Charityfair session leaders

Julie Bentley, CEO of Girlguiding, is giving the closing Inspirational talk on Women and Leadership (Thursday 29 June at 16:30)

Julie has been CEO of Girlguiding since November 2012.

Julie has dedicated her career to working in the not for profit sector, beginning in the early 1990’s as a youth worker in Essex where she also ran a drop in-service for unemployed young people.  On moving to London Julie became a young people’s drug and alcohol worker,  supporting  young people in South East London working on some of the most deprived estates in Bermondsey and Southwark.  She has held senior leadership positions in the not for profit sector for twenty years, including:

• Assistant Director of Charterhouse – in – Southwark (A London based voluntary sector settlement, which supported the local community)
• Director of Corporate Services at ARP (A London based drug and alcohol charity that supported people affected by drug and alcohol addiction )
• CEO of The Suzy Lamplugh Trust (A national personal safety charity)
• CEO of Family Planning Association. (A national sexual health charity supporting people of all ages to have positive and responsible sexual health).

Julie was a Trustee and then Vice Chair of the housing and homelessness charity Shelter for six years and is a Patron of Seham Village Appeal, which builds schools in India. She holds a Masters in Business Administration, is a qualified counsellor and is a fellow of The Windsor Leadership Trust.

In 2014 she was named number five on the Radio 4 Women’s Hour Power list of Game Changers in the UK. In the same year she was voted Britain’s Most Admired Charity Chief Executive at the Third Sector Awards.

Julie was a Castaway on Radio 4 Desert Island Discs in December 2014.

In 1987 Bernie commenced his journey in philanthropy when he raised £200 for his late mother & father who he lost to emphysema & cancer within six months of each other.

Over the past 29 years he has raised over £39.6 million pounds for UK & overseas charities. Achieved through creative corporate partnerships recognized, celebrated & awarded throughout the third sector.

He is an ambassador for Wallace & Gromit Children’s Charity, Memusi Foundation, Save the Children & Barnardo’s.

• Bernie is the creator of “Merchant Giving” a ground breaking micro-donation service which connects business to charity & in doing so makes charities more sustainable.
• He is an accomplished international motivational speaker, having spoken at the United Nations & TED, a mentor, trustee of two charities & sits on the board of the School of Social Entrepreneurs & World Merit.
• Bernie has made films highlighting his charities needs collaborating with some of the UK’s best producers with the BBC & ITN filming on location in Tanzania, Kenya, Costa Rica, Arctic, Antarctic, North & South America, Sahara, & throughout the UK.
• Bernie’s sporting achievements have included running 41 consecutive marathons in 20 days. He has completed over 150 marathons around the World. He has completed the Marathon Des Sables, a one hundred and sixty mile, six day, self sufficient race across the Sahara Desert. He cycled across America a journey of 3,000 miles in 14 days, from the UK to Africa & from Africa to the UK in 26 days raising funds to build new schools in Kenya.
• Bernie is a World record-holder running the longest distance in 7 days & has received countless awards for his philanthropy over the last two decades. He received The President’s Certificate of Appreciation from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall for the millions of pounds raised for Barnardo’s & The Honours Award for the millions raised for charities & in his home City of Liverpool UK.

Bernie was invested by Her Royal Majesty The Queen Head of the Commonwealth as an Ordinary Officer of the Order British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 for his services to charity.

Bernie plays the ukulele & has performed in Africa & the Sahara Desert. He formed the Worlds first visually impaired (blind) ukulele orchestra & invented the first ever music braille song sheets.

Jennifer is a freelance copywriter, editor, journalist, proofreader and editorial project manager working only with not-for-profit organisations. Formerly an editor at ngo.media , the UK’s leading charity editorial agency, she has worked with more than 40 of the biggest charities and public sector organisations in the UK and worldwide – from WWF and Macmillan Cancer Support to the British Lung Foundation and ActionAid.

Gill Jolly, DSC Associate Trainer

Gill, a psychology graduate, has been involved in professional fundraising for over 25 years as a fundraiser, manager and trainer of fundraisers and has worked at a senior level with some of the top income-generation charities. In addition to many years’ hands-on experience as a successful fundraiser and manager, Gill also undertakes interim-management roles.

Paul is one of the country’s leading experts in Data Protection in the voluntary sector, with nearly 30 years’ experience on the subject.  He has worked with large and small charities of all types, helping them to solve tricky Data Protection problems and ensure they have good policies and practices in place.  He is the author of the standard work Data Protection for voluntary organisations as well as the Employment Records Handbook (with Gill Taylor), both published by DSC.

Mike is a freelance trainer and consultant who is passionate about releasing potential through learning and development. He specialises in training topics as diverse as: communication and personal effectiveness; leadership and management; diversity and health and social care. He uses a range of interactive training techniques which are built upon adult learning principles, brain-friendly and accelerated learning.

Matt Howarth, DSC Associate Trainer

Director and Co-founder at Reason Digital, Matt firmly believes in the power of the web to change the world for the better.

He has spent his career in the public and third sector working towards that end in a variety of creative, technical and communication roles. In 2007 he founded Reason Digital, a social enterprise that partners with charity, university and other social enterprise in order to do social good with web, mobile and social media.

Cathy has over 20 years experience in learning and development, with both individuals and organisations. With a background in voluntary sector in both Ireland and the UK

Her training specialisms are in communication and interpersonal skills, learning and development for both individuals and organisations and first and middle line management topics. Cathy is an ILM qualified Executive Leadership and Performance Coach, and holds a Management Diploma from the Irish Management Institute.

Kathy Roddy, DSC Associate Trainer

Kathy has been a professional fundraiser for over 17 years and has been developing and delivering fundraising training for the past 12 years. She also works with lients helping them to develop fundraising strategies and tailor funding applications. Kathy is a member of the Institute of Fundraising and holds the Certificate in Fundraising Management. Kathy specialises in fundraising strategy, trust fundraising and raising money from individuals.