Principal Consultant

The driving force behind 3rd Sector Skills, Stuart Kelly has been involved in the voluntary sector for more than 22 years. In addition to that, he worked in a management role for the international telecommunications industry for 25 years. This gives him a unique blend of experience of both the industrial and third sector, and he is ideally qualified to offer support and training in business, project and IT management to community and voluntary organisations in the UK.



Industrial Experience During his time in the telecommunications industry, Stuart managed project teams of all sizes and project budgets from a few thousand to several million pounds. His experience covers:

  • project and programme management
  • new product development
  • production management
  • developing and delivering training courses
  • event organisation
  • team building
  • staff development
  • and much more.

A large part of his career was managing the development, installation and support of computer systems and software solutions. He has a first rate record of delivering on time, within budget, and to the customer’s satisfaction.



Voluntary Sector Experience Stuart began his involvement with the voluntary sector 22 years ago when he became chair of a local Mencap society. Under his leadership, the society developed as a professional organisation. He oversaw the employment of the organisation’s first paid member of staff; it now employs 29 staff, and delivers high quality services to the community. Stuart has also worked as an interim manager in a number of charities.  His first role was as interim Chief Executive for a North London based charity providing services to people with learning disabilities. Stuart was brought in to an ailing organisation and turned it around. It now has an excellent reputation and is expanding its range of services. It is the service provider of choice for the local authority. Since then his experience includes charities dealing with mental health, advising on commercial property and providing advocacy services. He served for 10 years as a trustee of one of the largest national charities in the UK and sat on the Northern Ireland board of that charity. His governance experience covers charities both large and small.

Stuart has experience of:

  • developing strategic plans
  • developing organisations
  • developing trustee boards
  • employing staff
  • developing and maintaining an organisation’s public image
  • managing local government contracts
  • developing and implementing projects
  • developing quality systems
  • and much more.


When he’s not doing all this, Stuart plays the loudest instrument in the world (the church organ) and the sexiest (the alto sax). He coaches students in maths and physics to ‘A’ level, runs science clubs for primary school children and is a practising magician (and one day hopes to get it right).



Think Stuart might be able to help you? Drop us a line and let us know what you need.