Council elections 2008 Voting in the latest Which? council elections

Here is how you voted in the Which? Council elections

Your Which?

Here is the make up of Which? Council, Limited Board and Corporate Management Group, following recent elections.

Consumers’ Association (CA) is a charity and company limited by guarantee, trading under the day-to-day name of Which?. It is governed by a non-executive Council of Management, consisting of 12 elected members and up to six co-opted members. Members of council are the directors of the company and trustees of the charity.

The council is the controlling body of Which?, and, with the Corporate Management Group (CMG), sets the overall strategic direction for the organisation, assuring the achievement of its charitable mission and supervising the development of its policies.It appoints a Chief Executive, who, together with the CMG, runs the business of Which? on its behalf.

There were four people to be nominated at this year's election. Please see the results, below.

A wholly-owned subsidiary company, Which? Limited, is responsible for commercial activity, including the marketing and publishing of the magazines and other products. The Board of Which? Limited is appointed by the council.

Election results

Jon Ardron, 15,182

Ian Armstrong, 9,032

John Bevan, 4,419

Daniel Bogler, 20,552 Elected

Neville Duncan, 15,310 Elected

Margaret Lynda Ginman, 20,179 Elected

Stuart Randolph Lyons, 9,741

Alison Thorne, 20,018 Elected

Christopher Zealley, 10,310

How your votes were cast

Council members

Chairman
Robert Pickard 

Deputy chairmen
Anthony Burton

Richard Thomas

Other members

Patrick Barwise, Daniel Bogler, Niall Dickson, Neville Duncan, Margaret Ginman, Tanya Heasman, Sue Leggate, Natalie Macdonald, Gabs Makhlouf, Roger Pittock, Paul Preston, Alison Thorne, Gary Waller, Brian Yates, John Zealley 

Robert Pickard

Chairman

Robert became Chairman of the Council in January 2007. He joined as a co-opted member in 2004 and became an elected member in January 2007. Until recently, Robert was Director General of the British Nutrition Foundation. He was formerly Chairman of the UK Government’s Foresight Task Force, Food’s Contribution to Health in the Future (2000) and he served on the Welsh Ministerial Task Group, Food and Fitness for Children and Young People (2004), and the Expert Panel for School Meal Guidelines at the Caroline Walker Trust (2004).

He is currently serving on a variety of advisory committees for the UK Government.
Robert has been a member of the Which? Ltd. Board since May 2006 and also chairs the Terms of Service Committee.

Patrick ‘Paddy’ Barwise

Patrick was co-opted to the Council in January 2006, having previously served on it from 1995 to 2001, including three years as Deputy Chairman. He is emeritus professor of management and marketing at London Business School, which he joined in 1976 after an early career in IBM.

He has held a range of management roles at the School and published and consulted on a wide range of topics in management, marketing and the media. Patrick is a Council member of the Investment Committee.

Daniel Bogler 

Daniel was elected to the Council in 2009, having been a Which? Ltd. Board member since 2007. He is Managing Editor of the Financial Times and, prior to this, held several other positions on the newspaper.

He has also worked for Goldman Sachs, as Vice President and speechwriter for the then President and co-chief operating officer in New York.

Anthony Burton OBE
Deputy Chairman

Anthony joined the Council in 1984 and became its first Deputy Chairman in Jan 2007. He is currently Director of IDOX Information Services – responsible for information and research services on all aspects of urban and rural regeneration, housing and local government services.

Niall Dickson

Niall was co-opted to the Council in January 2006. He is Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, an independent think tank and development organisation working for better health care.

Prior to this, he worked as journalist. He was Editor of Nursing Times and then for sixteen years a broadcaster at the BBC concentrating on the Today programme and the Ten O'Clock News, ending up as the corporation's Social Affairs Editor.

He is a Trustee of the Leeds Castle Foundation and a member of the Cabinet Office Honours Committee for health. Niall sits on the Council’s Terms of Service Committee.

Neville Duncan

Neville joined the Council in 1982. He is a recently retired IT Operations Manager and is the auditor of various local organisations.

He has wide management experience, including customer service, human resources and industrial relations.

He was a member of the Which? Limited Board from 1993-1999 and is Chairman of the CA/Which? Joint Audit Committee, as well as a Which? Pension Scheme trustee.

Margaret Ginman

Margaret first joined the Council in 2000 as a co-opted member and is now an elected member.
She is a journalist by profession but for the past 12 years has owned and run two small lighting companies, manufacturing light fittings for commercial and industrial customers.
She served for more than 10 years as a customer representative in the water industry and has chaired several committees for Watervoice at a regional level, and served on their Understanding Customers Group nationally. She is currently a member of the Consumer Council for Water’s Southern Committee.
Margaret was a member of the Which? Ltd. Board from 2002 to 2006 and now sits on the Joint Audit Committee.

