PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 September 2024
Independent Age announces new ambassadors and trustees to address poverty in later life
National charity Independent Age is pleased to welcome five new ambassadors and three new trustees to advance its work in improving the lives of older people living on a low income.
The ambassador role is new to the charity. Each ambassador will use their individual networks and expertise to help the charity make meaningful change to the lives of people in poverty in later life. This could involve supporting a campaign, chairing roundtables, speaking at events and facilitating introductions for partnership working.
The five ambassadors are:
Margaret Dangoor. Margaret has been active in the public, voluntary and community sector since 1991. She has been a trustee and chair of a wide range of organisations, ranging from, a Further Education and Adult College Corporation, to various charities supporting people with disabilities, carers, older people, and individuals with Alzheimer’s.
Sir Leigh Lewis KCB. Leigh was a civil servant for 38 years, latterly as Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions from 2005 until his retirement at the end of 2010. Since retiring he has held a number of part time roles in the private and not for profit sectors.
Thabani Sithole. Thabani came to Independent Age for help and the charity was able to find £800 in unclaimed support for her. Since then, Thabani has taken on media interviews to raise awareness of the issues older people on a low income face and speaks at events for the charity. In September 2024, she took on a skydive to fundraise for Independent Age.
Sir Brian Pomeroy CBE. Sir Brian Pomeroy was formerly Chair of Age UK and the Senior Independent Director of the Financial Conduct Authority. He is President of the Financial Inclusion Commission and was Chair of the Treasury's Financial Inclusion Taskforce, the Gambling Commission, Centrepoint and Homeless Link. He was a trustee of Money Advice Trust and a member of the Disability Rights Taskforce. He was previously the Senior Partner of Deloitte Consulting.
Baroness Julia Neuberger. Baroness Neuberger is moving into an ambassador role having been the Chair of Trustees at Independent Age from 2019 - 2024. She is a cross-bench Peer and is Chair of University College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust.
The role of Chair of Trustees at the charity will now be taken on by Richard Anderson, who has been an Independent Age Trustee since 2020. With over three decades of advisory experience, he is well positioned to lead the charity into its next stage of development.
The three new trustees who will be joining the board under Richard's leadership are:
Heléna Herklots CBE. Heléna has a wealth of experience and expertise on ageing, older people and carers. From 2018 to 2024 she was the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, an independent, statutory role with the remit to protect and promote the rights of older people in Wales. Experience before this includes Chief Executive of Carers UK, and Services Director at Age UK.
Julia Shelley. Julia has worked throughout her career in the voluntary and community sector in both paid and non-executive roles, including roles in housing, older people’s, LGBT and learning disability services, second tier and grant making organisations, consultancy and training.
Josh Greenspan. Josh Greenspan is a London-based Director at Advent International, a global private equity firm, where he focuses on investments in the Industrials sector.
Independent Age is a national charity that improves the lives of older people in financial hardship. It runs a national helpline where its advisers ensure people receive all the money they are entitled to, provides grants to organisations working with older people on a low income, and campaigns on the issues that are important to people in later life in poverty.
Joanne Elson CBE, Chief Executive of Independent Age, said: “I am thrilled to welcome our new ambassadors and trustees to Independent Age who, together, bring such an impressive and broad range of skills and expertise.
“Our trustees' experience and dedication ensure our charity is well-placed to make significant strides towards achieving our goals. And now with the introduction of our ambassador programme to extend our reach even further, we are looking forward to getting closer to our ambitious aim of improving the lives of 1 million older people in financial hardship by 2027.”
For more information on Independent Age’s trustees and ambassadors, see:
https://www.independentage.org/ambassadors
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