Melanie Waters OBE is a senior leader with extensive experience across both commercial and charitable sectors, spanning operational leadership, strategic governance and high-impact programme delivery. Her career includes serving as CEO of Help for Heroes, where she transformed a young founder-led charity into a professionally governed organisation, and as Executive Director of Programmes at The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, where she led the development of future programmes and the Foundation-wide Impact Framework.
Earlier in her career, Melanie served as CEO of The Poppy Factory, building a nationwide employability service for disabled veterans from scratch, and held commercial leadership roles at Unite Students and the Automobile Association. She holds an MBA, an LLB, and has completed programmes at Harvard Business School in both Ethical Leadership and Family Office Wealth Management. She currently holds NED roles in a private members club and an historic philanthropic foundation.
At Charles Park, Melanie brings rigour and structure to the philanthropy pillar, advising families on strategy, values alignment, project search and due diligence, grant-making governance and impact measurement. Her ability to bridge the strategic and the operational ensures that philanthropic commitments are not only well-intentioned but meaningfully delivered.