Dame Julia Unwin
Biography
Dame Julia Unwin has had a long career largely in the voluntary sector and has also served on the Boards of a number of regulatory and government bodies, including five years as a Charity Commissioner in the late 1990s. She was a member of the Board of the Housing Corporation for 9 years and served as Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a decade, from 2007-2016. She has had experience as a consultant, adviser, mentor and speaker in the voluntary and broader public sector.
Dame Julia chaired the Civil Society Futures Inquiry which reported in 2018 and was awarded a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2019 for her services to civil society. As well as currently chairing the Board of Governors of York St John University, she is also the Inaugural Chair of Smart Data Foundry, a subsidiary of Edinburgh University engaged with using private sector data for public good.
Chair, Charity Commission
The Chair is responsible for effectively and accurately representing the views of the Charity Commission Board in:
- directing the commission’s strategic development, policies and plans
- communicating the commission’s plans and achievements to charities and their users, commission staff, the government and the public
- developing the commission’s relationships with government, sector bodies and other major stakeholders
The Chair leads the board in making sure the Charity Commission:
- carries out its statutory duties and responsibilities and exercises its legal powers appropriately
- carries out the board’s plans for the future, including its contribution to legislative reform
- carries out its services in line with agreed targets