Co-Chair of Judges
Debra Allcock-Tyler
Co-chair, Soldiering On Awards
Chief Executive of the Directory of Social Change
Debra has been the Chief Executive of the Directory of Social Change (DSC) since 2001. DSC exists to support charities to serve their communities and their causes and reaches around 15,000 charities a year through its work. She is a Trustee of In-Kind Direct, a Trustee of the Berkshire Community Foundation, Vice-President of the Soldiering On Awards, an AAF (Africa Advocacy Foundation) Ambassador for Women and Girls at risk of, or affected by, FGM and other harmful practices and, until very recently, was the Vice Chair of Governors of White Knights Primary School. She was the founder Chair of the Small Charities Coalition. She was a member of the Charity Commission’s SORP Committee for 7 years.
After a brief stint in the private sector, Debra has spent most of her career in the charitable sector in leadership roles in campaigning, policy development, sales, product development, media relations and training. She is particularly proud of her 14 years as a voluntary Trade Union Officer and the year she spent working with Youth at Risk. She was the first female Programme Director of the Runge Effective Leadership programme. She is a mentor to a number of CEOS and Chairs of Trustee Boards.
Debra is a renowned authority in the field of leadership and governance in civil society, an internationally published author, including the seminal It’s Tough at the Top, a guide for chief executives. She writes ‘The Last Word’ column for Third Sector magazine which reaches around 123,000 people per publication.
Her first volunteering role was at the age of 16, in a local hospice, helping the staff with basic duties such as cleaning and changing beds. She has a degree in psychology, started a physics degree (until she got side-tracked), is a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Royal Institution. Her interests are theoretical physics, behavioural economics and politics.
She loves cricket and was a member of Surrey County Cricket club for many years. She is slave to a Bassett Hound called Arthur.
