New board member to join The National Lottery Community Fund
12 October 2026
The National Lottery Community Fund has announced the appointment of Fraser Hardie to its board.
Fraser is a highly experienced business, policy and communications leader. He is currently a senior adviser to business advisory firm Teneo and works with boards, CEOs, and executive leadership in global organisations and FTSE 100 companies. He is also chair of Autism Action and a trustee of Royal Society of Arts. He has served on charity boards for over 20 years.
Following a competitive recruitment process led by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Fraser will take up his role on 11 January 2027.
His appointment follows The National Lottery Community Fund appointing new board members Michelle Mitchell OBE and Sunder Katwala to the board. Michelle and Sunder took up their positions in August 2026.
Fraser and the board will work with Chair, Dame Julia Cleverdon in setting the vision and overseeing the effective delivery of the Fund’s strategy, performance and funding to communities.
The board oversees the effective performance of an operation that awarded over £900 million in over 14,000 grants to community projects across the UK in 2025 to 2026 alone. Thanks to National Lottery players, the Fund has distributed £4.6 billion through 118,000 grants in the past ten 10 years - the equivalent of 40 grants in every postcode district of the UK.
Fraser will join the board at an important time as the Fund moves into the second phase of delivery of its strategy, It starts with community. Under the strategy, which was informed by the views of 18,000 people from across the UK, the coming months will see an acceleration of the Fund’s support for bigger, bolder ideas.
This will support greater change in communities and help them build the foundations, power and influence they need to shape their own futures.
In his career Fraser has advised UK Government on policy communication on a wide range of issues including communities, public health, foreign affairs and Olympic legacy.
He was also previously Executive Chairman of Teneo Blue Rubicon and then Teneo UK, having previously founded and led strategic communications consultancy Blue Rubicon. His earlier career included communications leadership roles at FTSE 100 businesses Rio Tinto and Powergen (now Eon).
Responding to the new appointment, Dame Julia Cleverdon, Chair of The National Lottery Community Fund, said:
“I am delighted that Fraser has accepted the Secretary of State Lisa Nandy’s invitation to join our talented board that I have the great privilege to chair.
He will bring us first class communications and policy experience at a time when really listening to the front line in communities and building opportunities to participate in decision taking is vital.
His immense experience of building trust will be an enormous asset as we all work to ensure the impact of National Lottery players' money on good causes is seen and felt across the UK, and as we build on our mission to invest in communities for long term impact.”
The Fund's UK board oversees the work of 4 committees for each of the UK’s nations, which connect to local priorities, support the role of the local funding teams, take decisions on major grants and ensure that funding has the greatest possible impact across the communities of each nation.
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