The Board

The board of Charity Business is comprised of highly respected individuals from the charity, finance and IT sectors.

Mark Freeman (Chief Executive)

Originally from Calgary in Canada, Mark is an Arthur Andersen qualified chartered accountant (Canada). He has been involved in the UK charity sector since 1995 and is well known for his work in re-engineering charity finances and operations. Mark has strong experience of managing rapid growth, particularly when he was FD of the Health Foundation, where the business grew from £200K turnover to £20m turnover in just three years. He launched Charity Business in March 2000 after being involved in two major research exercises – one for Marie Curie Cancer Care and one with business consultancy Arthur Andersen – which conclusively showed that using shared services would result in substantial savings for UK charities. Freeman unrepentantly advocates a new style of charity finance, and describes Charity Business as “refreshingly unlike anything else on offer” to the sector.

Val Austin (Investor & Non-Executive Director)

Val is an IT professional who brings with her knowledge, not only of the IT solutions that the business is highly dependent upon, but also experience of in-house, outsourcing and off-shoring arrangements, encompassing operational service delivery for applications and infrastructure. Her previous experience includes senior executive management positions at both the Automobile Association and RAC plc, where she was involved in Customer Relationship Management initiatives. Val brings a broad range of business skills and has an MBA with distinction from Warick University Business School.

Tracey Reddings (Non-Executive Director)

Tracey is Head of UK Private Banking for SG Hambros. Previously she was Executive Director of Charity Financial Services for Charities Aid Foundation. She led a multi-award winning financial intermediary through a period of significant growth and change, delivering innovations and building partnerships to create new business and brand value. She also holds a number of other advisory and charitable roles.