Meet the team

keith Hickey

Chief Executive - Keith Hickey (keith.hickey@cfdg.org.uk)

Keith joined CFDG as Chief Executive in April 2006 following seven years as the Finance Director of Help the Aged. Before that he spent 21 months with a Housing Association and prior to that, over 18 years with British Gas in a variety of senior roles.

Keith is a member of the Charity Commission SORP Committee, ICAEW's charities sub-committee and the Media Trust's audit committee. He has been a Trustee of CFDG, chair of its public affairs committee and chair of the support, management and administrative group for its Inputs Matter report. He has also been a Futurebuilders task group member, a member of Lord Young's committee on charities and is co-author of a number of publications on charity investment and pensions. Keith is also a church treasurer.

Keith has a BSc in statistics and economics, a masters degree in Operational Research and is qualified FCCA. He is married to Debbie and has two daughters, Mandy and Heather.

David Membrey
Deputy Chief Executive - David Membrey (david.membrey@cfdg.org.uk)

David joined CFDG in September 2003, coming from the international development charity Book Aid International where he had been Deputy Director. Over his 20 years in the sector David has been extensively involved in finance, IT, project management and facilities management. At CFDG he is responsible for finance, major projects and relations with corporates and large charities as well as ensuring the smooth running of the office.

David represents CFDG on various committees and is a founding trustee of the Charities IT Resource Alliance (Citra). He is also treasurer of the Southern African Book Development Education Trust and of Photovoice.

Elisha O'Dera
Office Administrator - Elisha O'Dera (elisha.odera@cfdg.org.uk)

Elisha joined CFDG in November 2007 after having worked with a consultancy organisation (Torrent Resource Support).

He has completed a degree in May 2007 in Media Design & Production at the University of Hertfordshire and previously worked as a volunteer in Kenya supporting charity organisations (Mama Ngina Childrens Home) and (Kibera Slums Feeding the Needy).

He is currently providing administrative support as part of the CFDG team.

Esau Rahim
Bookkeeper (part-time) - Esau Rahim

Esau joined CFDG in April 2007 after having worked as a freelancer for several months. He normally works on a Friday.

Over the years he has gained extensive finance experience in jobs with Sega, P&O and the Virgin Group.

In recent years he has worked for Kingston Smith Consultants as an accounts executive helping many small businesses and charities.

Michael Dykes
Membership and Information Manager - Michael Dykes (michael.dykes@cfdg.org.uk)

Mike joined CFDG in April 2005 from Westwood Forster (a company supplying the not-for-profit sector with software to assist in supporter management, fundraising, income processing and so on) where he had spent the preceding 7 years in various guises managing customer relations, undertaking project management and consultancy.

Previously Mike had 11 years' experience managing the finance and administration of a charity providing a front-line housing advice, casework and representation service in London. Mike will be responsible for the overall running of the membership and information services at CFDG, as well as the further development of these services and the recruitment of new members.

Margaret Waterfield
Membership and Information Officer - Margaret Waterfield (margaret.waterfield@cfdg.org.uk)

Margaret joined CFDG in March 2005, having been working in the voluntary sector for the previous seven years.

Most recently she was at Christian Aid and the Alzheimer’s Society as part of the Supporter Care and Customer Relation teams.

Margaret wanted to return to working for a smaller charitable organisation, having worked for smaller charities early on in her career.

Christopher Hall
Website and Information Officer - Christopher Hall (chris.hall@cfdg.org.uk)

Chris joined CFDG in October 2007, having been working as a freelance journalist and photographer for Future Publishing. Previously he worked for Comms XL (a pioneering developer of credit card processing and authorisation software, the first UK company to be approved for encrypted credit card authorisation across the Internet and the first to attain a generic sign-off for a Chip and PIN solution - now a division of Transaction Network Services.) where he held a variety of roles including Network Administrator, Developer and Product Development Manager.

Recently he provided voluntary support for the Galapagos Conservation Trust helping them with their ICT requirements. Chris has also worked as Technical Author for the VASP Group and MobileIT and has a BSc in Molecular Biology from Sheffield University.

Chris now maintains CFDG's IT infrastructure and the ongoing development of the website.

