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People
The Board
Chair
Dame Suzi Leather
 Dame Suzi Leather joined the Charity Commission as Chair in August 2006.
Suzi has a long-standing relationship with the third sector, first volunteering over 20 years ago for Age Concern. The majority of her career has been spent in the consumer movement, working at regional, national and European levels, but her commitment to the third sector has always been apparent through her volunteer work and community projects.
Suzi has broad professional experience and has held nearly 30 public appointments. Most recently she was Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, and the School Food Trust. Previously Suzi chaired the Exeter and District Community NHS Trust as well as the Health Forum, designed to promote the public health agenda in the local area. She was the first Deputy Chair of the Food Standards Agency and a member of the Royal Society’s Inquiry into Infectious Diseases of Livestock. In the 2006 New Year’s Honours list she was made a Dame of the British Empire . Suzi has an extensive academic background in political sciences, social work and probation. Her particular interests include food policy, nutrition and poverty, the needs of low-income consumers and the impact of European policies on UK consumers.
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Lindsay Driscoll
 Lindsay Driscoll joined as Legal Commissioner in August 2003. She qualified as a solicitor with a city firm and then spent some years in Kenya as Assistant Registrar General in charge of the Public Trustee Office and Lecturer at the Post Graduate school of Law .
On her return to this country she worked as a charity law consultant before joining NCVO where she worked for eight years latterly as Head of the Legal and Governance Department. She left NCVO to be a partner in the firm of Sinclair Taylor and Martin specialising in charity law. For the last few years she has also been working internationally providing technical assistance and training on NGO Law in a number of countries. Lindsay was for many years a member of the executive committee of the Charity Law Association and has written and spoken extensively on charity law issues. Over the years she has served on the boards of several charities and not-for-profit organisations.
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Simon Jones
 Simon Jones joined as a Member of the Commission in July 2007. With his extensive knowledge and experience of the charity sector in Wales , Simon fulfilled the Charities Act 2006 requirement for such knowledge to be represented on the Commission’s Board. Simon is a consultant for the Wales Co-operative Centre where, until 2004, he was Chief Executive. He is a former Chair of the Independent Commission to review the National Assembly for Wales ’ Voluntary Sector Scheme. He currently Chairs the Communities First Support Network and has wide media experience, including having been a presenter for Radio Wales. |
Sharmila Nebhrajani
 Sharmila Nebhrajani joined as a Member of the Commission in July 2007. Sharmila is currently Finance Director & Chief Operating Officer – BBC Future Media and Technology, Deputy Chair at the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, member of the Human Tissue Authority and a member of the Olympic Lottery Distributor. She is also a qualified chartered accountant and a member of the ICAEW. |
Dr Andrew Purkis OBE
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 Dr Andrew Purkis OBE joined as a Member of the Commission in July 2007. Andrew is currently Chief Executive of the Tropical Health and Education Trust and formerly the Chief Executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, Secretary for Public Affairs for the Archbishop of Canterbury and National Director for the Council for the Protection of Rural England.
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Theo Sowa
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 Theo Sowa joined as a Member of the Commission in July 2007. Theo is an independent advisor working on a wide range of international issues with a focus on social development and children and youth issues. Her work includes evaluation, policy and organisational development with UNICEF, UNDP, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the African Women's Development Fund, DfID and the Stephen Lewis Foundation, amongst others.
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Simon Wethered
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 Simon Wethered joined as a Member of the Commission in July 2007 and is one of the Commission’s two legally-qualified Members. Simon is a legal consultant specialising in charities with Charles Russell LLP and was formerly a partner there. He has 37 years experience as a solicitor, nine specialising in charity work. He is a member of the Charity Law Association, associate member of the Charity Finance Directors' Group and co–editor of Butterworth's Charity Law handbook.
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John Williams
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 John Williams joined the Charity Commission as a non-executive Commissioner in January 2005. He has a background in advertising, marketing and corporate communications and now works as an independent consultant specialising in reputation management and communications strategy. He is a co-founder and former Chairman of the corporate communications consultancy Fishburn Hedges, having started his career in consumer advertising with J Walter Thompson. He has advised clients ranging from the biggest multinational companies to government departments and agencies, universities and several charities.
