We are delighted to announce that Lord Gus O'Donnell will be joining the PBE Board of Trustees as Chair mid-2016. With Julia Grant, currently of Impetus-PEF, joining the Executive team in April 2016, Gus will help guide PBE through the next stage of its development.

Gus spoke at the launch of PBE at the Treasury in 2009 and has continued to support the organisation as a patron. Gus was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service between 2005 and 2011, serving three Prime Ministers. Before this, he held several positions at the Treasury, British Embassy in Washington, International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Since 2012 he has been Chairman of Frontier Economics, a microeconomics consultancy firm that has seen a number of its economists support PBE on projects for charities.

Lord Gus O'Donnell said:

“I am delighted to be taking over as Chair of PBE. I want economics and economists to be a force for good. PBE is a great example of skills based volunteering, which is the way forward in a world of tight budgets and growing awareness of the impact of volunteering on society and on the volunteers themselves.”

Gus will be taking over from former Chair and co-founder of Pro Bono Economics, Martin Brookes. Martin has been the CEO at charity Tomorrow’s People since Spring 2015 and will remain a trustee at PBE.

Martin Brookes said:

"I am really pleased Gus is going to be Chair of PBE. He has been a key part of its development from the very beginning. Gus was an active supporter of PBE when it first started, including speaking at the launch event at HM Treasury, promoting the idea across the economics profession, and, significantly, volunteering himself on a project helping the youth homelessness charity St Basil's. It goes without saying that Gus brings enormous skills and expertise to the role. I am sure he will be a terrific Chair and help PBE to achieve even greater things."

Andy Haldane, co-founder and interim Chair, said:

“It is fabulous to have someone of Gus’s stature, experience and passion, about both economics and volunteering, become Chair of Pro Bono Economics. The charity is entering a second, exciting, phase of its evolution and I can think of no-one better than Gus to help make this a success.”

Gus will take up the post in mid-2016 with Andy Haldane, Chief Economist at the Bank of England and co-founder of PBE, acting as interim Chair.

3rd February 2016