General Assembly welcomes new Operations Director to the team
The General Assembly of Unitarians and Free Christian Churches has appointed Anne Danks as Operations Director.
Anne joins us this week from Christian Aid, where she spent nine years in senior leadership roles, and where most recently she was Head of Transformation. She also held senior roles at Trussell and has spent the majority of her career at charities working for social and economic justice.
Anne, who is based in Coventry and grew up in Scotland, will lead the operational side of the General Assembly’s work: governance, systems, property, and helping to manage the everyday infrastructure that congregations, districts and staff rely on.
At Christian Aid she led a division of more than seventy people across the country, with oversight of the systems behind around £40m in annual supporter giving. She was also head of North England, leading teams across the north.
Before that she spent seven years at Trussell as Operations Manager for England, helping more than sixty communities turn food collected in church halls into properly constituted charities, with appropriate governance and strategic support. She was also a media spokesperson for Trussell, with national and local TV and radio appearances.
Liz Slade, Chief Officer, said:
“What a delight to be able to welcome Anne to the team. Anne has spent her career helping organisations which wear their values on their sleeves, and we are very lucky to have her on board. She brings with her deep experience in operations: setting charities up, keeping things moving, and managing the complex set tasks which are really important to the running of a charity but are often behind-the-scenes and undervalued.
“She also has strong experience in transformation and change. The Unitarian movement is in a moment of remaking itself after a period of decline. Anne instinctively understands that challenge, and will work closely with me and the rest of the team to build a General Assembly function that is alive to those needs and supports congregations where they most need it.
“And, importantly, with Anne holding the operational side, I can be out among congregations far more than I have managed to be.”
Anne Danks said:
“I’m very pleased to be joining the General Assembly. I’ve spent most of my working life with faith-based charities, and what drew me here was an organisation that is non-hierarchical and undogmatic — something that matches my own values.
“I enjoy working with communities, and in particular churches, in partnership to work towards solving problems, and I am excited about a new set of opportunities and to engage with thoughtful, curious communities calling for a better world.
“A lot of my experience has been in periods of change, and I know it works best when it starts with understanding what’s already working. That’s where I intend to begin.”