The Challenge

To source a Chair to lead the Board and support the CEO in setting and delivering Designability’s strategic objectives. We sought a Chair who could champion Designability’s vision, mission and values, and with the support of the Executive team and other Trustees would ensure the charity’s goals are met. 

The Chair needed to have operated at a senior level ideally as an Executive, Non-Exec or Chair, possessing an empathy and understanding of the challenges faced by disabled people, ideally by having lived experience either personally, or as a family member or carer.

Our Approach

We took a blended approach of advertising to showcase the charity and the role nationally, as well as talking to several key disability support groups about the role, with a targeted search of previous Chairs and Trustees.  At the heart of all our search campaigns is the need for us to source and build a diverse and well-balanced board.  Sandy used her wide connections within the UK, from business to community groups and other charity organisations, to promote the search effectively.

Moon Executive Search obtained Expressions of Interest and CVs from prospective candidates and individuals with the required experience and interests. Sandy carried out extensive research with existing Chairs and Trustees who could demonstrate success breaking into new markets to give the charity a bigger profile into the commercial or possible retail sectors. We conducted detailed candidate interviews that carefully considered the brief requirements. Due to Covid – 19 restrictions, the interviews and conversations with the client were all carried out virtually.

The Solution

Sandy presented a diverse range of candidates to the board with detailed notes about their experiences and skill sets. After 2 interviews and a presentation, we were delighted that Jerry Marwood was appointed to the Chair position.

Jerry has an impressive background in retail, wholesale and hospitality, he is Group Managing Director (Commercial) of AF Blakemore, one of the top 50 privately held businesses in the U.K and Non-Executive Director with both eXPD8 and Eat17, we all felt that would prove invaluable to Designability as the charity draws on his years of experience to help it continue to grow.

Sandy Hinks, Head of Charity Practice, commented:

“I enjoyed working with Designability, as I was able to showcase the work they do, which is providing an invaluable service to disabled people to become independent and give them greater freedom, I felt privilege to support Designability with this important role and Jerry has the insight and experience to grow and develop their brand over the next few years”.

Catherine Brown, Chief Exec of Designability, said:

“We are very happy that Sandy and the team at Moon Executive Search could unearth the candidates they did. We chose Moon because of their reputation and experience particularly in attracting great chairs, and were very pleased with the results. We would recommend Moon Executive Search to any organisation going through leadership change”.

Jerry Marwood, Incoming-Chair, said:

“I am excited to be taking up this role with such an important, forward-thinking and progressive charity. Designability already has a profound and lasting impact on disabled children throughout the UK through the free Wizzybug (powered wheelchair) Loan Scheme and there is huge scope for the charity to help many more people in the future through its work on electric vehicle charging accessibility, its project to create a pushchair for wheelchair users and more.

In turn I am looking forward to learning about how we can, as a charity and as society, improve accessibility and promote equity for disabled people. We have made great improvements as a country but there is much more that needs to be done. We should be setting an example to the rest of the world of what inclusivity and fairness looks like, and Designability is perfectly placed to help us achieve this.

The professional way that selection process was managed by Moon Executive Search gave me a huge amount of confidence about the role and Designability as an organisation”.