Robert Bell
Harrogate,North Yorkshire
Summary
Highly experienced charity CEO, with track record in organisational development, fundraising, social impact and grant making. Legally trained with a decade's social research practice in academia and Whitehall civil service. Significant time spent in as CEO of £250m family business in UK. Strong cross sector networks and knowledge. History developing productive strategic collaborations for social change. Developer of people and cross functional teams, working effectively with Boards. Substantial Charity Trustee, Non Executive Company Director and School Governor experience, including Chair roles. Qualified executive coach, thrives under pressure, adapts to challenges showing resilience, tenacity maintaining good humour.
Overview
33
33
years of professional experience
5
5
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Chief executive
London Plus
London
07.2024 - Current
- London Plus is the infrastructure charity supporting all of the city's charities, community and faith groups to improve their impact. I am interim CEO.
- Identified critical financial challenges and took immediate steps to avert insolvency including cost reduction, securing emergency support, improved financial management and oversight, restructuring.
- Secured funding to ensure financial stability for 2024-26
- Led staff team and worked closely with Chair through period of transition and change, ensuring organisation well set up for incoming permanent CEO.
Director
British Red Cross
London
07.2023 - 06.2024
- The Voluntary & Community Sector Partnership, hosted by British Red Cross, is a £1m pa DCMS-funded partnership of 300+ VCS organisations which increases emergency response capability in the UK. I was Interim Director covering a period of maternity leave
- Secured grants to bridge significant funding gap, ensuring financial sustainability for next three years;
- Established a Senior Team and restructured to increase impact
- Led development of strategic approaches and delivery plans for in Comms, Knowledge and Insight
- Ensured VCSEP influenced national policy development - by being written written into UK Resilience Framework and National Risk Register;
- Maintained and improved internal systems, ways of working, including regular series of network, training and thought leadership outputs.
Chief executive
Bettys and Taylors Group Ltd
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
01.2020 - 06.2023
- BTG is a 100-year-old £250m family business group, based in Yorkshire, comprising the brands Yorkshire Tea, Taylors of Harrogate coffee, and Bettys café tea rooms. I was joint CEO, with group-wide responsibility for Organisational Development, People and Culture, Change, Equity Diversity and Inclusion, Community Impact. Direct reports included: HR Directors across businesses, Head of Learning & Development, Head of People Change
- Accountable for effective implementation of People and Culture Strategy across Group
- Led long term strategy development to 2030 for Group, involving all businesses and shareholders
- Led business through period of considerable transition including covid-19 pandemic, owner exit from business leadership, complex £21m internal system change process, and global economic upheaval
- Developed and implemented pioneering Mental Health & Wellbeing programme
- Developed and then embedded new Organisational Development function and structure across the Group
Chief executive
Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts
08.2018 - 12.2019
- The Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts (SFCT) is an umbrella organisation that facilitates the work of the 17 grant making trusts (spending c£100m pa) and charities established by three generations of the Sainsbury family.
- I was CEO for one year, until the CEO role was revised to COO.
- Responsible for SFCT strategy, governance and compliance, effective delivery of all grant-making activity (UK and International), developing a high-performance culture, reputation, ensuring synergies across trusts and shared services
- Strategic advice to each trust and family settlor
- Responsible for professional standards in all shared services incl Financial, HR and IT systems, and all risk and security arrangements
- Reporting to a Management Committee of family members, representing the organisation at the highest levels, building strong and purposeful relationships and alliances across sectors
Chief executive
London Emergencies Trust
06.2017 - 08.2018
- London Emergencies Trust is a ‘pop up' charity established to respond quickly to emergencies and then shrink back into dormant status. I was CEO during the time of the Grenfell fire and the terrorist attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, Finsbury Park, and Parsons Green.
- Distribution of £12m of donations to those bereaved and injured in all these events
- Established all systems, grant making/casework approaches, recruited and developed operating team, secured key delivery and funding partnerships
- Led through significant media and public scrutiny and built strong working relationships with regulators, victim support charities, local/central government departments, and Metropolitan Police
- Successfully completed all grant making and ensured LET was wound down, primed to respond again in the event of future emergencies, with ‘re-start' funds in place plus systems, protocols, tools, and a CRM to support
- Played significant role in shaping development of new National Emergencies Trust, and appointed trustee for its start-up phase.
