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.
Kate joined Cobseo as the Director of Operations in January 2025 to help the organisation develop as a value-adding single point of contact between the Service charity sector and local and national Governments, the Royal Household, the private sector, and with the Armed Forces Community.
Formerly the MOD’s Assistant Head of Veterans’ Services and responsible for the MOD’s Defence Transition Services before that, Kate has a demonstrable track record for delivering effective support to the Armed Forces community. With both lived and learned experience as a member of the Armed Forces community herself and a former employee of the Army Families Federation, Kate understands the nuanced needs of the community and the challenges faced by charities providing support to it.
Kate’s career to date in the private, public and third sectors has focussed on delivering strategically important, often high-profile services in challenging circumstances amidst significant social, organisational and political change. Kate sits on a number of working, steering and advisory groups, bringing her knowledge, experience and networks to bare for the benefit of impact-led policy change and service delivery. Kate is also a Director of the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT).
Previously Kate worked in Organisation Development consultancy, specialising in Change Management and Leadership Development following her graduation from Newcastle University with a degree in International Business Management with German.
Kate lives in York (for now at least, until the next military move!) with her serving husband and their two children.
Roy Brown joined Cobseo as Director of Governance Support in February 2019, where he was able to draw on experience gained from appointments with all three Services during his MOD career, and knowledge of the charity sector from his secondment to SSAFA. Whilst continuing to support Cobseo Members in assuring and sustaining good governance practice across an increasingly demanding regulatory environment; the role has evolved to include supporting the Cobseo Cluster network and a range of workstrands which assist the Cobseo Chair 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 organisations 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