Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) has today announced the appointment of two new executive additions to its Senior Management Team (SMT). The new appointments, which are effective immediately, will see David James become CACT's Director of Education and Sport while Jack Palmer will take up the newly created position of Head of Research and Development.
David, who has been covering the role of Director of Education and Sport since September 2018, joined CACT in January 2017 after a decade at the London FA; where after a number of senior roles, he rose to become Interim Chief Executive Officer. David oversees CACT’s Education, Football & Sports Development and Social Action & Enterprise delivery strands. This wide-ranging and far-reaching work across South East London and Kent continues to expand and evolve, and directly contributes to CACT’s key outcomes of improving education, employment and health.
Speaking about his appointment, David said, ''It is an honour for me to step up to Director level at CACT, an organisation that has been a huge part of my life. This has included being a participant on school sessions and holiday courses, completing work experience with CACT some 20 (ish!) years ago and then being employed as a casual coach to deliver on a number of programmes.''
David continued by adding “Since joining full-time in 2017, I have enjoyed great support from colleagues and partners to help secure investment for our important work at the heart of the community. CACT has delivered innovative and impactful programmes for 27 years and I look forward to playing my part in continuing this and delivering against our vision of empowering communities and changing lives.”
Jack, who previously worked as a Researcher for a think tank in Brussels and studied Sustainable Development for his Masters Degree; has worked for CACT for over four years, initially as Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and more recently as Research and Development Manager.
As Head of Research and Development, Jack will create and develop strategies and frameworks relating to monitoring, evaluation, research and quality assurance that can be implemented across the whole organisation and communicated to external stakeholders. This important new role will see Jack bringing impact evidence to the fore, helping to shape future delivery and influencing CACT’s strategic direction.
Jack said, “I would like to thank CACT for the opportunity they’ve given me to develop my role and the support they’ve given me throughout. A special thank you must be made to our Research and Impact Officer, Clara Freixes Ramoneda, who I’ve worked alongside for the past four years. She’s helped us to complete a CACT-wide impact report and improve the way we monitor and evaluate''.
Jack, who will now report into Director of Finance and Support Services Mark Gregory, concluded by adding, “the team is continuing to grow and we recently appointed a new Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and a Quality Assurance Officer. I am excited and I look forward to adding more value to the team in my new position!”
Speaking about the importance of the two new appointments to the Senior Management Team, Jason Morgan MBE, CACT’s Chief Executive said, "Both David and Jack have been on a journey with CACT and richly deserve their roles within the organisation. It’s important for us to support and help progress staff to senior positions within CACT and I’m delighted for them both."