Richard Dyson was appointed a director on 25 March 2009. Richard retired from Ernst & Young in 1998 after 25 years as a partner, latterly as National Risk Management partner.

STOP PRESS - Richard was elected Chair at the AGM on the 10th November 2009 when Arthur Burden retired.

He was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales from December 2006 to June 2008. Throughout his professional career Richard was involved in corporate finance matters, providing advice, at board level, to both clients and third party investors. As a result, he is familiar with the accounting, governance, reporting and wider business issues involved in a wide variety of sectors and the issues involved in ensuring that businesses are managed in a cost effective manner.

Since retiring from Ernst & Young, Richard has become increasingly involved in the third sector and is also a director/trustee of The David Lewis Centre and Wythenshawe Hospital Transplant Fund, of which he is chairman.

Gavin Bushell has been a director of The Charity Service for many years. Gavin is a partner in the Private Capital Team at Cobbetts where he has been a partner since 1977. Throughout his career, Gavin has been involved with private client work including work in relation to the legal aspects of charities. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and a public notary. In his spare time, Gavin is a keen and active scuba diver and a crossword addict but is still trying to find a way of doing them at the same time.

Paul Chorlton FCCA BA (Hons): Financial Director

Qualified in 2000, and became a fellow of the ACCA in 2003.

Working since 1999 in the creative industry, starting with Staniforth\ where I helped restructure the finances and the targets of the team to help improve net profit from £200k to over £1m in six years, which then attracted interest from America, at which point, Staniforth became part of the Omnicom Group.

Once part of Omnicom, I then became FD of Tequila and Digerati, as well as Staniforth, and continued there until 2008 when I decided to set up my own PR business.

I am now a director and at LIFE PR and LOVE Creative a branding and design company in Manchester.

As well as being a trustee of The Charity Service, I am also a trustee of the Manchester Ball, a annual charity dinner which raises money for the Together Trust, and the Chairman of the 3rd Gee Cross Scout Group, which is currently in the process of building a new £250,000 home, to be jointly used as a community centre.

John Eckersley: BA (Hons) MBA Chartered FCSI

John is a graduate of Accounting and Finance, with a Financial Services Sector MBA and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. He is a former director of financial services group Henry Cooke Group plc and executive director of the private bank, Brown Shipley. John has over 20 years’ investment experience, founding Castlefield Investment Partners LLP, specialising in investment for charities, with his close colleagues in 2002.. In his spare time, John is also the Treasurer of the Royal Botanical & Horticultural Society of Manchester and the Northern Counties, a trustee of the Rhodes Foundation and a non-executive director of W T Burden Limited – the UK’s leading supply of civil engineering and building materials to the infrastructure, environmental and industrial markets. He is interested in music, collects contemporary art and can usually be seen clutching the latest electronic gadget!