Francis started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1982, spending most of his time there in the corporate recovery department specialising in helping organisations in the not-for-profit sector facing financial difficulties.
Francis moved to the Arts Council in 2000 and helped design and run a number of major grant programmes including the Stabilisation Programme, which provided funds and support to a number of major arts organisations facing severe financial, governance and operational problems.
In 2017 he became the first Executive Director, Enterprise and Innovation at the Arts Council with a brief to help arts organisations become more entrepreneurial and encourage the use of non-grant finance in the sector.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped design and run the DCMS funded Cultural Recovery Fund loan programme that supported a number of the most significant cultural organisations in the country including the Royal Opera House, Historic Royal Palaces and English Heritage.
