Former Labour Party chair appointed to WRAP board

Equal Opportunities Commission chair Jenny Watson and waste management and recycling entrepreneur Andy Hinton have also been appointed to the WRAP Board.

The three take up positions as non-executive directors of WRAP – the Waste and Resources Action Programme – the government-funded recycling development body based in Banbury.

They replace two of WRAP's founding non executive directors, Nick Francis and George Fleming, who are to stand down at the organisation's annual general meeting in October, after six years on the board.

The new appointees will take up their posts on September 1, 2007.

Liz Goodwin, WRAP's chief executive officer, said: “I am looking forward to welcoming such a talented trio to WRAP. Maggie, Jenny and Andy are sure to spark new ideas and bring valuable additional input to the organisation, both at a strategic level and with reference to specific projects.

“In addition, their combined expertise gives WRAP access to additional counsel in the fields of communications, business investment and technology,” Dr Goodwin added.

Appointees

Maggie Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, is a trade union official and Labour politician. A former policy director at trade union UNISON, she was elected Chair of the Labour Party from 2000 to 2001, and now sits on the Environment Select Committee of the House of Lords.

She attracted some controversy in 2005 as a parliamentary candidate for the safest Labour seat in Wales, the constituency of Blaenau Gwent, when she was seen as being “parachuted” in via an all-woman shortlist by Tony Blair. She subsequently lost the seat to independent candidate Peter Law, but was given a life peerage in 2006 as one of 23 “working peers” for Labour, recognising her service in the trade unions.

Away from politics, Baroness Jones is a trustee of homeless charity Shelter and a director of the School Food Trust. WRAP said Baroness Jones would bring a “wealth of experience” in the voluntary sector to the organisation.

Jenny Watson chairs the Equal Opportunities Commission and is also a member of the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) Advertising Advisory Committee. She is a director of Global Partners and Associates, a business which she co-founded in 2004. A former deputy chair of the Banking Code Standards Board and of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management,

WRAP said Ms Watson's background in the communications field and her experience working with governments, international institutions, charitable foundations and businesses was of “particular interest” to WRAP as it “seeks to develop more strategic partnerships”.

Commenting on Andy Hinton's appointment, WRAP highlighted his “excellent track record in business in the environmental sector”. Mr Hinton led the management buy-out and subsequent sale of White Rose Environmental, on of the UK's leading clinical waste management companies.

Together with business partner Nick Wyatt, Mr Hinton set up Leeds-based venture capital group Ailsa3 Ventures in 2004. The group acquired automotive and tyre waste management company Credential Environmental in 2005, holds a minority stake in the autoclave technology company Sterecycle, and acquired a stake in the in-vessel composting technology firm VCU Europa in 2006.