L-R: Cure Leukaemia Chairman Geoff Cousins, former England Rugby Captain Martin Johnson, England football manager Gareth Southgate, Cure Leukaemia Patron Geoff Thomas and Cure Leukaemia CEO James McLaughlin
Cure Leukaemia has appointed former Managing Director of Jaguar UK, Geoff Cousins, as the blood cancer charity’s new Chairman. His appointment was announced at an event at Lord’s Cricket Ground attended by England football manager Gareth Southgate which celebrated Deutsche Bank’s £2m transformational national partnership with Cure Leukaemia over the last two years.
Geoff brings a wealth of commercial experience and business acumen to help guide Cure Leukaemia through its transition from a regional charity to a national organisation. From Jaunary 2020, thanks to Deutsche Bank’s impact, Cure Leukaemia will begin investing £3million over a three-year period, funding clinical positions at 12 blood cancer centres across the UK, to form the Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) network. These funded positions will connect pioneering treatments for blood cancer with patients from a catchment area of 20million through clinical trials.
To celebrate this, Deutsche Bank invited guests to the world famous cricket venue to showcase its positive impact on both Cure Leukaemia and the global fight against blood cancer.
To highlight this there were speeches from Deutsche Bank’s CEO in the UK and Ireland Tiina Lee, the government’s Life Sciences advisor Sir John Bell and Cure Leukaemia co-founder Professor Charlie Craddock CBE. Then ITV News presenter Nina Hossain hosted a sports panel with England football manager Gareth Southgate OBE, former England and Warwickshire Cricketer Jonathan Trott and Cure Leukaemia Patron Geoff Thomas highlighting synergies between global business, elite level sport and world class medicine.
Cure Leukaemia’s incoming Chairman has worked in a number of countries in key leadership and business transforming roles, including CFO North America for Jaguar Land Rover before leading Jaguar UK as Managing Director through its biggest cultural and business transformation in its history during the period 2006-11.
Geoff is currently Chairman of G&P Group Holdings, a world leading quality management provider, working closely with key automotive and aerospace manufacturers and associated supply chains to improve quality and efficiency levels. He also consults with private equity companies and is Visiting Professor of Global Governance at the University of South Wales.
Geoff has non – profit sector experience as a former member of the NSPCC national Corporate Development Board and Chairman of the NSPCC’s Business Group in Coventry and Warwickshire. In the sporting world he was a member of the Corporate Development Board for the Sport and Recreation Alliance and established the Jaguar Academy of Sport to support the development of the next generation of sports stars.
Speaking about his appointment Cousins said: “I am incredibly proud and excited to be appointed Chairman of Cure Leukaemia. The charity is entering a transformational stage in its history and I hope to utlise my experience through many years working for global businesses to enhance and benefit the charity going forward.
“I myself have been touched by this disease having been disgnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2005 so I am acutely aware of the phenomenal strides that are being made in the treatment of blood cancers. I look forward to working closely with the Board of Trustees, CEO James McLaughlin and his team with the aim of establishing Cure Leukaemia as the UK’s leading blood cancer charity within the next five years.”
Cure Leukaemia Co-Founder Professor Charlie Craddock CBE said: “The Board of Trustees are thrilled to appoint Geoff as Cure Leukaemia’s new Chairman. His wealth of experience in the business world will be invaluable as we look to establish this charity’s national influence in the coming years. It is a pivotal time in Cure Leukaemia’s history and the Board is confident that Geoff’s impact will allow us to continue connecting more blood cancer patients to potentially life saving treatments for this cruel disease.”
Cousins replaces the Cure Leukaemia’s former Chairman, Ian Allen, who stepped down from the role earlier this year after seven years in the role.
