It's Tough at the Top: Good Leadership Matters - Speakers

Kate’s voluntary sector career spans nearly 30 years. Kate joined Alzheimer’s Society as Chief Executive at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to provide help and hope to people affected by dementia to face some of the most frightening times of their lives.

Kate has achieved a tremendous amount including, transforming Alzheimer’s Society into the UK’s highest ranked charity on Glass door and on the Time Top 100 places to work list, successfully lobbied to get Alzheimer’s Disease into the Governments 2023 Major Conditions Strategy which acknowledged dementia as the UKs biggest killer and the UKs greatest Health and Social Care challenge for the first time.

With a track record in transformational change, Kate has also overseen the launch of a new strategy, values, and culture development programme.


Prior to this role, Kate was CEO at children’s cancer charity Young Lives vs Cancer for four years. During this time, she rebranded the organisation and grew income from £20m to £30m, including overseeing the Morrison's Partnership.

She was previously CEO of Myton Hospice, a large Adult Palliative Care Charity in Coventry and Warwickshire, which she joined after spending 16 years at British Red Cross leading UK service delivery, before becoming Director of UK and International Strategy and Deputy CEO in 2005.

Kate is passionate about the UK voluntary sector and has won and been highly commended as the Charity Times and Third Sector CEO of the year. Kate is currently a Trustee of World Child Cancer and advisor to Coppafeel!

A proud Yorkshire woman, Kate currently lives in Coventry with her two teenage children and dog Luna; she loves gardening and tea.

Debra has worked in the charitable and voluntary sector for over 30 years. Amongst numerous other roles, she is Vice President of the Soldiering On Through Life Trust Awards and co-chairs the judging panel with General the Lord Dannatt. She is a Trustee of In Kind Direct, one of the Prince's Foundation Charities, and a trustee of the Berkshire Community Foundation. She is also an Africa Advocacy Foundation Ambassador for women and girls at risk of or affected by Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

She has served as a trustee of several charities including being the co-founder of the Small Charities Coalition and was its first Chair. She served on the Charity Commission's SORP committee for over 7 years and was the Vice-Chair of Governors of Whiteknights primary school for 6 years.

She is a renowned public speaker with many years' experience of training and coaching and internationally published author of several books on management and leadership including It's Tough at the Top; The Pleasure and the Pain; It's Murder in Management and It's a Battle on the Board. Debra has a regular monthly column in Third Sector magazine and has appeared on Radio 4's The Moral Maze.

As the Chief Executive, Tim heads the Leadership Team and is responsible to the Board of Trustees for the operation of the charity and in ensuring that Haig delivers for its tenants today, as well as planning to support beneficiaries of the future.

Tim’s service career was in the Royal Navy: originally a helicopter pilot, he spent 25 years involved in operations around the globe, commanding a number of ships and on operations in Iraq, as well as serving as a senior officer in the Ministry of Defence, where he was responsible for the delivery of operational capability to the front line.

Tim joined Haig in December 2020 from the Charity Commission (the charity sector regulator for England and Wales), where he was the Chief Operating Officer. Previously he has held board appointments at British Antarctic Survey, Saga and the NHS. He worked on the ‘Boaty McBoatface’ ship project and once relocated an ice station 23 kms across a collapsing ice shelf.

Ndidi is the CEO of UK Youth; a leading national charity with a mission to unlock the power of youth work for 10 million more young people. UK Youth is driving systemic change by increasing the sustainability of funding for youth work, effective collaboration across youth focused sectors and opportunities to scale effective practice.

Prior to joining UK Youth, Ndidi's 20-year career spans across the education, charity, and corporate sectors. Her former roles include teacher, school leader, Executive Director of the national Charity Teach First and Vice President at Pearson PLC.

Ndidi currently is a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of The Southbank Centre, Teach For All, and Sky's Diversity Council.

Jane joined ACEVO in May 2022. She most recently headed up Creative and Cultural Skills, working to create fair and inclusive opportunities within the creative and cultural sectors. Before that, she spent four years as CEO of NAVCA, where she led the transformation of the national membership body for local voluntary sector infrastructure organisations in England. She has leadership and communications experience in both the voluntary and public sectors and a genuine commitment to delivering a valuable and impactful experience for members.

Catherine became Chief Executive of the Royal Voluntary Service, having joined the charity as a Trustee at the start of 2017.

Catherine has a wealth of experience garnered over 25 years in the third sector, including acting as CEO of several other not for profit organisations. In 2016, Catherine was appointed CBE for her services to suicide prevention following her tenure as CEO of Samaritans.