Expert Citizens (EC) is Community Interest Company in Stoke on Trent focused on improving support — as well as the wider debate — around multiple disadvantage (the combination of life challenges such as mental ill health, substance use, criminal justice involvement, homelessness etc).

We are seeking a new chair! Given Covid19 and technology we feel this person could be based anywhere in the UK.

Here’s what’s great about the organisation:

1. Everything it does is powered by lived experience. The executive team brings a wealth of personal and professional experience and passion, and we have excellent links with organisations in the field such as Expert Link, MEAM and The Lankelly Chase Foundation.
2. As a Community Interest Company (CIC) we are proud to have an outward-facing and entrepreneurial mindset. We have a combined board made up of the Chief Executive and Ops Director alongside the Non Executive Directors (which are more like charity trustees).
3. Consequently, we deliver a range of projects and workstreams to bring about the change we want to see — whether it’s partnering academic bodies to carry out research, delivering the peer support element of our local Housing First programme, organising our major annual Insight awards.
4. It straddles the local and the national. Being established in Stoke-on-Trent by a group of citizens with lived experience of multiple disadvantage and then nurtured as part of the Big Lottery’s Fulfilling Lives Programme, Expert Citizen enjoys the best of both worlds; still firmly rooted in Stoke but also part of the national dialogue.
5. It is an exciting point in its development: EC is currently working with the Red Pencils agency to begin to review and strengthen our governance and strategy. This work is ongoing and will start to build a platform the new Chair can then use to continue the mission.

As you can see the organisation has a lot going for it, and an effective and well-connected Chief Executive in Darren Murinas. I have learned a massive amount in my time, from street-level insight into how services do — and don’t — work to support the people the organisation serves to some of the finer-grain detail of CIC governance.

As chair you would:

• Lead our governance — ensuring the strengths and skills of the Board are harnessed to continue steering Expert Citizens on a bright and sustainable path.
• Strengthen & develop our team — working closely with and providing strategic support to the CEO, to together lead the organisation.
• Be an ambassador for lived experience — flying the flag for those experiencing multiple disadvantage in general and our brilliant organisation in particular.

Details:

• Time commitment: approximately two days per month.
• Remuneration: this is a voluntary position; travel expenses will be reimbursed.
• Start date: the appointed Chair will attend our (online) January Board meeting alongside the outgoing Chair; handover details can be arranged.

I am very happy to have an informal chat with anyone interested in the role. Please email me at oliver@collectivevoice.org.uk — and follow EC on twitter for a taster.

Download the Chair Recruitment Pack (pdf).