Woosh Raza and Saskia Konynenburg have been appointed to two new director roles
NCVO has today announced appointments to its leadership team who will work alongside its chair, Priya Singh, and the board of trustees to deliver NCVO’s strategy.
Following a recruitment process over the summer, Woosh Raza and Saskia Konynenburg have been appointed to two new director roles. Saskia and Woosh’s appointments complete the recruitment to the six-strong leadership team led by chief executive, Sarah Vibert.
Woosh Raza has been appointed to the new role of director of people, culture and inclusion. Woosh will join NCVO from Phoenix Futures, a leading provider of psychosocial treatment for people with drug or alcohol problems, where he is currently head of people and culture.
He has also held senior HR roles in a number of complex organisations and sectors including adult social care (Certitude), housing (Home Group) and specialist medical care (Priory and Royal Hospital for Neurodisability).
He is currently co-chair of the Central London committee of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and for the last year has additionally been working as a freelance equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDI&B) consultant. Woosh will start with NCVO in early 2023.
Saskia Konynenburg has been appointed as director of strategic communications and insight. Saskia was most recently head of external communications and consultation at Bristol City Council.
She previously worked at the National Trust on award-winning member recruitment and fundraising campaigns, and at Shaw Trust where she developed a new brand offer as the charity diversified into new sectors. Saskia joined NCVO this week and will be based remotely in Bristol.
Woosh and Saskia were appointed following an extensive recruitment process. For each role, candidates were interviewed by a panel of four which included an NCVO trustee and a senior leader from an NCVO partner organisation.
For the first time for senior roles at NCVO, candidates were provided with interview questions in advance.
The final candidates for each role were also interviewed by a panel of staff from all levels across NCVO. For the director of people culture and inclusion role, NCVO additionally worked with search and selection firm Cadence Partners.
Upon being appointed chief executive in March 2022, Sarah Vibert restructured the NCVO leadership team to flatten the structure and reduce the size of the top team from nine to six.
Through a restructuring process earlier this year, Sarah made a number of internal appointments to the leadership team.
Laura Crandley was appointed chief operating officer, Alex Farrow was appointed director of influencing and engagement, and Andrew Walkey was appointed director of services and partnerships.