
David Emerson CBE
Chair
David was elected Chair of ACRE in November 2014. Until the end of 2016 he was the Chief Executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF), the professional membership association for the UK’s charitable trusts and grant making foundations. He now works freelance advising charitable foundations. David’s initial professional background in geography, and then landscape management at Wye College, preceded his first employment with Cheshire RCC before he became Deputy Head of the then Rural Department at NCVO.
Subsequently he worked in a variety of roles in professional theatre in the West End and abroad, as well as in TV, and then moved to run the membership association for regional theatre in the UK.
Alongside his professional roles, David has co-authored four published books, including the first on ‘Only Children’; been the secretary of a trust promoting contemporary opera; and he currently also manages a small wildflower meadow in Herefordshire.
David was awarded the CBE in the 2015 New Year's Honours list.