Tanya Heasman

Tanya joined the Council in 1997 and became its second Deputy Chairman in 2003. She currently works as the Joint Managing Director of an independent company, (System Concepts), which provides ergonomics, usability, health and safety, disability consultancy and training services to a wide range of public and private sector organisations.

She was a member of the CA Membership Working Party 1999-2001 and the CA Research and Testing Centre Review Committee 2000-2002. She was also a lay representative on the Food Standards Agency Research Advisory Committee between 2002-2008. Tanya sits on the Terms of Service Committee and is also a member of the Which? Ltd.Board.

Sue Leggate

Sue joined the Council in 2001, having worked at Which? in various editorial and research posts from 1969 to 1995. She has various paid activities as a non-executive director/lay member in regulatory fields. She was appointed in 2004 to the Council for Health Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) and in 2005 to the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). In 2000 she joined the General Medical Council’s Medical School Visiting Teams.

Dr. Natalie Macdonald

Natalie served on the Council from February 2003 to January 2007 and was re-elected to Council in January 2008.
Natalie has worked as a hospital physician and is currently Managing Director of BUPA UK Membership – BUPA’s UK businesses, including health insurance, health protection and wellness. She has worked for BUPA for more than 10 years, and was previously Head of Medical Ethics at the British Medical Association.

Natalie is a member of the Which? Ltd. Board and the Terms of Service Committee.

Gabriel ('Gabs') Makhlouf 

Gabriel joined the Council as a co-opted member in September 2007. He is Director of the Government Banking Service (providing banking services to government departments and other public sector bodies) at HM Revenue & Customs. He has been Principal Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chair of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, leading senior officials from the 30 member countries on tax issues around globalisation, e-commerce and exchange of information.

Roger Pittock

Roger joined the Council in 2004 and was re-elected in 2007, when he also became a Which? Pension Scheme trustee. In 2008, he joined the Investment Committee.

Roger is a multi-disciplined engineer, presently employed as a Business Development/Engineering Manager in a large global company whose headquarters are in Essex. He also has responsibility for innovation in all UK sites of the company, as well as CSR projects globally. He is a member of the Pensions’ Consultative Committee of the GEC Stanhope Pension Trust scheme, representing deferred members.

Paul Preston

Paul was co-opted to the Council in February 2009. He has been Senior Vice President (SVP) (HR Strategy) at Unilever since 2007, developing the company’s Human Capital Strategy 2010-2015.

Prior to this, Paul held various other posts within Unilever, including SVP for Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey, and Chairman in Portugal. He was also key in the establishment and building of the company’s business in China.

Richard Thomas
Deputy Chairman

Richard was co-opted to the Council in February 2008. He is currently Information Commissioner (since November 2002), responsible for enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 and related legislation. Prior to this, he held a variety of posts, including Director of Consumer Affairs at the Office of Fair Trading (1986-1992).

Alison Thorne
Alison was elected to the Council in 2009.  She is an Associate Member of the General Medical Council (Fitness to Practise), adjudicating on doctors whose fitness to practise has been called into question. She has a background in healthcare, with experience in both the UK and overseas. Much of her career has involved representing consumers in a variety of roles.

Gary Waller

Elected to the Council in 1995, Gary is a business analyst focusing on early stage companies. A Vice-President of the Trading Standards Institute since 1988, he was MP for Brighouse and Spenborough (1979-83) and Keighley (1983-97), and chaired the House of Commons Select Committee responsible for overseeing its information services. He is a trustee of RICA (testing products for disabled people).

Gary has served as a director of the Which? Ltd. Board 2002-04 and since 2006. He is also a member of the Joint Audit Committee and of the Investment Committee.

Brian Yates

Brian has served on the Council from 1986-1989 and again from 1990 to present. He was Chairman from 1994 to 2007.
Until 2004, Brian was a manager at Morris Material Handling in Leicestershire, where he was involved in marketing the company’s products worldwide and developing new businesses. Brian is a member of the Central Hertfordshire Consumer Group and the General Medical Council’s Fitness to Practise Panels. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Insolvency Licensing Committee and a Director of TrustMark.
Brian is Chairman of the Investment Committee.

