Julie Bentley

Julie has been a charity CEO for twenty-five years and has led some of the UK’s most well-known charity names including Action for Children, Girlguiding, Family Planning Association and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. She has been CEO of Samaritans since November 2020.

She has been a Trustee and Vice Chair of the housing and homelessness charity Shelter and National Council for Voluntary Organisations previously and is currently a Trustee of the charity Action for Happiness and for the University of Essex.

Julie began her career as a youth worker (after a stint of five years as a Post Person) and in the early 90’s worked in some of the most deprived parts of SE London, working with young drug users and those involved in crime. She began her leadership journey at a charity called Charterhouse-in-Southwark where she was first a manager of the young people’s centre and then over the next six years progressed to Assistant Director.

Through her career Julie has earned a reputation for her passionate advocacy of the voices of those with lived experience being at the heart of a charity and for her commitment to meaningful equity and inclusion. She has a reputation for driving change; at Girlguiding she created headlines when she described the century old charity as “the ultimate feminist organisation.” She is also known for the authenticity she brings to her leadership; modelling a very down to earth approach rooted in her working-class background.

In 2014, she was named by Third Sector as the ‘Most Admired Charity CEO’ and in the same year was a castaway for BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. In 2019, she was awarded The Charity Times Awards for ‘Outstanding Individual Achievement’ and was voted by Charity Times readers as one of the sector’s Most Influential Leaders.

In 2020 Julie co-curated a book on experiences of sibling loss following the death of her brother. She is also a qualified Executive Coach and Humanist Funeral Celebrant.