London's Air Ambulance appoints charity director

Governance | Tania Mason | 14 Jul 2010

London’s Air Ambulance (LAA) has finally appointed a director to replace David Philpott, who was sacked after raising concerns about the charity's governance and solvency last year.

David Oakley (pictured) has been appointed charity director at the LAA - a different title to the one held by Philpott but he told Civil Society that he is still the charity's most senior executive officer, so effectively replaces Philpott.

Having served as finance director for a number of PLCs, most recently as group FD at media and financial services group Rivington Street Holdings plc, Oakley will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of decisions and to continue developing the service.

The charity declined to discuss the issues raised by Philpott before his departure, other than to say that his allegation that the organisation was trading while technically insolvent and would not be able to afford a new helicopter when the current lease expires next year, was entirely wrong.

"There is no truth to that whatsoever," said a spokesperson.

Shortly after Philpott was dismissed from his post last November, the Charity Commission provided some guidance to the trustees about certain financial and governance issues, but made no judgement about whether they were correct to dismiss Philpott.

Philpott has since set himself up in consultancy.

Directory: Charity Commission
Who's Who: David Oakley

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