John developed a particular interest in corporate social responsibility and also built a practice serving the voluntary sector, covering corporate identity, public relations, fundraising strategy and crisis management. He led the external team that helped transform The Spastics Society into Scope over a five-year period. He has been a volunteer in the charity sector for some years. John became Chairman of Richmond Theatre Productions, an independent commercial company, in November 2006. John is also Chairman of the governance and leadership think tank, Tomorrow’s Company and a board member of Business in the Community. Until recently, he was Deputy Chair of ChildLine and played a central role in steering its merger with the NSPCC. John is also a former trustee of the Family Welfare Association and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
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Tess Woodcraft
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 Tess Woodcraft joined the Commission in May 2005. Her two main specialist areas are diversity and equal opportunities, and communications.
She started her career in publishing and went on to be an academic lawyer before starting work in the voluntary sector – first in an advice centre in Nottingham and then as communications officer for Gingerbread, the association for one parent families.
Tess spent some years working on equal opportunities for the trade union NALGO (Unison) and then moved to become a radio and television journalist working on BBC Radio 4 and Channel 4, before returning to the voluntary sector as Chief Executive of Kids Clubs Network (4 Children). After two years as Head of Communication for Islington Council, she co-founded the Centre for Strategy and Communication, a training and consultancy company working with clients in the voluntary, public and housing sectors. She has been on a number of voluntary and charity boards: New Ways to Work, Children in Need (SE Panel), Maternity Alliance, National Council for One Parent Families, National Children’s Bureau, Liberty and Child Poverty Action Group. Tess was also a member of the Board of the Children’s Play and Recreation Unit (an NDPB) and was formerly a Commissioner on the Equal Opportunities Commission.
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The Executive Directors
Chief Executive
Andrew Hind
 Andrew Hind, formerly chief operating officer of the BBC World Service, joined the Charity Commission as its first chief executive in 2004.
Andrew has extensive experience of working with the charity sector. He was a senior executive with ActionAid (1986-1991) and Barnardo's (1992-1995) before moving to the BBC in 1995. Andrew has also served as a trustee of several major charities, including VSO, the UK Committee for UNICEF, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and a number of smaller charities in his local community in North London.
Andrew was co-founder in 1988 of the Charity Finance Directors' Group (CFDG) - an organisation promoting excellence in financial management for charities. He was Chair of CFDG from 1992-1994. He is the author of "The Governance and Management of Charities" , and a former judge of the National Charity Awards.
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The Directors
Nick Allaway
 Nick Allaway joined the Commission as Executive Director, Charity Information and Corporate Services early in 2004. Previously he was Director of Finance for six years at the New Opportunities Fund (now the Big Lottery Fund). Nick is responsible for managing the Commission's Finance, Human Resources, IT and Facilities Management services. In earlier careers he worked in various management roles in central government in departments as diverse as Culture, Media and Sport, Cabinet Office and Environment. He is a qualified accountant.
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Rosie Chapman
 Rosie Chapman is Executive Director of Policy and Effectiveness at the Charity Commission, with responsibility for leading the Commission's policy developments, its charity effectiveness and partnership work, strategic planning and corporate affairs activities.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2001, Rosie spent six years at the Housing Corporation in a variety of roles culminating as Assistant Director (Regulation Policy). In the past she has worked for New Islington & Hackney Housing Association, acting as company secretary for a number of charitable organisations, and in local government.
Rosie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a board member of Homes for Haringey.
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Kenneth Dibble
 Kenneth Dibble is Executive Director, Legal and Charity Services. Kenneth has responsibility for the provision and overall management of the Commission's Charity Services including the Contact Centre, Registration, Advice and Orders, Large charities and Compliance and Support services and also for the legal services of the Commission. He also has responsibility for the Commission's customer services and for its International Programme.
Kenneth has over twenty years experience of charity law and regulation gained with the Commission. His previous career was in banking and insurance.
A barrister by profession, Kenneth is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
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