David Harker, former chief executive of Citizens Advice, passed away yesterday on his birthday after a short illness. He was 64.
Harker led the advice charity for 13 years from 1997 until 2010, charting its transformation from Nacab, the national umbrella body for local citizens advice bureaux, to Citizens Advice through a massive IT overhaul. A year after leaving he was honoured with a CBE to augment his OBE awarded in 2003.
He had previously spent eight years at the deafblind charity Sense - then called the National Deafblind and Rubella Association - first as deputy CEO and latterly as managing director. Under his leadership it blossomed into the leading organisation in its field in the world and grew its income from £3m to £30m in eight years.
Harker was also the architect of the Charity Shops Survey, published by Charity Finance magazine annually since 1992, and spent four years as a Charity Awards judge.
He became involved in the voluntary sector at a young age; having a brother with Down’s Syndrome, he helped his mother run a Mencap gateway club. He was then a community service volunteer at 17 during what people now call a gap year, and followed this with a degree in social studies and a masters in social policy. His first paid role in the sector was as deputy general secretary of Voluntary Action Lewisham in 1974.
During the 1980s he spent five years as a management consultant and four years as the director of Lady Margaret Hall Settlement in south London. David had also been both a councillor and a senior local government officer.
While at Citizens Advice, David sat on many ministerial and strategy groups, including the NHS Modernisation Board and the Cabinet Office’s Delivery Council.
Since leaving Citizens Advice, he took on various non-executive roles in the public and voluntary sectors. He was an associate of the Civil Exchange think tank, and a member of the boards of the energy regulator Ofgem and the Advertising Standards Authority, where he chaired the audit committee.
He was also on the Financial Services Consumer Panel that advised the Financial Services Authority; when the FSA became the Financial Conduct Authority he joined its board as a non-executive director.
In July 2014, he was appointed chair of the Pensions Advisory Service and remained in post until he died. He started to fall ill in late October but carried on working energetically until the day he was suddenly admitted to hospital in mid-December.
Harker contributed an essay to a Civil Exchange publication in 2011 called Civil Dialogue; his essay was titled There is no such thing as the voluntary sector. It warned of the dangers of generalising the sector into one homogenous “thing”. Harker wrote: “The first step is to move beyond the rhetoric of stereotypes and foster an understanding of the depth and variety of the sector. Only when we do that, can we help public sector leaders and commissioners understand when and how some third sector organisations might be able to help them, and enable third sector leaders to craft appropriate strategies for their organisations.”
You can read the full essay here.
In 2005, then-Charity Finance editor Ian Allsop interviewed David for a profile piece in the magazine, titled Harker heralds changing things. You can also read that here.
Tributes from the sector
Gordon Bell, former chief executive of StepChange Debt Charity, said: “It is a sad day as society loses another dedicated and delightful gentleman. My time in David's company was always a pleasure: he had a warmth and real interest in people and we shared many stories of a common passion - cycling.
"In his time at the helm of Citizens Advice, I found him to be an enthusiastic collaborator on any venture that could develop help and support to distressed families, as he exhibited a genuine affinity with their plight.
“In a sector often awash with political shenanigans, David provided a very human face; personable and engaging, whilst passionate about the help he could provide. We are all a little worse off without him.”
Caroline Slocock, director of Civil Exchange, said: “Quiet and unassuming, David was also intensely energetic in helping others both professionally and as a friend - and he enjoyed his life with a similar energy. He was genuinely a kind and wise man and will be greatly missed.”
Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “David Harker was passionate about Citizens Advice and delivering services to meet the needs of our clients. He recognised early on that as a service we need to diversify our funding and it was under his leadership that Citizens Advice secured the first agreement for debt advice. His passing is a great loss to the sector and the organisations he worked closely with, our sympathies are with his family.”
Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, said: “I was privileged to have known Dave for many years both in his role at Sense and also during his time at Citizens Advice. He was a thoughtful and inspiring leader and a good friend. The sector will be the lesser without him.”
David was born in Darlington, County Durham, on 2 March 1951. He was a keen walker, cyclist, skier, swimmer, reader and theatre-goer. For many years, he and his wife had a house at Walberswick in East Anglia and loved the area.
He is survived by his wife Diane Summers and son Alex.
A small private funeral will be held imminently; a memorial service will be organised later in year where all those who knew David will be welcome to pay their respects.
Messages of condolence for David's family can be sent to [email protected]. A fundraising page will be set up shortly; check back here later for the link.
