Cancer Research UK has made two senior appointments from the private sector as part of a wider shake-up that is halving the size of its top management team.
The cancer charity said it had appointed Angela Morrison as chief operating officer and Richard Newsome as chief technology officer as part of a restructure that will reduce the executive board from 10 members to five.
In her new role Morrison will sit on the charity’s executive board, bringing technology, HR, finance and a range of other functions together into one directorate.
Morrison will join CRUK next month after serving on the board of several FTSE-listed companies, including Debenhams, Direct Line and Sainsbury’s.
Her appointment completes a restructure the charity began last year in response to Covid-19.
Newsome will also join next month, after holding similar roles at Sainsbury’s, Boots, Cadbury, and Rolls-Royce.
He will not be part of the executive board, instead reporting directly to Morrison.
The charity aims to finalise its new structure by the end of this year as its executive board shrinks to five members, following the departure of chief financial officer Rita Akushie in September, and Tiffany Hall, its chief information officer, last month.
In addition, CRUK said Mark Allen, the charity’s executive director for HR, will leave in the coming months.
The charity said a temporary strategy and transformation executive director role would support the delivery of its corporate plan.
CRUK’s chief clinician and chief scientist have become advisory members of the executive board as part of the restructure.
The charity placed all staff on a temporary cut in pay and working hours of 20 per cent between May and August as it looked to make operational cost savings in response to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The temporary measures formed part of a wider plan to reduce the size of its workforce by almost a quarter as a result of a predicted £300m drop in income over the next three years.
The charity said the changes were necessary to help make it more agile and efficient as it moves into a new phase as part of a changed world.
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of CRUK, said: “In this time of uncertainty, Cancer Research UK has needed to make changes to become more agile, more focused and more efficient than ever before.
“The restructure of our executive board is part of a new phase in the life of Cancer Research UK.”