Director of Strategy / Head of Social Justice
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
10.2007 - 05.2017
- The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is one of the UK's foremost family foundations, renowned for its support for the arts, education and social justice. I developed and led the Foundation's first Social Justice programme of grant making activities and strategic initiatives, which covered over 100 funding relationships at any one time, gre from £2m to £8m pa average spend. Latterly I was promoted to Director of Strategy
- Recruited and developed a staff team of specialists and generalists, and built strong culture founded on high quality and relationship funding principles
- Initiated and implemented £4M funder collaboration with US foundation, Unbound Philanthropy
- Initiated and implemented £6m initiative with Mental Health Foundation
- Developing innovative approaches to grant making: including successful pilot of Scottish Guardianship Service, now put on statutory footing; Pennies Foundation (now present in many retail outlets); social impact bonds pilot on criminal justice.
Director
Carnegie United Kingdom Trust Young People Initiative
09.2003 - 09.2007
- The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust is an independent charitable foundation established with an endowment from Andrew Carnegie over 100 years ago. I was Director of its £2m pa Youth Programme, which operated as a 'think and do' tank, driving change in how public bodies listened to young people, working closely in partnership with UK Government Departments
- Transformed Initiative from a programme producing research and publications into one that supported practical change on the ground which included:
- Developed and implemented a leadership development programme for senior civil servants in Wales and Whitehall, securing Permanent Secretary support and government funding, working with global leadership experts; youth practitioner networks in each UK country, and at regional level, supporting over 1000 professionals
- Secured substantial exit legacy for Carnegie UK Trust, by developing idea for a national start-up good practice hub (‘Participation Works'), building partnership of NGOs to run, and fund-raising £5M funding from Dept for Education and Big Lottery.
Senior Researcher
Cabinet Office / Dept of Education
01.2002 - 01.2004
- Senior research and evaluation specialist embedded in policy teams in (consecutively) two cross-cutting Whitehall units (Women and Equality / Children and Young People), advising policy makers and legislators on evidence, research, evaluation, and impact
- Key achievements included research to underpin Civil Partnership proposals, ground-breaking research on the social and economic costs of domestic violence, development of gender pay gap reporting.
Research Fellow
Universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge, London South Bank
01.1992 - 01.2001
- Various research roles (transitioning over time from field interviewer to project lead) including designing research; leading multi-disciplinary research teams spread across UK; conducting fieldwork; writing for academic and policy audiences
- Published peer-reviewed articles and reports for policy makers and funders on youth policy / drug use / youth lifestyles and transition to adulthood.
Education
Executive Coach -
Oasis School of Human Relations
Boston Spa 09.2018 - 10.2019
LL.B. Honours - Scots Law Degree, with Honours in Public Law
University of Glasgow
Glasgow, Glasgow City 10.1987 - 05.1991
Skills
- Strategic Direction and Oversight
- Financial Oversight and Management
- Business development and fundraising
- Corporate governance
- Stakeholder management
- Risk Analysis and Management
- Operational Leadership and Management
- Policy development
- Organisational Turnaround Planning
- Commercial acumen
- Crisis Resolution
- Leadership and team motivation
- Coaching and Organisational Development
- Change implementation
- Public speaking
Current Board positions
Non-Executive Director, The Oversight Trust, Chair of Noms and Rem, 02/01/23
Timeline
Chief executive
London Plus
07.2024 - Current
Director
British Red Cross
07.2023 - 06.2024
Chief executive
Bettys and Taylors Group Ltd
01.2020 - 06.2023
Executive Coach -
Oasis School of Human Relations
09.2018 - 10.2019
Chief executive
Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts
08.2018 - 12.2019
Chief executive
London Emergencies Trust
06.2017 - 08.2018
Director of Strategy / Head of Social Justice
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
10.2007 - 05.2017
Director
Carnegie United Kingdom Trust Young People Initiative
09.2003 - 09.2007
Senior Researcher
Cabinet Office / Dept of Education
01.2002 - 01.2004
Research Fellow
Universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge, London South Bank
01.1992 - 01.2001
LL.B. Honours - Scots Law Degree, with Honours in Public Law
University of Glasgow
10.1987 - 05.1991
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