Our Board of Trustees are responsible for ensuring that the Union acts in keeping with our charitable aims and objectives, its constitution and the law. It also holds responsibility for key compliance matters with the Charity Commission including ultimately publishing the Union's accounts and Annual Report. Board plays a vital role in setting the direction of the Union and has really driven forward standards over the last few years.
There has been a series of changes within the personnel on our Board of Trustees over the last few months with the majority of these being ratified at Council on Tuesday night and formally adopted by Board since then. At full complement, our Board comprises of five Officer Trustees, five Student trustees (two elected, one elected as Council Chair and two appointed) and five External Trustees.
Neil Sachdev stepped down as Chair of the Board in November 2017 and kindly agreed to stay on to Chair our Finance & Risk Committee until we recruited a new External Trustee. We have now secured a new trustee for this role and Neil will be leaving the Board on 31st March. Neil has made a very significant contribution throughout his tenure across multiple areas: he has acted as a mentor, a critical friend as well as bringing considerable insight, constructive challenge and expertise at every level. We thank him for all that he has brought to the Union and we shall miss his contribution.
Jill Finney was serving as an External Trustee and was appointed as the new Chair of Board in November 2017.
Kate Owen has been serving as an External Trustee and Chair of the Appointments & Remuneration Committee and has been reappointed for a further 3 years. We are delighted to keep Kate’s skills and wisdom in the Union.
Lingru Zheng, our appointed Student Trustee has her one-year term coming to an end. We are very grateful to Lynn for the insight she has brought to the Union and we welcome her continued contribution.
Graham Parker has been appointed as a new External Trustee and we are delighted to have him on our Board. Graham is highly experienced both across the public and private sector, bringing strong commercial skills as well as considerable higher education experience from Aston and Warwick University. Graham will Chair the Finance & Risk Committee going forward.
This series of appointments returns the External Trustees to full complement and means that we have two vacancies for appointed Student Trustees. A timetable and details on application for these vacancies will be issued after the Easter break.
