Changes of personnel at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Debby Ounsted has been appointed to succeed Sir William Utting as Chair of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation trustees. The appointment will take effect from 1 October 2006.
A trustee of the JRF since 2002 and Deputy Chair since January 2005, Debby has been Chief Executive of the Octavia Hill Housing Trust and the Habinteg Housing Association. She is a former Chair of KIDS, a charity that supports disabled children and their families. Debby is a freelance management consultant and writer, specialising in the governance, inspection and regulation of housing organisations.
Sir William Utting CB, formerly the Chief Inspector of Social Services, retires as a JRF Trustee in September. Tony Stoller CBE will be the JRF Deputy Chair from that date.
Quest for new JRF Director
Lord Richard Best is retiring as the Director - chief executive - of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation after 18 years in post, at the end of the year: trustees are advertising this month for his successor. The job is based in York and London.
The Foundation’s principal mission is to search out the causes of social problems and find the policies and practices that can overcome them. At any one time it has some 200 research projects underway, mostly at UK universities.
The JRF is also responsible for the management of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, a medium-sized housing association that specialises in innovative housing projects, mostly in and around York. The combined JRF / JRHT operation has 580 staff, about 2,000 properties, including residential care homes and a retirement community, and investments of about £270m.
It is expected that an appointment will be made at the end of June.
