About us

History

Trustees Unlimited and Non-Executives Unlimited are joint ventures bringing together NCVO, Bates Wells & Braithwaite (BWB), and Russam GMS. It was established in 2009 to help not for profit organisations recruit high quality trustees in a rigorous and cost effective way.

BWB is the leading law firm in the Civil Society Sector, NCVO has the pre-eminent reputation as one of the leading umbrella organisations representing the sector and Russam GMS is one of the leading suppliers of interim managers to the Charity/Not for Profit sectors. All three organisations are thought leaders on governance issues.

Since our launch in November 2009, Trustees Unlimited and Non-Executives Unlimited have worked with a number of organisations including: Christian Aid, The Scout Association, Thames Hospicecare, Community Options, MS Society, Charity Employee Benevolent Fund, My Voice London, Wandsworth Youth Enterprise Centre, Royal London Society for the Blind, Enfield Asian Welfare Association and The Larches Trust.

Values

Whilst Trustees Unlimited and Non-Executives Unlimited are commercial businesses, we see ourselves as a business with a social purpose, informed by and working with not for profits and the voluntary and community sector. We are deeply committed to good governance in the sector and see our business as playing a vital contribution to that end.

In terms of how we do business, we are Reliable, Innovative, Open, Knowledgeable and Trustworthy. Reliable in that we will deliver and work closely with you throughout an assignment. Innovative in that we will always seek new ways of working whether; it is creating new partnerships or designing new services. Open in that we will always be transparent about our process and fees. Knowledegable in that we draw on the research and understanding of our customer base from our partnership and trustworthy in that you can trust us to represent you in a way that reflects your values and reputation.

Martyn Lewis, CBE - Ambassador

Martyn Lewis’ career is an unusual blend of the media, charitable and business worlds. Over 32 years as a television journalist he presented every mainstream national news programme on BBC TV and ITV before moving into business in 1999 when he co-founded - and is now European Chairman of - Teliris Inc., the global technology pioneer in a new “realtime” communications business space known as telepresence. He is also Chairman of NICE TV, which works with ITN to deliver high quality news videos for industry-wide conferences, exhibitions and events. He has been involved in the voluntary sector for 27 years.

His other charity work includes: Founder and Chairman of YouthNet, whose 3 websites provide comprehensive help to young people, volunteers and job-seekers; Chairman of the Awards Committee of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (the equivalent of an MBE for groups); Chairman & Co-Founder of Families Of The Fallen, raising extra funds for the families of servicemen & women killed in recent conflicts; Trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust, helping to develop the leaders of tomorrow; President of United Response, helping people with learning disabilities; Deputy Chair of the Lord Mayor of London’s Dragon Awards, honouring companies for the work they and their employees do to help disadvantaged areas of our community; and Vice-President of all three main national Hospice charities. Martyn holds an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Ulster and is a Freeman of the City of London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Member of the Garrick Club and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He was awarded a CBE for “services to young people and the Hospice movement” in 1997.

The Board

Trustees Unlimited and Non-Executives Unlimited are governed by a board with representatives from each of the partner organisations. These are:


Peter Bennett

Peter Bennett is the Partnership Executive Officer of Bates Wells and Braithwaite. He heads up the support services, ensures the efficient management of the firm and assists the partners in setting and achieving strategic objectives. He is dual qualified in accountancy and marketing and has a successful career in the management of law firms. He often takes responsibility for contract compliance on major client contracts, particularly where these involve services from across BWB. Finance, Business Development, IT & Web, HR, Premises and Graduate Recruitment are all part of his remit. He is a Member of the Marketing committee of CaSE insurance and a Member of the Careers Service Syndicate for the University of Cambridge. He is the co - author for Sweet and Maxwell on "Conditional Fees – Law & Practice and he has lectured on legal management issues at both the main Bar and Law Society conferences.



Stephen Brooker

Stephen Brooker is Chairman of the Russam GMS Not for Profit and Health Practices. Stephen has been working in the Charity and Not for Profit sectors since 1990 when he was recruited to the British Red Cross Society as Director of Finance, having previously been a partner in Ernst & Young. From the Red Cross, Stephen went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge as Bursar and Fellow. In his current work he has a wide range of clients and interests, including mentoring, for which he was trained on a University of Lancaster course sponsored by the NHS. He was a non-executive director of East & North Herts NHS Trust for some 11 years, was the first external Chair of the Audit Committee of the Law Society and Stephen was also an external member of the Audit Committee of the University of Cambridge for 13 years. He is a Trustee of several national charities and a founding Trustee of the Honorary Treasurers' Forum. Stephen is currently serving as an external, independent member of the Audit Committee of the House of Commons.


