Revitalised Careers Development Group strengthens executive and announces ISO accreditation

Philip Evans, director of operations, Barry Aspland, director of finance and Richard Clifton, director of business development, took up their new roles this May as part of the strengthened CDG executive and a key stage in its evolution. Initiated by CEO Roy O'Shaughnessy two years ago, the radical overhaul of CDG started with a restructuring, followed with a new board of trustees and aimed to underpin strong leadership with all the core skills required to establish CDG as a major contender in the sector.

The board of trustees includes experts in marketing, finance, audit, human resources, banking, property, social enterprise and operational management and the new executive director appointments (with two more to come) completes the gathering of the expertise and disciplines needed to position CDG for the future.
 

Philip Evans, director of operations joins from imaging services provider Alliance Medical Ltd where, as operations director, he led the turnaround in fortunes of the company’s first major contract with the Department of Health – later described as ‘the best performing independent sector contract’.
 

Philip will be responsible for managing and promoting performance management at each of CDG’s 29 centres and engaging with national government - in particular the Department for Work and Pensions.
 

Barry Aspland, director of finance, previously group finance and IT director at One Housing Group, where he handled all aspects of the financial management of the social housing developer and service provider, including the management of a £700 million private finance debt portfolio. 
 

Richard Clifton, director of business development moves from his previous role of interim director of operations at CDG, where he has worked since July 2009. Using his 15 years of sector experience, Richard will aim to build and strengthen CDG’s position as a major welfare to work provider, while showcasing its unique offering as a charity to develop complementary services to help those with particular needs achieve work.
 

Organisation uniquely positioned
Chief executive Roy O’Shaughnessy comments: “As a charity competing in a commercial environment, we need not only all the commercial skills of our competitors but also people who understand and can maximise our unique position. With a strong executive we can utilise commercial business disciplines to ensure that we maximise benefit to our customers, while remaining true to our charitable aims and ethos.

"CDG offers a unique proposition in that we are one of the few charities to compete commercially for large Government contracts and, unlike commercial organisations, profit is not our primary focus: we answer to customers and stakeholders, not to shareholders - and all our funding and any surplus we make in future will go directly towards helping the unemployed.”
 

The welfare to work sector has evolved considerably in recent years and CDG has itself seen dramatic change in the last five years, growing from an annual budget of £5milllion to £33million and the last twelve months have seen 25 per cent growth in turnover and the announcement of a partnership with BEST CD, one of Australia’s leading not-for-profit community-based organisations. With the aim of being the leading welfare-to-work charity in the United Kingdom, O’Shaughnessy believes the new executive now provides the skills CDG needs to achieve its objectives.
 

Their appointments will be followed by the recruitment of a director of organisational development and a director of support services, both of which are expected to be in place by the end of August 2010.

CDG sponsors the Welfare to Work UK convention 2010
CDG will be the headline sponsor for the Welfare to Work UK convention 2010, the premier annual event for all those involved in delivering practical support, training and advice to jobseekers.  The event includes a speech by CDG chief executive, Roy O’Shaughnessy