New CEO for Rural Action Derbyshire, plus more mover news
Melanie May | 7 January 2025 | News
Recent and upcoming movers – including new CEOs at Rural Action Derbyshire and LCVS, and a Chair of Trustees appointment at Camden Giving.
Emma Simpson appointed CEO at Rural Action Derbyshire
Rural Action Derbyshire (RAD) has appointed Emma Simpson as its new Chief Executive Officer, as of 1 January. Simpson takes over from Beverley Parker who has retired after 10 years.
Simpson has worked with the organisation for over a decade, playing a pivotal role in many of RAD’s flagship initiatives, including tackling rural fuel poverty, championing community-led solutions to rural challenges and helping to create innovative partnerships. She first joined RAD in June 2006, leaving at the end of 2011 for a two-and-a-half-year break, before coming back in September 2014 as Head of Communications & Administration.
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Carl Cowling & Mark Beddy join British Red Cross board of trustees
Carl Cowling and Mark Beddy formally joined British Red Cross as trustees on 1 January, with Beddy becoming the finance and audit committee chair. Beddy is a chartered accountant and was a senior audit partner at Deloitte until 2018, when he became a trustee of the British Council, chairing the finance committee. He is an independent member of the finance committee of the London Symphony Orchestra and is chair of LSO Productions. Until 2022, he was chair of trustees of English Touring Opera. He is also a non-executive director of Schroder European REIT plc and Portfolio REIT PLC.
Cowling is the Group CEO of WH Smith PLC, a global leader in travel retail. He also chairs the WH Smith ESG Steering Group, where he drives initiatives for sustainability and social impact. Before joining WH Smith, Cowling served as Managing Director of Global Partnerships at Carphone Warehouse and spent over ten years in leadership roles at Currys.
LCVS announces new CEO
LCVS has announced that Jeff Scales will join the organisation as its new CEO. Scales currently works for Locality, and has worked in both the public and VCSE sectors over the last thirty years. At Locality, which he rejoined in 2015, he has overseen a transformational shift from a grant-funded team to one funded entirely by programme and consultancy income obtained through a combination of relationship building and strategic positioning, tenders, and directly commissioned work. This includes working in partnership with local VCSE support organisations similar to LCVS.
Scales began his career in the management and development of social housing, with early roles involving supporting Council tenants to take on the management of their own homes. He also managed Sheffield City Council’s portfolio of community buildings including supporting community asset transfers.
Camden Trust announces Robin Morgan-Chu as Chair
Camden Giving has appointed a new Chair: Robin Morgan-Chu, who is Director of Partnerships and Policy at SSE – the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and who also set up CoachBright. Morgan-Chu will take over responsibility for leading the participatory grant-making charity for the next four years. His key priorities will include strengthening further participatory grant making in Camden and beyond; and ensuring participation and engagement are at the heart of future charity and government decision-making.
The current Chair Simon Pitkeathley steps down after two four-year terms since the charity was founded in 2016.
London Marathon Foundation appoints Mike Diaper as Group Funding & Impact Director
Mike Diaper has served as Interim Director at London Marathon Foundation since June 2024. He has previously led teams in high-profile government and sports organisations including Sport England, where he was responsible for the creation and leadership of the children and young people, community sport and tackling inactivity policy portfolios. He also led the government’s national school sport strategy under Tony Blair, working across the Departments for Education and Culture, Media and Sport, and worked on the inclusion of children with special educational needs at the Department for Education.
Before joining the Foundation, Diaper worked as a consultant across the education, sport and health sectors. Projects included working on the development the £19.5 million Go! London Fund, the capital’s largest youth sports fund; project managing the RFU’s semi-independent review of rugby union in schools; and supporting Merton Council to become London’s first Borough of Sport.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.