# Fundraising and charity leadership appointments in February 2025

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/02/12/fundraising-and-charity-leadership-appointments-in-february-2025/
- Published: 2025-02-12T16:44:25+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Here are the latest appointments to fundraising and charity leadership positions
in the UK. We feature senior fundraisers, charity CEOs, senior leaders and trustees.**

## Oxmarket Contemporary

![Lucia Barbato](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2025/02/lucia-barbato.jpg)

Lucia Barbato

**Lucia Barbato**, Co-Founder and CEO of Ilex, has been appointed as a Trustee &
Director of the Oxmarket Contemporary Gallery in Chichester.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

Oxmarket Contemporary is a registered charity that helps new and emerging artists
on their creative and commercial journeys, as well as supporting established local
artists and bringing them together with the public to celebrate local talent.

Lucia brings decades of experience in marketing and PR for big household names such
as Unilever and Kraft, as well as niche technology and telecoms audiences for B2B
clients.

She will focus on refreshing the charity’s communications, growing its community
outreach and supporting its long-term growth.

## Garfield Weston Foundation

The trustees of the Garfield Weston Foundation have announced the appointment of**
Clare Gough** as Director of the grantmaking trust.

## **Sussex hospices**

![Stuart Palmer](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2025/02/stuart-palmer.jpg)

Stuart Palmer

Local hospices St Barnabas House in Worthing, Martlets in Hove and children’s hospice
Chestnut Tree House near Arundel, have announced the appointment of **Stuart Palma**
as their new Chief Executive. 

A physiotherapist by background, Stuart brings a wealth of experience from across
the health and care sector, including senior roles at NHS England. Most recently
he worked at the NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board as the Chief Allied Health Professions
Officer & Director of All-Age Continuing Care, providing him with valuable insight
into the local healthcare system. 

The news follows last year’s announcement that St Barnabas Hospices (incorporating
St Barnabas House and Chestnut Tree House) would be merging with Martlets during
2024, a process that is now nearing completion to form the newly created Southern
Hospice Group. 

## Fauna & Flora

![Dave Hillyard](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2025/02/dave-hillyard-edited.
jpg)

International nature conservation charity [Fauna & Flora](https://www.fauna-flora.org/)
has appointed **Dave Hillyard** as its Global Director of Fundraising, a new Senior
Leadership position that “will drive the organisation’s strategic planning and delivery
for fundraising globally”.

Hillyard joins next month. He has over 25 years of leadership experience across 
international development, conservation and climate action organisations, including
Oxfam, Earthwatch and WaterAid. His skills include driving impactful cross-sector
partnerships and leading high-performing international teams.

He is also the founding Chief Executive of the Carbon Technology Research Foundation,
where he has been instrumental in establishing the organisation which has invested
over £4 million in research grants to combat the climate crisis through natural 
greenhouse gas removal solutions.

Fauna & Flora CEO, Kristian Teleki, said: “Dave Hillyard brings a valuable skillset
to Fauna & Flora at a pivotal moment, as we rapidly scale our impact in protecting
and restoring nature across the globe”.

## Crisis

Homelessness charity Crisis has announced the appointment of three trustees.

One of them is **Matt Sanders**, director of education at Meta, where he is leading
its efforts to support the use of immersive technologies in education.

Previously he was policy director and chief adviser to New Zealand’s education minister
and, prior to that, special adviser to the UK’s former Deputy Prime Minister Nick
Clegg. During this time, he worked on the government’s child poverty and social 
mobility strategy.

## School Library Association

Victoria Dilly has been appointed Chief Executive Officer at School Library Association(
SLA). She brings extensive experience of leading national education and training
programmes in the charity sector and within schools.

Having worked in the education sector for almost 20 years she has spent the last
seven years leading and developing national programmes for charitable organisations,
including National Literacy Trust, Speakers Trust and the Royal Horticultural Society.

Before joining the charity sector she was a school librarian for 10 years.

The SLA, which has been running since 1937, supports schools to develop their school
library, establish a reading culture and deliver independent learning skills. Reading
for pleasure can change children’s lives and future prospects.

 * **[Fundraising and leadership appointments round-up for March](https://fundraising.co.uk/2025/03/14/fundraising-and-leadership-appointments-round-up-for-march/)**(
   14 March 2025)
 * **[Universities and companies fall for Gary Richards cancer appeal hoax](https://fundraising.co.uk/1996/05/19/universities-and-companies-fall-gary-richards-cancer-appeal-hoax/)**(
   19 May 1996)
 * **[Howard Lake to speak at CAF Charities' Annual Conference 1996](https://fundraising.co.uk/1996/10/13/howard-lake-speak-caf-charities039-annual-conference-1996/)**(
   13 October 1996)
