David Rider
Educational Fundraising Specialist
With development director roles in higher education and the independent school sector, David brings 17 years of fundraising and advancement experience. He has successfully planned and delivered three multi-million-pound capital projects and most recently advised on start-up school projects in Asia.
David takes a strong commercial approach (a hang-over from an earlier career in financial services), and his work encompasses broader income generation as well as philanthropy. He enjoys testing new ideas whilst balancing stakeholder engagement.
With a practical insight into ever-changing educational priorities, he is ideally placed to mentor new-to-education appointments and supports them through the early days, helping them work out what their organisation wants, the change it seeks to make, the story it wants to tell, and then how to tell it. This is a service Caithness Consulting will build into the recruitment offer.
When not behind a desk, David can be found a) walking the hills with his dog/family, b) on his bike on a long-distance adventure, or c) or the touch lines cheering on his son/Edinburgh/Scotland.
Cath Strachan
Executive Search and Selection owner
Business Coach
Cath has 25 years’ experience in Executive Search and Selection running MSK Search Consultancy, which was totally committed to inclusive recruitment. It was one of the first companies to introduce the anonymised recruitment process, using bespoke job specific questionnaires as an alternative to CVs. She recruited at CEO, CFO, COO and Senior Management level for clients in the UK, Europe, and Asia.
Cath is now the founder of Includes You Ltd www.includesyou.com. She works with a variety of SME clients as a Business Growth Coach focusing on improving their:
Mindset, Leadership skills, Marketing plans & understanding Key Numbers in their business.
She works with staff leadership teams on their personal development and helps put in place processes and plans that they can follow.
She also runs her own Business Academies which are comprehensive combined learning (online & Workshops) which covers all aspects of running a business as an owner or manager. Business Academy Thrive Member Overview 1 (fastforwardyourfuture.com).
She is passionate about D&I and work closely with Diversity Scotland advising on Best Practice recruitment processes and procedures embracing equality.
When not working, she enjoys spending time with family and her dogs.
Jules Haston
Fundraising Consultant Specialising in Bid Writing
Jules is a creative, passionate and self-motivated person who can immediately get to grips with an organisation’s agenda and priorities, working under her own initiative and making key decisions, utilising over 20 years’ experience of senior management and leadership roles. She is a strong team leader who is flexible and able to listen to other team members, helping them to develop their skills as well as motivating and inspiring through a transparent and supportive working methodology.
Her ‘USPs’ if you will are that:
She is extremely friendly, helpful, proactive, and flexible! She has worked with colleagues on a repeat basis (including Board members) – one team member ‘followed’ her three times as they liked working together so much! Her motto is ‘no problem’!
As a former games programmer with an MSC in Software and Systems – She is a big fan of efficient processes and database management. Extremely knowledgeable of Raiser’s Edge and how it can best be utilized by the fundraising team.
Her fundraising career began in Trusts and Foundations and grant making bodies has been central pillar throughout all her roles.
Her extensive fundraising experience and working with senior management means she can get ‘under the skin’ of a charity very quickly – understanding their challenges and ambition and putting in place a practical plan of action that delivers tangible results and income.
When not working … Jules loves playing video games with her daughters, all sorts of fibre crafts such as knitting and spinning and exploring the countryside.