Meet our new Chair of Trustees, Beverley Jordan
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We’re delighted to welcome Beverley Jordan to her new role as Chair of Trustees, replacing our outgoing chair Gena Merrett. Beverley has served on our board of trustees as Treasurer for the last six years and brings a wealth of skills and experience into her new role as Chair.
We spoke to Beverley about the importance of advice services at a time when lots of people are struggling, and her plans to help the service continue serving Wigan Borough when it’s most needed.
What’s your background and how did you become a trustee with us?
I’ve been a trustee at Citizens Advice Wigan Borough for six years, having previously worked as an executive at AstraZeneca. I decided to take redundancy in 2016 as the company was relocating but I was committed to the North West. This allowed me to take early retirement and devote my time to voluntary work - I applied to Citizens Advice and became a trustee, taking on the role of honorary Treasurer.
What made you want to take on the role of Chair of Trustees?
The rules of a charity require that significant roles such as the Chair and Treasurer remain independent, which means that any person can only serve for six years in each role. My time as Treasurer was up and with the Chair role becoming vacant, I felt I had some skills that I could contribute to the role.
What are you expecting from the new role?
It will take on a slightly different dimension, as whilst the trustees help devise the strategy for the service, ensuring its well-run and meeting its targets - the chair forms a vital link between the other trustees and the Chief Officer. I’m expecting to be working closely with Lisa, our Chief Officer, going out into the community to interact with our key stakeholders.
What’s the most important aspect of your role?
I think it’s vital to get out and share the great work that Citizens Advice Wigan Borough is doing, because whilst the people we help know this, it’s important that our funders do as well. Our advisers help get so much debt written off, help so many people get the income they’re entitled to and prevent so many evictions, and it’s very important that we share these messages.
How important is Citizens Advice at a time when so many people are struggling?
I don’t think advice has ever been more important. With the perfect storm of Brexit, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, things are really difficult for a lot of people. In my other role as a non-executive director with the NHS, we’re seeing nurses saying they could get better pay working in a supermarket. With government funding being tightened, the demand for advice services is only growing.
What’s been the most rewarding aspect of your time as a trustee so far?
I’ve enjoyed supporting Lisa with making decisions that make a real difference - we’ve been able to use our resources to give a cost of living payment to our staff, improve their wellbeing and how it feels to work for Citizens Advice locally. We’ve been able to secure new funding such as our Help to Claim contract and we’ve also made steps to reach as many communities as we can, supporting outreach and getting out into the wider community.
What would you
say to someone who is thinking about becoming a trustee or volunteer?
I’d say to anyone, just come and talk to us and learn some more about what we do. The idea of being a trustee can seem quite formal and intimidating, but I think a lot of people would be able to relate to the type of things we discuss and talk about. We’d like to recruit more trustees with different life experiences and welcome some fresh perspectives on the issues we deal with.
