwide UK as Executive Director in September 2024. Previously, she worked at Save the Children for over 15 years, where she has held roles across Fundraising and Marketing, Policy and Advocacy, and Operations. These have included stints in Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt, and in Tanzania.

Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah is Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation and author of ‘Power to the People: Use your voice, change the world’. Danny's previous roles include CEO of Oxfam GB, Secretary General of CIVICUS, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society and Interim Director of the Commonwealth Foundation.

• Book | Power to the People

Alison joined CAF Bank as Chief Executive Officer in December 2019, and in 2021 took on the additional role of Chief Executive CAF Financial Solutions Limited. She is principally responsible for driving the Bank’s strategy and transformation of the products and services we deliver to UK charities.

Alan was previously CEO of the Chartered Insurance Institute, leading the premier professional body for insurance and financial planning. A chartered accountant with Ernst & Whinney, Alan is a Fellow of ICAEW, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and an Honorary Fellow of the Korean Institute of Architects.

Kate has recently retired from her role as the Director of Integrity & Ethics at Oxfam. Before that, Kate was a partner in Sayer Vincent, a professional firm focussing solely on social purpose organisations. Now she is a trustee and a Chair of charities.

Rhodri Davies is a well-known expert and commentator on philanthropy and civil society issues. He is the Founder and Director of the think tank Why Philanthropy Matters, host of the Philanthropisms podcast, Pears Research Fellow in the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, and Philanthropy Expert in Residence at the Pears Foundation.

Jill has over 25 years’ experience working in the Not for Profit sector. She specialises in audit and advisory work (particularly governance reviews). She is an experienced tutor and runs training courses for charity finance professionals including Civil Society and CFG.

Jonathan advises on a wide variety of commercial, constitutional and regulatory issues affecting charities and purpose driven organisations and is the first point of contact for many charity chief executives. He is individually ranked in Chambers and Partners UK and the Legal 500 (‘Hall of Fame’).

Naziar joined Crowe in 2008 from a Big Four Firm as a specialist non profits partner. In addition to providing assurance services, she provides advisory services to a range of charities and carries out training for charities and lectures and writes on a range of topics relevant to trustees and management.

Luke advises a wide range of charities on charity law and governance matters. Luke has a particular specialism in charity investment and acted in the Butler-Sloss case, which is central to the new CC14.

With 15 years of experience leading grant-giving programmes using a system’s change approach, Marcia drives impact by building shared value partnerships across Foundations, Trusts and Community Organisations. Marcia has managed a range of teams, to develop community investment strategies and campaigns for causes including health, education and empowerment.

As a VAT specialist with over 18 years of charity experience, Parul has worked with a wide range of charities across the country. She has a technical specialism in partial exemption and business/non-business issues, and has advised on barter transactions, the scope of the fundraising exemption and litigation on the meaning of consideration.

Stephen is an Audit Director, specialising in the Not-for-Profit sector, with experience across the housing, education and charity sectors. Stephen co-leads the firm’s national Not-for-Profit audit practice and he regularly delivers training and speaking slots at sector conferences, webinars and events.

Helen has over 20 years’ experience working with a wide variety of not for profit organisations across the country, specialising in corporation tax, including the creative industry scheme reliefs, and Gift Aid. Helen’s breadth of experience means she is fully aware of the challenges faced within the sector.

Harriet is a Financial Reporting Manager, specialising in the Not-for-Profit sector, with technical experience across the housing, education and charity sectors. Harriet is a treasurer trustee for a domestic abuse charity in Yorkshire, and a committee member for her local branch of the Military Wives’ Choir.

Grant started his career in finance technology nearly 20 years ago in sunny South Africa. He currently works as a Senior Solution Consultant for the Sage Intacct team, dedicated to the not-for-profit and healthcare sectors for customers across the UK and Ireland.

Lisa founded and chairs the Pay What It Takes Charity Consortium in Australia. The Consortium was responsible for the Reframe Overheads initiative providing focused strategies to help the nonprofit sector communicate and engage with funders about the importance of funding overhead costs and the role they play in creating long-term social impact.

Don has specialised in charities for the last thirty years. For much of that time he led the BDO charity team and acted for many of the largest and best known charities in the UK, covering healthcare, international, animal welfare, arts and Christian organisations.

Kath is currently leading finance operations at the Charity Finance Group (CFG). She has been involved in the charity sector for nearly 30 years and currently sits on the Board of the Blue Cross and of Hibiscus. She is a fellow of the ICAEW and of the CIPD.

Gail Cunningham is an independent consultant, with a focus on charity investment governance, best practice and impact investing. Gail is leading on work to develop Charity Investment Governance Principles, to provide practical support to trustees, staff and committee members to tackle challenges relating to investment governance.

Paul is a trustee for one of leading refugee charities in South Wales. He has performed this role for 10 years. His background includes 25 years in leadership within Lloyds Banking Group prior to a decade of leading his own business which provided leadership coaching & training services to data & analytics teams.

John is an Associate Director in BDO’s Global Employer Services team specialising in employment tax, and with a focus on the Charities sector. John has substantial experience in relation to assisting clients both with their compliance obligations and in identifying opportunities for tax efficiencies in this area. Prior to BDO, John has worked with both national and regional firms of accountants and has spent two spells with HMRC where he was actively involved in risk assessing various large organisations.

Dan is PwC UK’s Charities Leader and Government & Health Industries Audit Leader, based in London and leading audits for large, high profile charities. Dan is the Chair of the ICAEW Charity Committee, a member of the Charities SORP Committee and a member of the CIPFA Charities and Public Benefit Entities Forum.

Cara specialises in the not-for-profit sector, working with a diverse range of not-for-profit organisations. She leads many of the firm’s largest and most complex charity audits and provides guidance on governance, controls and reporting. Cara leads the firm’s Not-for-Profit Practice Group and is a member of the ICAEW’s Charity Committee.

Kristina is a Chartered Accountant who has worked in and for the Not-for-Profit sector for over 15 years. She trained at charity specialists Sayer Vincent and subsequently worked in senior finance roles at the Royal College of Nursing, Imperial College London and the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts before joining ICAEW in 2020.