Richard is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute UK and Ireland with over 16 years of dedicated experience within the charity and not-for-profit sector. His background spans roles as a trustee, volunteer, and employee, covering local charity support, funding, and asset-based community development. This career history has equipped him with a deep understanding of the unique governance challenges and opportunities within the Charity and not-for-profit sector.
Before joining Counterculture, Richard served as Governance Business Partner at the National Union of Students where he supported the board and led major changes to the Union’s democracy and governance. He acts as board secretary to a range of clients, ensuring efficient running of meetings, timely minutes and strategic governance support. Richard’s work through Counterculture also includes charity and company registrations, governance reviews and advice on risk management.
Richard was awarded The John Phillips Memorial Prize for the Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme – recognising him as the top-performing finalist of the 2024/25 academic year.
Richard achieved the highest overall performance across both November 2024 and June 2025 examination periods, completing his final exams in November 2024. This prestigious accolade reflects exceptional dedication to the rigorous Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme, which takes up to five years to complete and equips professionals with essential expertise in corporate governance, company secretarial practice and board support. Richard is now a tutor at KCB Global, a recognised tuition partner for the Qualifying Programme, passing on his knowledge in Company Secretarial practice to future chartered secretaries.
This combination of in-house knowledge, technical expertise and an external perspective means Richard is well placed to advise clients on a range of governance matters and their practical application.