The Diary of a Charity CFO: Exploring different paths to financial resilience

Martin Miles
Chief Financial Officer, British Heart Foundation

Martin Miles is the Chief Financial Officer of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), having joined the charity and the sector in November 2014. He sits on the Executive Board of the BHF, and also chairs the charity’s Operations Board. He has executive responsibility across the Finance (including investment and treasury management), Risk, Legal, Operational Planning and Procurement teams.

Prior to the joining the BHF, Martin gained significant experience in the retail sector, as Finance Director of Waterstones and in various senior finance roles at HMV Group plc. At HMV, he worked on the floatation of the group in 2002, and subsequently had responsibility for corporate treasury, leading a number of successful debt refinancing programmes. As well as extensive retail finance experience, he gained significant knowledge of corporate activity and management, having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and spending ten years with the firm in Southampton, Kuala Lumpur and Windsor.

Suruchi Saraf
Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Dementia UK

Suruchi joined the Dementia UK Senior Leadership Team in July 2022. She has more than 20 years of experience working as a finance professional. She has been involved in developing and implementing financial strategy and financial planning in senior roles. She has previously worked in some prestigious organisations such as Royal Opera House, Mind and Zoological Society of London.

Suruchi is responsible for leading on all strategic financial and compliance aspects for Dementia UK. She holds overall responsibility for internal and external audit, risk management, IT, procurement, and overseeing the financial governance within the charity. In her role, she works closely with the CEO/Chief Admiral Nurse, Executive team peers and with the Board to ensure statutory and regulatory compliance and plays an active role in developing the long-term view of financial operations to deliver financial stability.

Vicki Thornton
Chief Financial Officer, Age UK

Vicki joined Age UK in 2019. At Age UK Vicki is responsible for finance, procurement, risk, legal, IT and data.

She started her accountancy career in private practice and has held management roles in national and international private equity, public benefit and charitable organisations. Most recently she worked at Royal Mencap Society overseeing finance, procurement and payroll, as well as deputising for the CFO. Following an undergraduate degree in theology and philosophy and a stint as an artist, Vicki worked in Kenya which led to co-founding an educational charity for disadvantaged children in East Africa and the start of her interest in the voluntary sector. She has been actively engaged as an employee, volunteer or trustee ever since.

Vicki is an advocate of empowerment, collaboration and inclusion in the workplace and in society. She therefore feels she has found a good fit in working at Age UK to support vulnerable older people to have their voices heard and be respected as valued members of our communities.