Lieutenant General Sir Nicholas Pope KCB CBE is the Chair of Cobseo. He acts as the voice of the Service Charitable Sector within Government and the Private Sector and is charged with encouraging cooperation and collaboration across the Service Charitable Sector to enhance the support given to the Armed Forces Community. He chairs the Confederation’s Executive Committee and is a member of a number of cross Government committees including the Covenant Reference Group and the MOD Service Charities Partnership Board. He meets regularly with Ministers and is widely consulted by the MOD.
Richard Goodman is responsible for ensuring the effective and efficient operation of Cobseo and providing support to the Cobseo Executive in pursuance of Cobseo objectives, projects and initiatives. His main responsibilities are to execute the decisions of the Cobseo Executive, whilst managing the day-to-day running of Cobseo to meet the Confederation’s purposes as the overarching organisation for the Service Charities. He represents Cobseo in various environments, attending a number of MOD meetings and working groups; working with the Cobseo Chairman and Executive Committee to promote Cobseo through the Cluster process; developing the relationships between Service Charities, Government Departments and many other organisations. He has tactical management of Cobseo and responds to approaches from a wide spectrum of people, from members of the Royal Family, through Government Ministers to individuals seeking help and support. Richard also acts as the Company Secretary for the Registered Company limited by Guarantee and oversees the Cobseo finances, accounting and budgeting.
Roy Brown joined Cobseo as Director of Governance Support in February 2019. Although Roy joins the team on secondment from the Ministry of Defence, which included appointments with all three Services, and senior Board governance roles with the RN and RAF, he also has experience of the Service Charities Sector from his attachment with SSAFA, which also included governance responsibilities. His remit is to continue the work to support Cobseo Members in improving, assuring and sustaining good governance practices in an increasingly demanding regulatory environment; and to assist the Cobseo Chairman and Executive team in representing Members’ interests and advocating on their behalf with Government, Regulators and other key external stakeholders.
Caroline Wood is responsible for providing insights to the Executive Committee on matters relating to Membership and offering recommendations to the quarterly meetings. She is dually responsible for managing Cobseo’s financial health, which includes reporting performance to the quarterly meetings of the Finance Committee, preparation of the Annual Accounts and Financial Statements, facilitation of the external Audit, and evidence to support the annual Budget recommendation by the FC to the EC. Other matters extend to the development of the Membership strategy and identifying where Cobseo’s reach, influence and financial health may be improved; informed by Member organisations and other stakeholders. Before joining Cobseo, Caroline jointly founded a consultancy to support the London 2012 Olympic Games’ legacy, passing learnings from the recruitment and training of the c.70k strong ‘GamesMaker’ volunteers, to organsiations seeking to inspire their workforces; whilst her previous career in Media had culminated in leading the ELLE magazine commercial team.
Charlotte Fiander leads on all communications work for Cobseo and 
oversees all internal and external communications. She is the main contact for all media and press enquiries and manages the day-to-day communications between Cobseo and its members. Charlotte oversees the weekly newsletter, newsfeed and website, and is responsible for developing and managing the communications strategy. Before joining Cobseo, she worked in a variety of membership organisations including the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and The Hurlingham Club. Charlotte is on hand to assist and advise all members with any communications, media, or digital issues they may encounter.
Natalie Chambers joined Cobseo in February 2020.
Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here