Social Enterprise Mark CIC strengthens its Board of Directors
We are delighted to announce we have appointed three new Non-Executive Directors to our Board, as we look to move into a new phase of growth.
With over ten years’ experience of providing clear and credible standards for the social enterprise sector, we are now looking to take the business to the next stage, by expanding our international licensing operations and increasing our portfolio of standards, which support social enterprises to become better businesses.
During the first UK lockdown back in April 2020, we identified online board recruitment platform NuRole, who were keen to help make a difference at such a difficult time for the sector. They worked hard to find high calibre candidates, with impressive results. The recruitment process led to the appointment of three new Directors, all bringing a wealth of valuable experience.
Matthew Doyle has a successful track record in the management of transformational change programmes for regulated and complex environments, and was the Managing Director of Pension Quality Mark from 2016 to 2018, during which time he was responsible for re-writing the standards that UK DC Pension schemes are assessed against, and re-designing the accreditation process. He is also an Adjunct Professor for Global Strategy, Risk Management and Leadership at the Cox School of Business at the Southern Methodist University in the US.
On his appointment, Matthew said: “I am excited to join the SEMCIC Board at this pivotal stage in their growth journey. I hope to bring my experience from both corporate and regulatory environments to support the company to start influencing the corporate Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) agendas, to encourage more businesses to incorporate social enterprises into their supply chains.”
Nita P.Woods is a senior strategist, specialising in purpose-led strategy, corporate sustainability and small business entrepreneurship. She has worked with well-known brands, such as Barclays, Danone, Tetra Pak, and Unilever, to provide C-suite and Board level advisory services and develop corporate sustainability strategy with social purpose campaigns or ESG (environment, social and governance) reporting. She also advises the Advertising Standards Authority and the London Mayor; sitting on both the London Recovery Board and London Economic Action Partnership.
On her appointment, Nita said: “I am passionate about facilitating the growth of many more sustainable businesses and social enterprises, which can provide strategic solutions for the world’s environmental and social problems. I am looking forward to bringing my extensive experience in purpose-led strategy and business sustainability to supporting the SEMCIC team to take the business to the next phase in their growth plan.”
Russell Longmuir is an accomplished CEO and board advisor with a long career of leading teams and driving strategic and cultural change. He is currently the CEO of EFQM, a well established accreditation framework that helps companies improve their performance and ability to manage change and transformation. Russell began his career in the banking sector in London and New York before moving into Management Consultancy. He spent 20 years working as a Partner at PwC/IBM and KPMG before moving to EFQM in 2018. He has also held a number of Non-Executive positions in the UK, US and Australia.
On his appointment, Russell said: “I welcome the opportunity to share my experience of organisational transformation projects to support SEMCIC to achieve their ambitious growth plans. In particular, I hope that my experience in developing an international accreditation framework, which can be applied around the world via an assessment and training franchise model, will prove useful in helping SEMCIC to strategically expand their own operations on a global level.”
On welcoming the new Board members, Professor Linda Drew, Chair of the Social Enterprise Mark CIC Board said: “I’m delighted to announce we have strengthened our Board, with the appointment of three new Non-Executive Directors, each of whom share our values and bring a wealth of experience to help us drive the company forward as we embark on an ambitious growth trajectory. I’m really looking forward to working with the Board (and staff team) to create the next chapter in the SEMCIC story together.”
We also welcome a new employee representative to the Board – Rachel Fell is taking over from Richard Cobbett, who has completed his year’s tenure in the role.
We would like to extend our thanks to Ian Bretman, who has stepped down from the Board after seven years, although will continue to be involved as a Social Enterprise Mark Ambassador.