John Zealley

John was co-opted to the Council in 2006.
Professionally, he is a Managing Partner with Accenture, a UK and international consulting, technology and outsourcing firm. He specialises in the food, drink, health, retail and travel sectors.
On a volunteer basis, John also works with Cancer Research UK, the UK’s leading cancer research charity. In addition, he is a trustee of the Institute for Citizenship, a body that focuses on enabling children and young people to actively participate in society.

Which? Limited Board members

Chairman

Mike Clasper 

Other members
Daniel Bogler, Neil Cameron, Chris Gardner, Tanya Heasman, Natalie Macdonald, Robert Pickard, Jonathan Thompson, Peter Vicary-Smith, Gary Waller, Martin Webster 

Mike Clasper Chairman

Mike joined the Board in July 2008. He also became Chairman of HM Revenue and Customs in 2008 and has been non-executive director at ITV since 2006. Mike’s most recent executive role was as Operating Managing Director at Terra Firma Capital Partners Limited. Prior to this, he was the Chief Executive of the airport owner, BAA, and also spent 23 years at Procter and Gamble, culminating in his role as President of Global Homecare and New Business Development

Daniel Bogler 

For details, see Council members.

Neil Cameron 

Neil joined the Board in September 2007. He is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Unilever PLC and Unilever NV, with 30 years’ experience in the IT industry. He joined Unilever in July 2003 from Diageo plc, where he was also CIO. Neil has also worked at Marks and Spencer – and in his last four years with the company, was CIO for their North American business. He also serves on the advisory boards of Hewlett Packard and the Leading Edge Forum.

Chris Gardner 

Chris has been the Commercial Director at Which? since June 2007. Prior to this, he was Marketing Director for more than two years. Early in his career, Chris worked as a trader on the floor of the Stock Exchange, and as a strategy consultant. Before joining Which?, Chris was an independent marketing consultant for a couple of years, Marketing Director at Cancer Research UK, Deputy Director of Fundraising and Communications at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and worked in a number of marketing roles at Oxfam.

Tanya Heasman

For details, see Council members.

Dr Natalie Macdonald 

For details, see Council members.

Robert Pickard 

For details, see Council members..

Jonathan Thompson 

Jonathan joined the Board in July 2006. He is Director of Strategy at the communications regulator, Ofcom. Prior to this, he was Director of Strategy & Research for Channel 4 Television, responsible for the development of corporate strategy across the entire organisation and for all audience research across programming, marketing and advertising sales.

Peter Vicary-Smith 

Peter has been Chief Executive of Which? since May 2004. Before joining Which?, he worked in both the commercial and charitable sectors. He has worked at Procter and Gamble and Mars, and was a management consultant at McKinsey for three years. In 1991 Peter became Head of Appeals at Oxfam, where he was responsible for all of the central fundraising. Five years later he joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) as the Director of Fundraising and Communications. Peter also played a major role in ICRF’s merger with the Cancer Research Campaign – the largest ever merger in the voluntary sector. In 2002, Peter became the Commercial Director at Cancer Research UK.

Gary Waller 

For details, see under Council members.

Martin Webster

Martin joined Which? in 2001 and has been Finance and Operations Director since February 2006. He is responsible for Finance, Facilities Management, IT, In-House Legal, Talent and Which? Legal Service, and also has responsibility for specific new business ventures. Before Which?, Martin spent 10 years with IMP, an international direct marketing/publishing company. He held a wide variety of positions there, the last taking him to Sydney to head up the Australian operation. Prior to IMP, he was the commercial director of a Reed International subsidiary.

Corporate management group

Peter Vicary-Smith 

For details, see Which? Limited Board members.

Chris Gardner 

For details, see Which? Limited Board members..

Helen McCallum

Helen joined Which? in November 2007 as Director of Policy and took on a new role as Director of Policy and Communications three months later. This includes driving forward Which’s campaign work both in the UK and internationally; strengthening our policy development to ensure that we identify the right solutions for consumers, today and in the future and; leading our communications activity. Immediately prior to Which?, Helen spent six years as Director of Corporate Affairs at the Environment Agency, reshaping their culture and public profile. She has also worked for the NHS and the Department of Health, where she was involved in the early development of NHS Direct.

Helen Parker 

Helen was appointed as Which?'s Editorial Director in 2003, taking overall responsibility for Which?’s full range of magazines, books and websites. Before this, she was Editor of Which? magazine for nine years and originally joined Which? in 1992 as an Assistant Editor on the magazine. Before this, Helen worked at the British Medical Association, where she was Assistant Editor of BMA News Review, a monthly magazine of health and medical politics.

Martin Webster

For details, see under Which? Limited Board members.

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