After chatting to you more, it really struck me what you guys do and I felt I wanted to help the charity continue helping people.
Graham Archer joined our Board in November 2021.
“I knew I wanted to help the local community,” Graham said after explaining how he moved back to Barnsley to be closer to his dad. “I’m at the point in my career where I can dedicate more time to the community and my own personal development. So, after chatting to you more, it really struck me what you guys do and I felt I wanted to help the charity get back to normality and continue helping people.”
After twenty years working in finance, Graham can confidently say: “There’s not a part of business I don’t know about. I work with all departments: HR, IT, the actual operations…I moved on from just crunching numbers in the back, so hopefully I have a lot of knowledge to bring to the YMCA.”
Surprisingly, however, Graham never meant to end up in finance. He did a degree in computing management and science at the University of Leicester, intending to work in IT. But after a brief spell as a financial assistant at a 6th form college, the world of finance swept him up. Starting to enjoy it, he eventually became a qualified accountant and is now the director of financial planning and analysis for a large exhibition company, Global Experience Specialist. From a financial perspective, he helps the managing directors and the board to grow the company.
“I’m really looking forward to learning something new,” Graham said when we asked him why he was excited to be a part of YMCA Doncaster. “I’m hoping that being a part of the YMCA will give me a couple of years’ worth of learning, get my brain active again!”
Besides imparting all his financial and business expertise to our Board, Graham will either be travelling or getting practical. “I used to go abroad at least four times a year. My work has offices in LA, Dubai…but my favourite places to visit have to be Berlin and Thailand. Berlin for the number of different things to do there, but Thailand for the beaches.” Graham has also taken on the task of renovating a huge house and is hoping to (quickly) learn a host of new skills. “I’m starting to wonder whether I’ve bitten off more than I can chew!” he laughed.
If you would like to consider joining our Board, please click here for information.