Introducing our new CEO, Kye Lockwood
DataKind UK is really excited to introduce our new CEO, Kye Lockwood. Kye has been working in the charity sector for two decades, most recently as the CEO of Hackney Foodbank. Before that, he tackled social and health inequalities and inequities at Social Action for Health. He also set up and led an award-winning social enterprise.
In his first fortnight as CEO, Kye has been meeting with the staff team, and attended the Charity Digital BeMoreDigital Conference 2023 and the annual ACEVOFest conference. Here he tells us about his experiences with data and the charity sector, and what first drew him to working with DataKind UK.
“I’ve been working in the sector for over twenty years, and know first-hand the range of complicated, nuanced, and difficult challenges charities face every day.
“As a charity leader, one question has always been on my mind: ‘How do we know that we are genuinely achieving what we set out to?’. We often rely on assumptions to design and deliver activities that meet the needs we’ve identified. However, as a sector we could become more practised in testing these assumptions, learning from the evidence, and refining our plans accordingly.
“Otherwise, we risk persevering with activities that may not truly be achieving the outcomes we had hoped for and justifying them with metrics that were never really aligned with our goals. To avoid this, it’s vital that we ask the right questions, and use them to build a solid evidence base against which to make future decisions.
“This is the challenge to the sector that DataKind UK seeks to solve. The offer to introduce cutting-edge data science into charity practice, using the skills of an incredible community of exceptionally qualified and committed volunteers, is a fantastic resource that so many charities could benefit from, but which many haven’t ever considered.
“Equipping organisations to make data-informed decisions helps them to set bold directions of travel, channelling resources in a more focused and efficient way to better achieve their aims. Not only because they think it’s the right decision, but because they have an evidence base to inform that decision and test against.
“This is what drew me to the opportunity to lead DataKind UK. I’m eager to extend this offer to the sector as broadly as possible, championing and supporting others to understand the value of data in their organisations and the transformative impact this could have for the sector.
“I’m very excited to build on the outstanding work of my predecessor, Giselle, and the staff team, by operationalising our strategy to build an ecosystem of support that guides and encourages charity leaders on their data journey. DataKind’s culture, and the incredible dedication of our highly skilled volunteer community, are wonderful foundations for this.
“I look forward to learning more about how data science can benefit our sector, and shaping DataKind UK’s direction so that we can realise our potential for supporting organisations to make better decisions, have greater impact, and fulfil their missions.”
Tariq Khokhar, Chair of DataKind UK’s Board of Trustees and Head of Data for Science and Health at Wellcome, said “I’m excited by Kye’s appointment — he brings a wealth of experience with a passion for using data to have an impact.
“He has an excellent track record as a charity CEO and as DataKind enters its next chapter, Kye’s leadership will be essential to changing how the sector as a whole uses data and data science.”
