DF Trustee App: Charlotte Carpenter

From Tribewanted

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Current revision as of 18:54, 16 April 2007

Application For Role of Trustee: Charlotte Carpenter

A. Occupation

Name of current or most recent employer:

One NorthEast

Director of the Northern Way

Oct 2006 to Current

Please summarise the main duties and responsibilities in your current or most recent job:

The Northern Way is a collaborative partnership which aims to regenerate and improve the economy of the North of England. In my role as Director I am responsible for:

• Building stronger collaborative partnership relationships, engagement with, and support for the Northern Way among national, regional and local partners from the public, private and voluntary sectors;

• Developing and implementing a strategy, underpinned by research, which seeks to ensure the sustainable economic development of the North of England;

• Influencing the development of national and local policies in the economic development interests of the North, including through lobbying central and local Government;

• Managing and motivating the Northern Way Secretariat Team of 7 members of staff.

B. Education and Training

a) Secondary education OR further and/or higher education, giving most recent qualification first

School/College/University/	Qualification and subjects(s)	Level	Grade	Year obtained
University of York, England	D.Phil in Medieval Studies			1996
University of York, England	M.A. in medieval Studies		Distinction	2000
Kings College, University of Cambridge, England	B.A (hons) in History		2:1	1994

b) Qualification(s) currently being undertaken

Institution/Provider	Qualification/level	Subject(s)	Exam/finish date
(none)

c) Relevant Training and Non-Qualification Courses Attended

• Ashridge Business School - Inspirational Leadership and Leadership through People 2003-5
• CPCR/ One North East - Leadership and Management 2002
• Civil Service College - Government Finance; Management through People; Parliament, Government and the Civil Service 2000-02

d) Membership of Professional Body(ies)/Professional Qualification(s)
(If more than one, please list all)

Name of Professional Body(ies)	Qualification(s)	Membership level	Registration No.	Date obtained
(none)

C. Additional Information in Support of your Application

1. Have you read and understood the following document published by the Charities Commission: [1]

YES

2. Please outline any experience you may have of working with a charity:

Served as a voluntary Director on the Board of a local Economic Regeneration Charity (c. Sept 2004 – Sept 2007). I have recently completed a circa 2 year stint as a Director on the board of trustees of Ouseburn Regeneration Trust (in a voluntary capacity). This community based charity is responsible for the sustainable economic development and regeneration of a deprived part of Newcastle. The duties and responsibilities were very similar to those expected as trustees of TWDF.

In addition, my paid career in policy development (latterly specialising in sustainable economic regeneration) has involved extensive stakeholder engagement and consultation on policy proposals and strategies, including with a number of charities and community groups.

3. Give an account of any specialist or transferable skills you may have which would be relevant to the role of TWDF Trustee?
(e.g. PR/marketing, fundraising, accountancy, legal, HR, project management, specific connections with Fiji etc)

Over the course of my career I have developed a number of transferable skills that I believe would be useful to this role:

Building Institutional Capacity

• Strategic Management - I have strong strategic, analytical and planning skills, which have been well developed throughout my career. All of my previous job roles have focussed on the strategic analysis of complex national economic and political issues and developing policy and advice, particularly in relation to the sustainable economic development of local or region areas within the UK.
• Networking and Developing Partnerships – In my current and previous roles I have been responsible for developing strong partnership networks with a range of organisations and individuals, including central and local government politicians and officials, voluntary sector organisations, business and the private sector and academic and education institutions.
• Advocacy Lobbying/ Influencing - A substantial amount of my career has involved lobbying Central Government and the European Commission in the interests of the economic development of the North East. This has involved developing influential networks, responding to consultations, speaking at conferences and events, commissioning publications and sponsorship.

Building Organisational Capacity

• People, Resource and Project Management – I have built and managed, developed and motivated a team of 25. I am currently responsible for a research budget of £750k per annum and a running costs budget (including employment costs) of over £1 million. I am and have been responsible for managing significant strategic projects, which have involved multi disciplinary teams from a variety of organisations.
• Writing Proposals and Reports - I have extensive experience in writing proposals and reports, particularly from an ‘internal advisory role’. Papers include: 'blue skies' type think pieces (for example on the future role of cities in the economic development of the North East); papers discussing policy proposals and options analysis (e.g. papers on rural service delivery); reports for boards and councils of Ministers (e.g. a report on a proposed Justice Bill and reports on developing the evidence base in the North East); large scale lengthy complex reports (such as the North East Economic Strategy and a Report on the findings of the Committee on the Retention of Organs at Post Mortem); and briefing papers for use by Ministers and senior officials.

4. What experience, if any, do you have of serving on a committee?

In addition to previous experience of serving as a trustee in a charitable organisation outlined above, my current and previous jobs have involved substantial experience of serving on a variety of different committees and boards. I also have additional personal experience, including, for example serving on a Trade Union Committee whilst living in Scotland.

5. What do you think will be the priorities for the TWDF Trustees in the next 6 months?

I think that the Trustees have three interlinked priorities to take forward in the next 6 months:

• Consult with Trustee members to build partnerships and develop the aims and vision for the Trust moving forward;
• Build on the aims of the Trust and consultation to develop the outline of a 3 year Business Plan covering specific projects to be implemented, whilst ensuring a solid and sustainable flow of funds to finance activities;
• Develop the capacity of the Trust including appointing and developing staff, volunteers and trustees to build a team who can work together to realise TWDF’s ambitions.

6. Have you been to Fiji/do you plan on going in the next few years? Please give details:

I have not yet been to Fiji, but I will shortly be going travelling and intend to visit and spend some time there, including at tribe wanted in the autumn or early next year.

Would you be willing/able to carry out any relevant TWDF work while there?

Yes

7. If you are UK based, will you be able to attend meetings four times a year with the other Trustees and the occasional training day? (reasonable travel expenses will be paid):

In general, yes. I am about to go travelling which might restrict when I am able to attend meetings in person in the next twelve months. However, I will be able to attend remotely via telephone or internet if I am not in the UK at that point, and I will be able to attend meetings in person once I have returned from travelling.

8. Please give any further details you think are relevant to your application:

It has been a long-standing ambition of mine to undertake some form of voluntary activity associated with economic or community development outside the UK. My motivation is two-fold: 'altruistic' in that I believe that I have a number of technical skills and personal strengths that could be used to the end benefit others and 'selfish' in that I believe that I would be 'enriched' by the experience.

I have a strong commitment to using personal skills in the interest of the common good rather than purely for personal financial gain as is demonstrated by my voluntary sector experience and my career working in the public sector. I also enjoy travelling and have previously backpacked around India, Australia and New Zealand and undertaken a number of adventurous trips to Africa and am currently planning an extensive trip for 2007/8. I thrive on personal challenge and am extremely driven. A stint as a TWDF Trustee would offer the opportunity for me to bring these ambitions and areas of interest together.