Ian Joseph

Ian Joseph is Director of the Not for Profit and Sectors Skills Councils practice at Russam GMS. Prior to this he was a senior consultant for one of the UK's leading executive search firms where he worked on high profile executive and non executive roles in the Not for Profit and Public sector. Before this, Ian spent over six years as Chief Executive of a medium-sized charity which specialised in working in the fields of homelessness, addiction, mentoring and international development. During this time he oversaw the creation and development of a subsidiary organisation in Afghanistan pre and post September 11th and helped secure the Asian Development Bank's first management contract with an NGO. Ian holds a masters degree in Voluntary Sector Management from Cass Business School. He is a founding board member and Director of Trustees Unlimited and is a member of the Institute of Fundraising. He sits on the Chief Executive Remuneration Committee of the RSPCA and on the advisory board of Future Foundations, a youth development organisation.

Stephen Lloyd

Stephen is the Senior Partner at Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP Solicitors where he has been for the last 30 years. He is involved in numerous aspects of charity law including general advice, formations, joint ventures, mergers, business transfers, financing, refinancing and funding. He is also the co-author of the idea that led to the Community Interest Company and author, or coauthor, of Charities – the New Law 2006 (2007), Charities, Trading and the Law (2009), The Fundraiser's Guide to the Law (1998) and Keeping it Legal (2007). He is Chairman of CaSE – Charity & Social Enterprise Insurance Management LLP and of Trustees UnLimited LLP and on the board of Naturally Scientific Limited and Chairman of the Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action and a trustee to three other charities. He has served on the boards of 15 charities over the years.



Gillen Knight

Gillen Knight, Head of Enterprise and Membership, NCVO. Gillen leads the National Council for Voluntary Organisation's Enterprise and Membership team. His aim is to increase NCVO's membership so that more charities and voluntary organisations get the help and support they need. The team also covers NCVO's fundraising, business development, events and marketing functions generating £2.0m income annually for NCVO. Gillen has previously worked as a head of marketing, a marketing manager, a media officer and in events. He managed a team in the NHS before moving to his first role in the voluntary sector as part of the marketing department of a hospice. Gillen is a trustee of the Kent Wildlife Trust and serves on the marketing committee there as well as volunteering at a community farm in South London.



Richard Williams

Richard is the Director of Enterprise & Development responsible for Consultancy & Innovation, Support and Advice, Membership & Enterprise including, fundraising, marketing, events, business development and the development of new products and services that benefit the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).

In his previous interim role as the Director of Capacity Building and Business Development, he was responsible for governance & leadership, strategy & impact, sustainable funding, workforce and collaboration, ICT and campaign effectiveness, business development and the development of new products and services that benefit the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).

Up until 1st July 2010 Richard was Director of Enterprise with responsibility for Marketing and Membership and Information and Publishing as well as business development.

Richard was Group Development Director for BTCV a leading UK based environmental volunteering charity where he was responsible for business development, fundraising, public relations, customer relations, and the management of cross sector partnerships. Richard has a background in production management and formal management training.

He has worked in the Voluntary and Community Sector for 30 years focusing on youth enterprise, unemployment measures, environmental issues, social enterprise, partnership development and diversity.

Richard is the founder of the Wandsworth Youth Enterprise Centre (WYEC), a patron of the Minorities of Europe, and an ambassador for BTCV.

He is a council member of the Social Enterprise Coalition and is a non executive director of Trustees Unlimited LLP an NCVO joint venture and a non executive member representative in CaSE Insurance an NCVO collaborative venture.

Ben Kernighan

Ben Kernighan is the Deputy Chief Executive at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). He oversees NCVO's capacity building work. The remit covers work around quality, governance, leadership, employment, diversity, skills, sustainable funding and information technology. Before this, Ben was Head of the Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation in England. His first job at NCVO was as Business Development Manager where he negotiated a range of deals that save voluntary organisations money on their products and services. Before NCVO, Ben worked at The Terrence Higgins Trust as Communications Manager, Fundraising Manager and managing the volunteer services. In this role he set up and delivered training to befriending volunteers: "buddies". Ben was a board member of Futurebuilders England and has been a trustee of the Earls Court Homeless Families Project and the Basic Skills Agency.

Ben was a founding board member of Trustees Unlimited and although no longer on the board, he takes an active interest in his capacity as Deputy Chief Executive of NCVO.


Legal

Trustees Unlimited is a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) with each member having an equal share.

Trustees Unlimited
Limited Liability Partnership
Partnership No. 0C347741

Designated members:
BWB TU LLP
NCVO Trading Limited
Russam GMS Limited

Registered office:
2-6 Cannon Street
London
EC4M 6YH