Governance

Philip Brown CPFA (Treasurer)

Phil joined the Board in September 2006. He is Head of Finance at The King's Fund. He has extensive experience in the public sector in the 1970s and 80s, this was followed by a spell with BT and then as a healthcare management consultant with Capita and CASPE. The King's Fund is a large endowed foundation which has led Phil to develop a particular interest in the charities' investment management.

Phil is a member of the CIPFA Charities Panel and represents The King's Fund on the European Foundation Financial Investment Officers group.

Kim Catcheside

Kim Catcheside has specialised in social policy for radio and television for more than fifteen years, beginning life as a radio reporter in Sheffield and then in Bedfordshire. Later, Kim became lobby correspondent for ITN where she worked for the main news bulletins, including News at Ten. Kim then worked at BBC Radio regularly reporting on the premier UK news radio programmes, such as the Today programme and Five Live.

Roger Chester ACCA (Deputy Chair)

Roger joined the Board of CFDG in 2005. He has been in the sector for 25 years. In that time he has worked for The University of Warwick Students' Union, Hestia Housing Association and Birmingham Mind, before becoming Head of Finance and Administration for Lionheart (The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Benevolent Fund).

He has been active in promoting the development of the CFDG West Midlands Group and now Chairs the West Midlands Steering Committee as well as being on the IT Steering Group and chairing the Marketing Committee..

Rohan Hewavisenti ACA

Rohan joined the Board in September 2006. He is Director of Finance and Business Development at the British Red Cross Society. He has been in the not-for-profit sector for over 13 years. He was Director of Finance and Resources at Breast Cancer Care for five years. He also worked with VSO in China followed by spells at Sayer Vincent, ActionAid and the Strategic Rail Authority.

He is on the Management Committee of the Charity Tax Group and Treasurer of the charity, Learning for Life. He recently joined the Board of East Living, a care and support provider for people with special needs.

Mark Hilton

Mark has over 11 years experience in the sector and is currently Director of Finance & Resources at Museums Sheffield, where he has responsibility for all its finance and non-programme related functions.  He is also the Accounting Officer for Renaissance Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Hub for Museums, which distributes Central Government funding to museums in the Yorkshire region.  He previously worked for KPMG for 11 years, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.  His roles at KPMG encompassed audit, advising small owner managed businesses, finishing as a Manager in Corporate Finance.

He has chaired the Northern Steering Committee of the Charity Finance Directors’ Group since 2006 and currently is on the Board of Sensoria, a not for profit company organising an annual music & film festival in Sheffield and sits on Voluntary Action Sheffield’s Working Group looking at providing easier access for companies, charities and individuals who are looking to place, employ or be volunteers within the Sheffield City Region. 

Charles Nall ACA (Chair)

Charles joined the Board in 2006. He is Corporate Services director at The Children's Society, having joined as Finance and Administration Director. Prior to that he took an MBA at Cranfield and was Assistant Director at The Wolfson Foundation. More recently with NSPCC, he set up CharITyshare. He is Chairman of the Charities’ Consortium.

Charles has served on the Policy Development Working Group, drafting the sector’s response to the PPF Levy and to the EU’s proposals for the sector on money laundering and terrorism.

Gill Gibb (formerly Nunn)

Gill joined the Board in 2008. She is now the Director at the Charity Employees Benevolent Fund. Previously she worked at CAF as Director of Charity Business Development, working on product development and innovation side of marketing with a focus on private clients.

Having held a number of executive positions with HBOS plc over an 18 year career, Gill has a strong track record in achieving sales growth and service improvements and has led major organisational change in different parts of the business including the Retail Bank, Call Centres and Estate Agency. Gill is a Trustee for Centrepoint and a member of the Charity Tax Group as well as being a keen marathon runner to raise funds for various charities.

Mark Oaten

Mark Oaten has been MP for Winchester since 1997. Mark's parliamentary responsibilities have included: Chairman of the Liberal Democrats Party; the Shadow Home Secretary; the Spokesperson for Disabilities; a member of the Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs and Defence Team; and Chairman of the All Party Group on Far Eastern Prisoners of War. Mark is a member of the All Party EU Accession Group and he is also a trustee of Unlock, the prison reform group.

Sally O'Neill

Sally O’Neill is Director of Finance at the Royal Opera House. She has 12 years’ experience in the voluntary sector, having previously spent 5 years as Finance Director at the Historic Royal Palaces and 7 years as Financial Controller at the National Theatre. She is also a Trustee of Battersea Arts Centre and The Young Vic.

She said: “It is tough being a charity FD, and it’s only going to get tougher.  However, it is also one of the best jobs going, and one of the key reasons for this is the support and contacts made within the sector through groups such as CFDG. I welcome the opportunity to become a trustee for the next term and add my support to the forward strategy and programme of work.”

Fiona Young ACA

Fiona joined the Board in September 2006. She has been Head of Resources at The Tudor Trust since early this year. Before that she was the Director of Finance & Resources with Crisis and was a Senior Charity Manager at BDO Stoy Hayward. She has co-authored the books 'Preparing Charity Accounts' and NCVO's 'Good Financial Management Guide'.

She has been actively involved with CFDG for a number of years. She is the current chair of the Technical Accounting Group, has served on the Finance Committee and contributed to a number of projects over the years. She is also the co-ordinator of the Technical Accounting module for the Charity Finance Module at Cass Business School.

Pesh Framjee (Special Advisor)

Pesh is Head of the Unit serving Non Profit Organisations at Horwath Clark Whitehill. He has been involved in the charity sector, both professionally and as a volunteer, for over 25 years. He writes and lectures internationally on matters affecting the sector. Pesh is Co-author of Charities - The Law and Practice and has also written a book on Charity Trading. Many of the guidance notes prepared for CFDG have been written by him.

Pesh is member of the Charity SORP Committee and of the Accounting Standards Board's Committee for Accounting for Public Benefit Entities. He is also member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Charity Group and of the Charity Law Association. Pesh has been a Finance Director of two charities and has been closely involved with CFDG since its inception in 1987. He runs the CFDG accounting helpline and members can call him to discuss issues relating to charity finance, accounting, reporting. tax, governance. risk management, performance measurement and related areas.

John Tate (IT Advisor)

John is a qualified accountant, working for many years in the retail industry before setting up his own firm - Tate Bramald - specialising in providing accounting solutions to SMEs and the voluntary sector. He sold the company in 2002 and now works as a consultant, mostly in the commercial sector.

He was made IT advisor to the CFDG in 2002, in recognition of his position as a leading expert on IT use in the charity sector. He is Chair of CITRA, a visiting lecturer at CASS Business School for Charity Effectiveness and a regular contributor to the IT and charity press. He is also a trustee of two charities.