David Holdsworth

David Holdsworth has been Chief Executive Officer of the Charity Commission since June 2024. Prior to that, he served as Chief Executive Officer of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the UK’s biosecurity agency. Before that, he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), an executive agency of UK Government responsible for intellectual property rights in the UK. Immediately prior to his role at the IPO, David was Deputy CEO and Registrar of Charities for England and Wales at the Charity Commission. Before this, David spent over a decade at the Home Office in various roles including senior operational roles in the Immigration Service where he led several large UK wide transformation projects. He also held different policy roles in the Home Office and was Deputy Chief Caseworker. David also spent 5 years in the private sector in senior executive positions of Managing Director and Partnership Director at two different FTSE 100 companies. He is a fellow of the Institute of Directors and a past Chairman of the Liverpool city region branch.