Bruce Gordon, Chairman

Bruce has been Chairman of the Treasurers Forum since 2007 and is an enthusiastic supporter of the work that Treasurers carry out and the contribution they make to the huge range of charities they are involved in. Bruce is currently Treasurer of NCVO and was previously Treasurer at Guide Dogs for the Blind where his portfolio included fundraising as well as finance.

From 2001 to 2008 Bruce was a senior partner of Deloitte LLP responsible for the Southern Region. His clients included a number of FTSE100 and FTSE 350 companies.. Prior to joining Deloitte in 2001, he was the UK Regional Managing Partner at Arthur Andersen. He is the founder of Thames Valley Capital Limited, which advises venture capital funds.

Heather Lamont

Heather is a client investment director at CCLA. She trained originally as a chartered accountant and has worked in charity finance since qualifying in 1992. Before working full time in investment management, her roles included that of finance director at the British Lung Foundation, editor of Charity Finance magazine, and audit manager at Kingston Smith LLP. She joined CCLA in July 2008 from the charity investment team at HSBC Global Asset Management.

Heather has wide experience as a charity trustee and honorary treasurer. In addition to her role with the Honorary Treasurers Forum she is a trustee of CABA, the chartered accountants’ benevolent association. Heather also serves on the investment committee and audit committees of the Robertson Trust, Scotland’s largest independent grantmaker. As well as chartered accountancy, her qualifications include the Diploma of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment; the ICAEW's Diploma in Charity Accounting; and an MBA from Manchester Business School.

Professor Paul Palmer

Paul Palmer has extensive knowledge of charity financial, management and governance issues. He was a member of the Charity Commission SORP committee from 2000-2005. He acts as an independent consultant on charities to UBS Wealth Management, and an independent expert on charity dispute issues for courts and arbitration. He has appeared on television and radio, speaking on charity issues, and has also written 'practitioner' how to guides on charity finance for books and websites.

More recently his work has extended into the area of Corporate Social Responsibility having co-authored a book on socially responsible investment and completed a research project on responsible lending. He was elected Hon Treasurer of the CSR SIG of BAM in 2006. In 2008 he successfully led a BAM consortium bid for an ESRC seminar series on CSR. In 2009 he was asked to serve on the expert panel of the Ethical Investment Research Services (EIRIS)Charity Project. He also serves on the ethics panel of the Securities Investment Institute and the Corporate Responsibility Advisory Group of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

David Rowe

David Rowe gained an Army Scholarship whilst at Clifton College in Bristol and later joined the Royal Regiment of Artillery. He served in both the UK and in Germany before resigning his commission in 1986 in order to begin a career with J Henry Schroder Wagg plc where he initially worked as a fund manager before concentrating on the charity market. In 1999 he became Managing Director of Schroders UK private client business. After leaving Schroders he spent 17 years at UBS where he had responsibility for many different businesses including philanthropy and charities. He created the UBS UK Donor-Advised Foundation (DAF) which is now the second largest DAF in the UK. He is now a Visiting Fellow, on Investment Management at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness teaching Investment Management to the voluntary sector.

David is the Honorary Treasurer of SSAFA 'the Armed Forces Charity’ and Chair of both Risk and Finance Committees. He is a trustee of NPT Transatlantic and NPT UK and has been a non-executive director of the Army Sports Control Board since 2003.

Nicola Silverleaf

Nicola is a Chartered Accountant and after qualifying spent most of her career working with small businesses, including two spells with PwC. She recently retired as Finance Director of an IT Consultancy and is moving to a portfolio career working with, and as, a Trustee of Charities and non-profits. She is an experienced charity trustee, has chaired audit and finance committees and acted as an independent examiner.

She is currently Honorary Treasurer of three charities, including the Forum itself, and two others, both working in education in Africa. She holds an MSc in Charity Finance and Governance from Cass Business School’s Centre for Charity Effectiveness, and is a PRINCE II practitioner.

She sat as a Magistrate in the Criminal and Family Courts for over 20 years.

Graham Spooner

Graham is an experienced venture capitalist, corporate financier and non-executive director. He is Deputy Chairman of Rotala Plc, an AIM quoted group which operates bus and coach services in England and an Associate at Amberley Advisory, a firm of corporate finance advisors, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Graham is the editor of ‘Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Practitioner’s Manual’ and the author of ‘Raising Venture Capital’. He speaks regularly on these subjects at universities and business schools. Also, Graham is a contributor (having been editor) to The Corporate Finance Manual and to The Charity Performance Guide. He has held several voluntary roles in the Third Sector including currently, as President of the Johnian Society (the alumni association of St John's College, University of Cambridge).