Morgan Vine (she/her) has been appointed as Director of Policy and Influencing at national older people’s financial hardship charity Independent Age.
Morgan is currently Head of Policy and Influencing at the charity, where she has worked since 2019. Morgan will move into the new role at the end of September, bringing a wealth of experience from her time at Independent Age, previous charity sector roles including Age UK, Parkinson’s UK and Versus Arthritis, and trustee roles with Age UK Bromley and Greenwich and the Centre for Mental Health.
The Director role and remit is a change for Independent Age following the decision of John Palmer to step down from his current role as Director of Influencing and Engagement at the charity. In order to continue to drive forward with its ambitious strategy to improve the lives of 1 million older people in financial hardship by 2027 and build on its commitment to tackle the systems letting older people down, Independent Age has taken the decision to split the existing role into two director posts.
Morgan’s remit will include policy, research, campaigns, public affairs and media communications across the nations. A Director of Engagement will be advertised soon and will cover marketing, brand, public fundraising and partnerships and philanthropy. John Palmer is expected to stay with the charity until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.
Joanna Elson CBE, Chief Executive at Independent Age, said:
“I am delighted to announce Morgan Vine as Director of Policy and Influencing at Independent Age. Morgan brings an impressive track record of driving impactful policy change at all levels throughout her varied career in the charity sector, and importantly, a real passion for improving the lives of older people in poverty.
“Under Morgan’s existing and exemplary leadership at Independent Age, we have already made great progress against our ambitious strategy. I am confident that together we will continue to build on this, to ensure no one faces financial hardship in later life.
“I would also like to thank John Palmer for all of his work over the last coming up to five years, including working with our trustees to oversee our refocus in 2022 to ensure we were focusing on the people who need us most. He will leave us in a strong position to tackle poverty in later life and we wish him well for the future.”
Morgan Vine said:
“It's always been important to me that everyone has a later life they can enjoy and I know one thing that can stop that from being a reality is living in poverty.
“Working at Independent Age over the last five years has allowed me to play a part in tackling financial hardship in later life, but there is still so much to do to make sure older people in poverty are part of the broader conversations, and most importantly that the solutions put in place work for them.
“That’s why I'm really pleased to have been given the opportunity to take on the newly created role of Director of Policy and Influencing at the organisation, and to work with older people in poverty, colleagues and friends across the sector to keep fighting for the changes we all need to see.”