GDPR for Trustees
Leah Waller, Lennons Solicitors

Rising star Leah is an Employment law & GDPR powerhouse and works tirelessly to get companies prepared and protected on all fronts. She qualified in 2013 and became a partner at Underwoods Solicitors in 2015, followed by a stint at BSG Solicitors in Bushey before joining Lennons Solicitors in July 2016 as their Employment Solicitor and Head of the Employment Department.

Digital leadership for all
Dominic Tinley, Reach trustee and director of Thoughtsmith

Eighty per cent of charities want their leadership to provide a clear vision of how and what digital could help them achieve. Increasing your organisation’s use of digital tools could help you increase your fundraising, enhance your services or strengthen key relationships. This session will help you think about how you can be a digital leader, even if you don’t have those digital skills yourself. It will help you consider the tools you could be using, the skills, people and culture your organisation might need, as well as how you can bring on board volunteers and trustees with digital skills to help you make things happen. digitalboards.org.uk

About Dominic

Dominic is a media technology consultant who helps broadcasters, charities and public bodies plan interactive content and services. He provides creative and technical advice, sourcing specialists where required, helping select suppliers, and facilitating the conversations needed to make things happen.

Dominic’s background is in digital media production. He was one of the first Web Producers at the BBC, Head of Online for Channel 4 Schools, Development Producer for DCMS Culture Online and Managing Editor of the UK Houses of Parliament website.

Since 2008 he has been an independent consultant working with organisations including Arts Council England, the BBC, the British Library and WWF. He is a Director of consulting company Thoughtsmith and a Trustee of Reach, the skilled volunteering charity.

Skills for a winning board
Hazel Finney, lead for volunteering, Community Impact Bucks

Like any successful team, a trustee board needs a particular blend of skills and professional and personal experience in order to be robust and sustainable.  This interactive session will examine how a skills’ audit helps you to map out your board’s current level of skills and expertise, and to identify any gaps.  During the session you will learn: when to do a skills’ audit, what it should cover, and how to go about doing it.  You will also be able to share ideas and insights with your peers.

About Hazel

Hazel advises and trains charities and community groups that involve volunteers, and promotes volunteering throughout the county.  She has assisted several organisations with the auditing of their boards and with trustee recruitment. Hazel also manages CIB’s national partnerships with Reach Volunteering and Do-it, and is on the Events’ Committee of the Association of Volunteer Managers.

The Hallmarks of a Successful Chair
John Williams, Vice Chair, Association of Chairs

Chairs carry a huge responsibility to lead their boards and steer their charities to success. No matter how experienced you are, it’s a challenging and sometimes lonely role.

This interactive session will explore the qualities and approach needed to be the best Chair you can be, and, if you work with a Chair, how you can help them succeed.

It will draw on the Association of Chairs’ guide “A Chair’s Compass” as well as the new Charity Governance Code. John will cover the crucial Chair relationships: with their CEO or lead officer if they have one; with the board; with staff and volunteers; and with wider stakeholders.

He will also offer practical tips from trustee recruitment to running effective meetings.

About John

John is Vice Chair of the Association of Chairs, set up in 2013 to support Chairs of charities and other non- profits and to promote good governance. John has a professional background in public relations, advertising and marketing. He is a co-founder and former Chair of the communications consultancy Fishburn Hedges, now FleishmanHillard.Fishburn.

Since then, he has taken on a number of advisory and non-executive roles, notably in the charity sector, focusing particularly on leadership and governance. He served as a Charity Commissioner for five years up to 2010; was Chair of the governance and leadership think tank Tomorrow’s Company; and Deputy Chair of ChildLine up to its merger with the NSPCC. John is a longstanding board member at Business in the Community, and a recently appointed trustee of the Institute of Business Ethics. He has also chaired the regional tourism board Tourism South East, and a commercial theatre production company.