Sir David Norgrove has been appointed as the new Chair of the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, with Alistair Darling stepping down from this role after seven years. The appointment follows an open recruitment process undertaken by the search agency, Green Park.
Sir David has held a number of chairing roles, including: the Pensions Regulator from its inception in 2005 to 2010; the Low Pay Commission from 2009 to 2016; the UK Statistics Authority from 2017 to 2022; and the Family Justice Board from 2011 to 2017.
Sir David’s early career saw him work in a number of roles in the civil service, including as an economist at the Treasury. This was followed by a corporate career with Marks & Spencer in several senior executive positions.
Alistair Darling has grown the Trust from inception in 2016 to the established grant-making organisation it has become today. Driven by his vision that the Trust should do more than just make grants, and passion for improving living standards, Alistair ensured the organisation consistently funded policy and research work with the potential to create real improvements to the lives of people on low-to-middle incomes.
Alistair will remain involved with the Trust’s work in his role as Chair of the Pensions Review, a major partnership between the Trust and the Institute for Fiscal Studies which will assess the future of living standards in retirement and recommend reforms to improve the outlook for those most at risk of financial insecurity in retirement.
Mubin Haq, Chief Executive of the Trust, said:
“The trustees and staff are hugely grateful to Alistair for his direction, advice and leadership during his time at the Trust. He has been instrumental in establishing our work and developing a range of research and initiatives that aim to improve financial fairness across the UK. We are very pleased to welcome David and look forward to working with him as we begin the next phase of our work.”
