Whether it’s been the Coronavirus pandemic, creating a diverse leadership team, dealing with scandals or battling against the government’s ‘anti-woke agenda’, charity leaders have had a jam-packed year.

We take a look at some of the people to keep an eye on over the next 12 months as the sector continues to grow and learn from previous years.

We'd also like to say that this is by no means an exhaustive list, there's a tremendous number of charity leaders worth watching over the next 12 months, and this is a few we decided to include.

- Charlotte Hill, CEO, The Felix Project
- Sarah Vibert, Interim chief executive, NCVO
- Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, CEO, Surviving Economic Abuse
- Graeme Luke, CEO, Scouts Scotland
- Sarah Steel, Chair, National Day Nurseries Association
- Kate Docherty, Chief executive, Chartered Institute of Fundraising
- Ojobo Ode Atuluku, International director, Christian Aid
- Sacha Deshmukh, Interim CEO, Amnesty International
- Shruti Jain, chair, Saheliya and Inclusion health lead, Public Health Scotland
- Nigel Huddleston, minister for sport, tourism, heritage and civil society
- Saba Shafi, founding organiser, #CharitySoWhite and Founder, Bossing it, CEO, The Advocacy Academy

To read about their work in more detail, take a look at the latest issue of the Charity Times Magazine.

Appointments to watch in 2022

Although these people haven’t been appointed yet, it’s worth keeping an eye on them because whoever steps into the role will have some serious work to do.

Charity commission chair

In recent months, the appointment of the Charity Commission chair has been a hot topic not only within the sector, but within the government too.

The government’s preferred candidate Martin Thomas resigned late last year, just days before he was due to take up the post after it emerged he had been the subject of misconduct claims at a charity he had chaired.

Previously, Oliver Dowden, the former culture secretary said that he “instructed” recruiters to seek to “restore charities’ focus” after concerns about ‘woke-ness’ within the sector. It will be interesting to see who takes up the position in the new year and the affect they bring.

National Trust chair

In September, the National Trust launched a campaign to find its new chair. It has been under scrutiny recently for acknowledging and addressing its links to colonialism and historic slavery. The next chair will have to deal with the spotlight on the charity and its work as it acknowledges its past.

Barnardo’s CEO
The question of who will next lead Barnado’s is the question. Ex-CEO Javed Khan, a Charity Times pandemic pioneer, was instrumental in driving change for the charity and the sector.

Currently the charity has appointed two of its senior directors to run the charity on an interim basis while it looks for a permanent chief executive, so whoever takes over will certainly have a lot to live up to in the sector, and within the charity.

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