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Director of Finance appointed for the National Church Institutions

17 July 2006

Jackie Bliss has been appointed as Director of Finance for the National Church Institutions of the Church of England. This is the first time that a joint finance director has been appointed for the Archbishops’ Council, the Church Commissioners for England and the Church of England Pensions Board.

Jackie will be responsible for financial management and reporting for the three bodies, which have a combined annual turnover of around £300 million and an asset base of more than £5 billion.  She will coordinate strategic thinking on financial issues affecting the whole Church of England and will also oversee the operation of the national institutions’ financial policy, planning and accounting, including the operation of the national clergy payroll and pensions payroll. She will take up the post on 21 August.

Responding to her appointment, Jackie Bliss said:  “It is both an honour and a challenge to serve the Church in this way.  The fundamental role of the finance team is to support and advise the Church in its mission.  It will be my priority to ensure that financial systems help in focusing decision-making, coordinating strategy and evaluating the effectiveness of projects, in a way which enables and enhances that mission.”

A chartered accountant with a degree in English and Philosophy, Jackie Bliss trained with KPMG in Cardiff and Geneva. Qualifying in 1988, she took up the post of Company Accountant and then Finance Director at Maplin Electronics plc. In 1999, Jackie moved to the Thomas Coram Foundation charity (now known as “Coram Family”) as Director of Finance and Administration.

She is currently Non-Executive Director of the Southend University Hospital Foundation Trust and Non-Executive Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Northern Ireland); and will be withdrawing from both of these shortly after she takes up her new post. Jackie has also been a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of The Pensions Trust, chairing the Trust’s investment committee, responsible for a £3 billion portfolio.

Jackie Bliss is a member of the parish of St Mary the Virgin, Prittlewell in the Diocese of Chelmsford, where she has served on the PCC and is a server, intercessor and the parish’s link for its Church Mission Society mission partner in DR Congo. She is married to Michael, who is a churchwarden at St Mary’s.

Since 1999, the three institutions have progressively brought together many of their operations, creating joint employment arrangements and common service departments. The appointment for the first time of a joint finance director to serve all three organisations is a further, important step in that process. Currently split between two sites, all three organisations will be co-located from February 2007. Each organisation works closely together while having its own distinct legal responsibilities, duties and governance arrangements.