NCVO PRESS RELEASE
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE to become President of Leadership 20:20 Commission
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has been announced as President of the Leadership 20:20 Commission. She will help to support emerging civil society leaders through being an ambassador for the Commission on the future leadership of Civil Society.
As President of the Commission, Baroness Grey-Thompson, who is widely acknowledged as Britain’s greatest Paralympic athlete, will be helping to champion the Commission’s work and recommendations for developing emerging leaders in civil society. She will also be launching the Commission’s recommendations on future leadership in December.
The Leadership 20:20 Commission was set up by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) in 2010 with the aim of exploring how the community and voluntary sector can:
- identify pathways into civil society leadership,
- attract and retain the most influential leaders,
- connect and grow emerging leaders, and
- address the challenges future leaders will face.
It launched an online consultation in January 2011 to build up a full picture of the views of emerging and established leaders in the sector, and has been conducting focus groups and interviews with key groups.
Baroness Grey-Thompson said: ‘I am truly excited to be joining the Leadership 20:20 Commission at this important time. I am passionate about opening up leadership, and supporting emerging leaders from all backgrounds to achieve their potential and deliver the changes we need to see in society. We are at a moment when civil society organisations are being called upon to do so much, and to support so many, and I believe the importance of leadership for these groups cannot be overlooked. I greatly look forward to the opportunity to help shape how we support, develop and empower emerging leaders across civil society.’
Richard Doughty, Chair of the Leadership 20:20 Commission, said: ‘We are genuinely thrilled to have the support of such a highly respected and passionate individual. Baroness Grey-Thompson is joining the Commission at a crucial moment where we have begun to consider our recommendations, having conducted our open consultation since January. With Baroness Grey-Thompson’s support for the Commission we have an opportunity to raise the profile of emerging leadership in the sector and create a step change on how we support our future leaders.’
Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO, said: ‘We are delighted that Baroness Grey-Thompson has agreed to act as an ambassador for the Commission. She is a truly inspirational figure and will bring a wealth of experience and authority to promoting the cause of leadership development in civil society.’
In May of this year the Commission announced initial findings from its consultation. They will be testing their recommendations in the coming months, and announcing them in December.
Dame Tanni Grey Thompson launches the Quick Reads series in Cardiff on March 1st, World Book Day.
The clouds had a silver lining for Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson as she crossed the line in her last competitive race - the 200m at the 2007 VISA Paralympic World Cup.
The 11 times Paralympic Gold medallist took the silver medal on a rain soaked track at the Manchester Regional Arena at 4.30pm on Sunday 13 May. Determined and focused to the last, Tanni crossed the line just 0.21 seconds behind American, Jessica Gali.
For most of her final day she held herself together, concentrating only on her race but during her lap of honour, as many had predicted, she broke down. She said "The crowd support was great but afterwards when I saw my sister and Ian, my husband, all the emotion came flooding out."
Lord Coe, winner of two gold medals and breaker of twelve world records, led the tributes and said, "She has dominated her sport for twenty years, she has been an inspiration and transcended disability sport".
