Ben Clarkson, Chief Operating Officer at Asthma + Lung UK
Ben leads the Operations team at Asthma + Lung UK, ensuring that the charity runs smoothly and delivers at its best for people with lung conditions. He is also Company Secretary. A CIPFA qualified accountant, Ben started his career in the public sector with the Audit Commission, where he led audits across a range of local government and NHS clients. From there, he moved into the not-for-profit sector with Macmillan Cancer Support, where he was Head of Financial Operations, and then to the London Community Foundation as Director of Finance and Resources. Ben sits on the CIPFA Charities and Public Benefit Entities Forum, is a Trustee of Contact, a charity supporting families with disabled children, and was previously a Trustee of Lewisham Speaking Up. Ben joined Asthma UK in September 2019 and was part of the central team that oversaw the two charities coming together through a merger.

Naziar Hashemi, Partner & National Head of Social Purpose & Non Profits Organisations at Crowe U.K. LLP
Naziar Hashemi joined Crowe in September 2008 from a Big Four Firm as a specialist non profits partner. In addition to providing assurance services Naziar also provides advisory services to a range of charities. These include assignments from risk and finance function reviews, systems, benchmarking and performance measurements and governance reviews. Naziar leads Crowe's work on Donor Audits and has knowledge of institutional funding requirements having produced reports for a variety of institutional and governmental donors. She also carries out training for charities and lectures and writes on a range of topics relevant to Trustees and management.

Anna Hicks, Director at Saffery Champness
Anna leads on the firm’s audit and financial reporting technical activity. She works with client teams, advising on audit and accounting matters as well as supporting technical training, technical publications and other communications internally and externally.

She also represents the firm at Nexia International and on a number of external technical forums, including the Quoted Companies Alliance. She has considerable experience in IFRS as well as UK GAAP, with a particular interest in larger company financial reporting.

Anna joined the firm in 2014, having spent seven years in industry as a Group Financial Accountant for a listed property company. She completed her training at a ‘big four’ firm, where she specialised in retail, travel and leisure clients. 

Thea Longley, Partner at Bates Wells
Thea Longley is a partner at Bates Wells, where she is head of the top-ranked Charity and Social Enterprise team. Thea specialises in advising charities on governance issues, start-ups, restructuring and funding arrangements. Thea’s clients include the Royal Foundation, Girlguiding UK and the Football Foundation. She is described by independent legal directory Chambers UK as having “a deep understanding of the sector and is a collaborative and thoughtful lawyer."

Ross Palmer, Senior Tax Manager at Sayer Vincent
Ross Palmer is a Senior Tax Manager at Sayer Vincent, which works exclusively with charities and social purpose organisations. Ross helps deliver a wide range of tax advice such as VAT recovery, application of VAT exemptions, Gift Aid and trading issues – including being able to advise on the potential interactions between different taxes.

Ross supports organisations from across the charity sector to help develop their own knowledge and understanding of the issues involved. He also regularly presents at external events as well as delivering bespoke training sessions for organisations. 

Adam Stephens, Partner, Restructuring and Recovery at Evelyn Partners
Adam has also acted as interim manager for the Charity Commission on a number of occasions. He won insolvency practitioner of the year in 2019.

He is a Fellow of ICAEW and member of R3: Association of Business Recovery Professionals.

Prior to working in this field, Adam was an academic at Oxford University and has D.Phil in Chemistry. He also set up and ran an open air theatre company which is still running some 25+ years later. He hopes one day to pick up these activities again.

Cara Turtington, Partner at Saffery Champness
Cara is a partner based in London and is head of the firm’s Not-for-Profit Group. She works predominantly on assignments in the charity sector, overseeing audits and assisting clients in areas such as governance, systems and controls, reporting requirements, budgeting and forecasting.

Cara's portfolio of clients currently includes welfare charities, schools and environmental charities. She has a particular specialism in advising arts and theatrical charities and acts for a number of large grant-making foundations. She is also involved in providing a number of training courses the firm delivers.