Founder

David Russell is Founder and Director of The Social Enterprise, which is a multidisciplinary social change agency which advises charities and business across fields including programme development, strategic planning, reporting, measurement and evaluation. Since 2014, he has been working principally with Unilever, consulting initially on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, and more recently the Compass Social Commitments.

From 2009 to 2013, David served as Director of Survivors Fund (SURF), a UK-based international nonprofit organisation which represents and supports survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He first began working with SURF in 2004 as a consultant, in which capacity he continues to support the organisation today as its UK Coordinator.

David has previously set up and run a social business producing dairy-free iced desserts, supplying both Waitrose and Tesco. In 2004 he co-founded The PR Office, where he headed up the third sector division, representing an array of international charities including the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Holocaust Educational Trust. David began his career with Chime Communications as a graduate trainee in 1999.

David is particularly proud to be the Chair of Network for Africa, a UK-based International NGO working with communities torn apart by war and genocide particularly in the field of mental health, and of the Charities Advisory Trust. He is also Company Secretary of Parent Club, and a Trustee of the Vivekananda Human Centre and Congregation of Jacob Synagogue. He has previously served as trustee for an array of other charities, including the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and  SPID Theatre Company.

David has an MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy from New York University, and an MA in Social and Political Sciences from Christ’s College, Cambridge University. He is a Clore Social Fellow, a NYU Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

David trained at the Tavistock Clinic to qualify as an Executive Coach with accreditation from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council at the Senior Practitioner level.