From 1997 to August 2001, Vanessa worked for the Labour Party on face to face fundraising with major donors, which included securing gifts up to £250k and playing a face to face role in donations of £1 million plus. From 2001 to 2004 she was Head of Charitable Giving for the Royal Academy of Arts. During that time she managed a team of seven, who were responsible for generating income from individuals, trusts and foundations and legacies. In this revenue fundraising role, Vanessa managed the significant overlap of fundraising activity with the Capital Campaign, including playing an active role in major gift negotiations. Vanessa also has commercial experience, in two sales and marketing roles with Reuters Ltd. Since joining Brakeley, Vanessa has managed and participated in several Gift Asking training sessions and workshops, in addition to speaking at the Institute of Fundraising Convention on major gifts.

In his current position, Mr. Nicholls is responsible for a team of 10 fundraisers, plus over 100 staff working throughout a network of 66 chartiy stores in Wales and SW England. Formerly, Mr. Nicholls was Deputy Head of Development and Head of Major Gifts at the University of Liverpool, having worked across a range of capital campaigns including securing six and seven figure gifts. He was also previously Head of Development for the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse theatres, where he created a corporate membership scheme but also ran the ticketing office. He started his career with Trinty Mirror Plc working on their Business Week publication. Mr. Nicholls has a degree from John Moores University, and overall he has 12 years experience as a fundraising and marketing professional.

Julian has spent nearly thirty years in the non-profit sector including working within the arts, disability charities and education. He founded ASK Associates ten years ago and has seen it grow to be the leading educational fundraising consultancy in the UK. Previous positions included Manager of the LSO, Director of Fundraising for the Royal Association for Deaf people, Development Director of Linacre College, Oxford, Director of the Bradfield Foundation and Director of the Sherborne School Foundation. He also served as the Chief Executive of Land Aid, the charity of the property sector, and successfully managed its transformation from a small volunteer-led operation to a major fundraising and grant-making organisation working with major public companies to aid homeless people. Julian served on the Board of the IDPE, and has published books on Relationship Fundraising and Fundraising from Wealthy Individuals.