Case Study: Finance & Commercial Director recruitment | Tall Ships Youth Trust

Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT) is the UK’s oldest and largest youth development sailing charity, working with disadvantaged young people aged 12–25 to change lives at sea. Each year, over 1,200 young people experience its transformative “3-voyage journey” of exploration, empowerment and leadership. With an annual turnover of c.£3m and a staff and volunteer base spread across the UK, TSYT is midway through an ambitious five-year growth strategy, aiming to expand its fleet, scale its UK hubs and create long-term sustainable impact.

Context.

To deliver on its strategy, TSYT required a Finance & Commercial Director with the expertise to build a resilient financial platform for growth. This was a pivotal appointment: the new postholder would be responsible for optimising existing operations and income, diversifying revenue streams, and ensuring compliance and governance as Company Secretary. The role combined hands-on finance with strategic leadership, leading the Finance, Data, IT and Resources team while also representing the Trust externally with funders and partners. The Charity needed someone who could balance operational detail with high-level commercial acumen, ensuring sustainability in a challenging funding environment.

Brief.

Peridot was engaged to source candidates who combined professional financial qualifications with proven strategic and commercial leadership. The successful candidate would need credibility with Trustees, the ability to work closely with the CEO, and the experience to diversify income across donations, trading, fundraising and statutory streams. Given TSYT’s growth plans, a track record of leading change and building financial resilience in complex organisations was essential. Keen to identify leaders with experience in purpose-driven organisations where financial sustainability underpins mission delivery, our extensive search spanned the charity, cultural and commercial sectors.

Outcome.

Following a rigorous two-stage process, Tall Ships Youth Trust appointed a candidate who had spent over a decade as Director of Finance & Resources in a large cultural charity that had itself transitioned from local authority ownership into an independent trust. She brought exceptional breadth across finance, fundraising, commercial income and governance, having led her organisation through major change and built a finance team from scratch. She demonstrated clear alignment to TSYT’s values, was motivated by the mission (despite not being a sailor herself!) and demonstrated resilience, pragmatism and strong stakeholder engagement skills; translating her experience of leading financial strategy in a diverse, £10m turnover organisation directly to TSYT’s context.

Our final shortlist reflected a strong field from across sectors, with the appointed candidate standing out for her combination of technical excellence, cultural alignment and proven experience of building financial sustainability. She is now expected to play a central role in strengthening reserves, diversifying income and supporting the acquisition of additional vessels; securing the financial future of TSYT’s mission and ensuring continued impact for countless young people in the coming years.