Leading child protection charity NSPCC has appointed Hampstead resident Tom Toumazis MBE as a trustee.

The Chairman and Founder of the Childline Board, which has raised over £13 million since it was founded in 2005, has a portfolio of directorships focused in technology, media and the arts, and is a founder investor and chair of three start-ups.

Greek Cypriot Mr Toumazis said: “It is a huge honour to have been appointed onto the NSPCC’s Board of Trustees.

“The charity means so much to me and my family. I have had the privilege of working with the NSPCC supporting the Childline service since 2003 and I never thought saying yes then would lead me where I am today.

“I look forward to working with the NSPCC team and the devoted volunteers who work every day to help deliver the charity’s overall objective that “every childhood is worth fighting for’.”

His appointment was ratified at the charity’s Annual Council Meeting on 4 October, along with the appointment of four new Trustees: Pippa Gough, Andrew Kerr, Derrick Mortimer, and Sarah Ridgway.

Neil Berkett was also appointed as the charity’s Chair-Elect. He will chair the NSPCC’s 15-strong Board of Trustees which oversees the charity’s strategic direction when he takes up the role in October 2019 when the term of the current chair Mark Wood CBE comes to an end.

Mr Berkett, who is currently Chair of Guardian Media Group and was previously CEO of Virgin Media Group, was an NSPCC Trustee from 2010 to 2017, chairing its Fundraising Committee and acting as lead Trustee on child safety online. He has been Chair of Guardian Media Group since 2014, was CEO of Virgin Media Group from 2007-2013, and has a long career spanning the digital, financial and commercial sectors.

The NSPCC is two years into a five-year strategy which has five goals to make five million children safer, including preventing child abuse, making children safe from online abuse, and helping children who have been abused get back on track. Since 2016 this strategy has enabled the charity to help 3.7 million children.

Pippa Gough has over 40 years’ experience in the healthcare sector, has served six years as Trustee with the Alzheimer’s Society including two as vice-chair, and is also an award-winning fiction writer. Andrew Kerr has spent his career in local government and is currently Chief Executive of Edinburgh City Council, having previously served as Chief Executive of Cornwall Council, Wiltshire Council and North Tyneside Council.

Derrick Mortimer has a healthcare background in the planning, commissioning and delivery of NHS services and he has been a volunteer with the NSPCC’s Schools Service since 2013. Sarah Ridgway has 20 years senior level experience in the education sector and has been a volunteer counsellor for the NSPCC’s Childline service for six years.

 

 

Leave a Reply