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JRF appoint five new trustees to help Rowntree group face ‘opportunity and challenge’

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The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has this week announced the arrival of five new Trustees, who will gradually replace a number of existing Trustees as their terms end over the course of 2026. 

The new trustees join the organisation at a time of opportunity and challenge to the strategy's ambition to deliver on the mission of creating a world where people and planet can flourish. 

The new trustees joining the journey will be:

  • Jabeer Butt, Chief Executive of the Race Equality Foundation
  • Nassali Douglas, Director of Change and Transformation at BBC Children in Need
  • Matthew Horne, joint Chief Executive of Innovation Unit
  • Amir Rizwan, Director of the London Social Venture Fund project at Queen Mary Innovation
  • Jeremy Townsend, chair of the Audit and Risk Committee of NHS England

As well as becoming a trustee, Jeremy Townsend will become the chair of Audit and Risk Committee for JRF/JRHT when current chair Paul Jenkins retires. 

Gillian Russell has also been appointed as a second vice-chair of trustees, working along the existing vice-chair David Lunts to provide additional leadership capacity as the group moves forward in its work.

Professor Carol Tannahill OBE, Chair of Trustees, said: 

“We’re thrilled to welcome the team of new trustees to help steer this new chapter in JRF and JRHT’s journey. They will bring a fantastically broad range of experience that we know will allow us to move forward boldly with our ambitious strategies across both organisations.

“The Trustees are united with me in being committed to progressing with the delivery of the group’s strategy. We look forward to the new members bringing their varied know-how from across sectors focused on poverty, social and economic exclusion to the board, and are delighted to have them on board to work towards our mission of building a future free from poverty, where people and planet can flourish.”

Notes to Editors 

  1. At the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we work to speed up and support the transition to a future free from poverty, in which people and planet can flourish.
  2. The recruitment process for the new Trustees was overseen by the Nomination and Governance Committee, with the decision unanimously ratified by the JRF Board of Trustees. 
  3. Contact us at pressoffice@jrf.org.uk or call 01904 615 958
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