Laura James
Conference and Events Manager - Laura James (laura.james@cfdg.org.uk)

Laura started her working life as a Conference Organiser at the human rights organisation, International Press Institute, where she ran high profile, international conferences for hundreds of delegates campaigning for press freedom. She then moved to the University College of London's, School of Public Policy, where she devised and produced seminars, conferences and training courses.

Recently she worked for ChildLine as their Resources Manager where she had strategic and operational responsibility for the charity's £1 million resources and assets and project managed the move of ChildLine's HQ in 2003 from Islington to the City. Returning to event management, she then took a series of contracts, beginning with the Royal National Institute for the Blind, followed by a contract with the Bat Conservation Trust, a major conservation charity. Before joining CFDG, she was Events Manager at Nacro, the crime reduction agency.

Bex Falkingham-Rushton
Conferences and Events Co-ordinator - Bex Falkingham-Rushton (bex.rushton@cfdg.org.uk)

Bex joined CFDG in October 2007, following over a year's experience at various charitable organisations as a temporary worker, including a six month spell working at The Nuffield Foundation.

She began her experience of charity work two years ago in a voluntary position at The Fairtrade Foundation, processing applications for the Fairtrade Towns initiative. Before this Bex successfully studied for a degree in Photography at the Southampton Solent University.

Octavia Coombs
Training and Events Administrator - Octavia Coombs (octavia.coombs@cfdg.org.uk)

Octavia joined CFDG on a permanent basis in July 2008, following placements in London as a temporary worker at a variety of not-for-profit organisations including St. George's University of London. She moved to London looking to work in the charitable sector having previously worked for several commercial companies both in Hertfordshire and Leicester.

Ernese Skinner
Policy and Campaigns Manager - Ernese Skinner (ernese.skinner@cfdg.org.uk)

Ernese Skinner joined CFDG in January 2006 and is new to the charity sector having worked for the past three years in the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), an independent office of HM Treasury.

She held a variety of posts there from Assistant Private Secretary to Sir Peter Gershon, CEO and Permanent Secretary of OGC to her most recent post as a Communications and Stakeholder Manager for the Efficiency Team delivering the largest change programme taking place across the public sector.

Kate Hand
Policy and Campaigns Officer - Kate Hand (kate.hand@cfdg.org.uk)

Kate joined CFDG in October 2007, having just completed a master's degree at University College London.

She comes to CFDG with strong experience in volunteering and campaigning, mainly with the student organisation People & Planet. She has a strong interest in policy, developed over her work in green campaigning and in her internship with the BioRegional Development Group, researching local government and the sustainability agenda.

Lindsay Derry
Marketing and New Business Manager - Lindsay Derry (lindsay.derry@cfdg.org.uk)

Lindsay joined CFDG in October 2005. She has 20 years experience of working in the voluntary sector.

She worked for the RSPB and BirdLife International in a variety of roles covering membership recruitment, retention, appeals programmes, affinity schemes, mail order trading and communication planning. In her most recent role at RSPB she was a member of the management team for both Marketing and Public Affairs working on strategic planning, organisational structure, brand development and implementation and people management.

Since leaving the RSPB in 2004 Lindsay has pursued a career as an independent consultant. She joins CFDG as a member of the Management Team and will contribute to the broader development of CFDG, in her role as Regional Development Manager she will focus on the sustainable growth of the regional groups. This is a half-time post, and Lindsay is based in Potton in Bedfordshire.

Staff Structure

Chief
Executive

Keith Hickey

 

Deputy Chief Executive
David Membrey

Office Administrator
Elisha O'Dera

Bookkeeper
(part-time)
Esau Rahim

Policy & Campaigns Manager
Ernese Skinner

Membership & Information Manager
Michael Dykes

 

Conference
& Events Manager

Laura James

Marketing and New Business Manager
Lindsay Derry

 

Policy & Campaigns Officer
Kate Hand

     

Membership
& Information
Officer

Margaret Waterfield

 

Website & Information Officer
Christopher Hall

 

Conferences & Events
Co-ordinator
Bex Falkingham-Rushton

 

Training
& Events Administrator

Octavia Coombs