The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has added three directors to its senior leadership team.
The social change charity has announced that it had appointed Graeme Cooke as director of evidence and policy, Frank Soodeen as director of communications and public engagement and Sophia Parker, whose directorate is yet to be named but will focus on a new programme of work around radical approaches to tackling poverty.
Cooke joins from the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham where he has been director of inclusive growth for the past three years, Soodeen has been promoted from deputy director for external affairs and Parker joins from the children’s clothing charity Little Village, which she founded in 2016.
The three will join the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust group leadership team alongside existing members Paul Kissack, who is chief executive, Tracey Preece, who is director of finance, Chris Simpson, who is executive director of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, and Claire Townson, who is director of corporate services.
“Graeme, Sophia and Frank all share values deeply aligned to our founding purpose of addressing ‘social evil’, and I’m excited to be working alongside them,” said Kissack in a statement.
Kissack, who joined the JRF last year , was director general at the Department for Health and Social Care, working on the government’s Covid-19 response.