LINDA LAURANCE Linda focusses on the provision of guidance to Boards of Trustees, Directors and senior staff of not-for-profit organisations, as a governance consultant and trainer. She acts as a facilitator for awaydays and consensus-building meetings, and as a mediator enabling disagreements to be resolved in a confidential environment. Her experience includes being an employee, a volunteer, a Chair and a Chief Executive in a wide range of organisations regionally, nationally and internationally. She is a CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) accredited mediator specialising in employment and interpersonal disputes. She is a director of Global Mediation and a member of its Special Educational Needs mediation service panel, a panel member of People Resolutions Group, and of Middlesex and Thames Valley Mediators. Linda served as chair of the original Code of Governance working party, and as Chair of the former UK Workforce Hub steering committee on national occupational standards for trustee and management committee. She is founding past chair of Charity Trustee Networks and acted as Project Co-ordinator for The Governance Hub in relation to the development of Pan-European Third Sector Governance Principles. She serves as a trustee of Directory of Social Change, and of Community Network, and is an associate consultant at Bates Wells & Braithwaite OnBoard. She is a corporate member of ACEVO, a member of EUConsult, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an approved NCVO consultant. Peter Dyer Peter specialises in providing training, resources and advice for trustees of third sector organisations and support providers. He has produced numerous practical publications for organisations seeking to develop and improve their governance practices and is the editor of NCVO's The Good Trustee Guide. Peter was a member of the Code of Good Governance steering group and prepared the original draft Code. Peter has extensive experience of working with the third sector at local and national level. He was Trustee and Governance Advisor at NCVO from 2001-2005 - including a stint as Acting Head of Trustee and Governance - and has also worked as a senior manager for a London Borough Council for Voluntary Service, co-ordinating and delivering training and advice to a wide range of organisations. In recent years he has specialised, in particular, in supporting trustees of small and medium sized charities. Peter has a PhD from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne for his thesis exploring the issue of local community action. He is a trustee of a local community centre. Eileen Hammond Eileen has 30 years experience in the voluntary sector in a wide variety of posts ranging from Area Fundraiser to Chief Executive. She is now able to draw on this hands-on experience to offer comprehensive advice and mentoring on fundraising, capital appeals, strategic planning and management. Eileen specializes in working with small, new or less emotive causes, working closely with Trustee boards and senior management. She is a Fellow and past Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Fundraising, and a Director of The Association of Fundraising Consultants. Katia Herbst Katia is an academic researcher with a PhD from the LSE in Social Policy. She has worked in the charity sector for over twenty years and for twelve years has provided research and development services. She undertakes project feasibility studies and development projects, desk research, action research, evaluation of services, reportage and editing. The purpose is usually to develop strategic planning, promote good governance, assist service development or improve marketing. Katia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and of the International Collegium of Rehabilitative Audiology, a corporate member of ACEVO, and former Chairman of Sense, The National Deafblind Association. Amit Popat Amit has a reputation for delivering diversity change management programmes and training solutions across sectors - nationally and internationally. Prior to his role as Diversity Manager/Senior Consultant at Southend University Hospital, he was Diversity Advisor for the University of Arts London where he created a Diversity Unit, NCVO's Diversity Officer, and Head of Policy Development at the Black Training and Enterprise Group. He also served as a trustee of Charity Trustee Networks. Amit has co-chaired a European diversity committee for a youth service network. Fusing eastern and western wisdom, Amit's consultancy portfolio includes designing and delivering personal development seminars for one of the largest faith organisation's in Europe resulting in the production of training DVD's for families across the country, and has chaired a high profile event on Development Education for the Hindu community. Amit has co-edited two diversity publications - Making Equality Simple and Making Diversity Happen. Peter Shore Peter is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development with fifteen years’ experience as a charity HR Director and other senior management roles. He provides advice and assistance on employment law and employee relations matters, and works extensively as an external investigator in grievance and disciplinary cases. He is a specialist mediator in workplace disputes, coaching and assessing trainee mediators, and provides in-house training on mediation skills for HR staff. In relation to organisational development, Peter conducts organisational health checks, and provides capacity building consultancy and advice for management staff and trustees. Isabel Walker Isabel is a communications expert with more than thirty years' experience in the private, voluntary and public sectors. She works at operational and strategic level on any aspect of communications - writing, editing, marketing, promotions and media relations. Trained as a journalist, who then specialised in health and medicine, Isabel has worked at very senior levels in both consumer and specialist media, including stints as Medical Correspondent of the Daily Mail and Sunday Telegraph. In 1991 she founded the national charity Action on Pre-eclampsia, which she led as Director for the next nine years. Since 2000 she has acted as a consultant to the voluntary sector and media outlets, as well as serving (for five years) as a non-executive director of her local Primary Care Trust. She currently serves as a trustee for The Peace Hospice, Watford and for Chorleywood Choral Society. Isabel is a member of the Medical Journalists Association. Peter Williams Peter has had a wide range of experience in the voluntary and community sector over 20 years. He was Head of Advice Services at the NCVO 1995-1998, and currently serves as a trustee for one national and one local third sector organisation. As a consultant he provides coaching/mentoring for managers and Chairs, and has carried out a number of governance reviews and board development programmes for both national and local voluntary organisations. He has delivered a range of infrastructure development and performance improvement projects. During 2007 he acted as Policy and Strategy Co-ordinator for Capacitybuilders, and wrote a publication 'Quality Improvement Principles' for the National Children's Bureau. Peter has his own website at www.amidacoaching.co.uk.