Joseph Rowntree Foundation appoints new Board Chair

The social change organisation Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has appointed Professor Carol Tannahill OBE to chair its board of trustees. She succeeds Will Haire CB, who recently stepped down after serving three full terms on the board.

Carol will assume the role of Chair from Friday 21 April 2023.

Previously vice-chair of the JRF Board of Trustees Carol was also Director of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health from 2003-2020. She was seconded part-time to the Scottish Government in 2014 as the first Chief Social Policy Adviser and held this position until her retirement in 2021. Her work focuses on approaches to improve population health and reduce inequalities in outcomes as well as the relationship between national policy and community-based delivery and experience.

She is also a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and of the Academy of Social Science, and Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow. She was awarded an OBE in 2018 for services to Public Health.

Commenting on her appointment, Carol said:

“I feel very privileged to have been appointed by the Trustees to lead JRF as it delivers its new strategy. There is such potential for JRF and its partners across the four nations to make a real difference by combining ground-breaking research, creative policy solutions, astute campaigning, and ambitious backing for pioneers showing the way to transformative change.

“The symptoms of an unjust world continue to multiply, and I look forward to working with our trustees, staff and partner organisations to ensure we rise to the moment, deploying our considerable resources to make the deepest impact possible.”

Group Chief Executive Paul Kissack said of the appointment:

“JRF benefits enormously from the contributions that many talented individuals make to its board and the support and challenge they offer to the executive team. In Carol we are lucky to have a committed and values-driven individual with a fantastic depth and breadth of experience to help shape our work. I look forward to working closely with her in the coming years.”