New chair and trustees join the VoiceAbility board
We are pleased to announce four new trustees are joining the board at VoiceAbility, including a new chair of trustees.
After nine years as chair, Peter Letley is retiring this month and handing over to Susan Douglas-Scott.
Susan is an experienced non-executive board chair who has worked with a wide range of NHS and health related voluntary organisations. She currently leads the Board of the Independent Living Fund for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Susan is a disabled woman who has spent her life fighting for issues of fairness, justice and equality.
Peter said: “I am delighted to be able to hand over to Susan, and I know that she is exactly the right person to take VoiceAbility’s governance and its board forward over the coming years.”
Chief executive of VoiceAbility, Jonathan Senker, said: “I would like to express my sincere thanks to Peter for his leadership and encouragement over the past nine years. Always supportive, and decisive whenever required, Peter has helped VoiceAbility to develop over almost a decade into a much stronger, more capable and progressive force.
“Looking to the future, I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with our new chair, Susan. I couldn’t have hoped to have a chair with a wider range of professional, governance and personal expertise. I am excited by how this will challenge us and help us move VoiceAbility yet further forward.”
Susan said: “As chair of VoiceAbility I’m looking forward to listening, reflecting and leading towards our common goals of everyone being heard and respected, having choice, control and freedom and being safe from violence, discrimination, harm and abuse. It feels a privilege to be part of this vibrant and focused organisation.”
Alongside Susan, we are proud to welcome three other new trustees to the board. They all share a passion for our work and values, and offer a range of experience:
- Izaro Arbelaiz, an innovation leader with more than 20 years of experience directing high-impact transformational strategies
- Mahua Nandi, an accountant and senior financial leader specialising in non-profit organisations, who also draws on her early career as a community organiser
- Anthony Osijo, a globally experienced investment banker and financier, who also brings important experience from his voluntary activities
Jonathan said: “We are extremely fortunate to welcome Anthony, Izaro and Mahua, who bring a breadth of new insights, perspectives and capabilities to the board; I look forward to working with them.”
Susan, Izaro, Mahua and Anthony will join the rest of our board from 26 January 2021. Together, our trustees oversee the strategic direction of VoiceAbility. All our board members are unpaid and volunteer their time to help us achieve our charitable objectives.
For full biographies visit our trustee page.