Mavis was appointed as a Trustee in 2006. She was a career civil servant for 39 years, working largely on housing, regeneration, community development, social exclusion and local government in the Department for Environment and its successors.
She was Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office from 2000 to 2002 and retired as Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in October 2005.
She is Chair of the Public Sector Construction Clients Forum, and an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Mavis is the Chair of the Place Strategy Group, Deputy Chair of the JRHT Board and a member of Clifton Estates, the Finance and Personnel Committee and the Audit Committee.