The Willow Foundation has announced the appointment of Richard King as its new Chair of Trustees, succeeding Tina Tietjen who has led the charity for the past two years. Tina has resigned for personal reasons.
Richard King was selected from the existing Board of Trustees and takes up the helm from the 1 February 2010. Richard is Deputy Managing Partner at Ernst and Young, a major financial services company, and has been on the Willow Board since August 2009.
In addition, the charity also announced the creation of the post of Life President, which Bob and Megs Wilson, the founders of the charity, will jointly hold.
“Tina has played a crucial role in guiding Willow through these uncertain times and we wish her well for the future”, commented Bob Wilson.
“Both Megs and myself are delighted to see Richard King take up the reins. He has the skills, the contacts and the passion to drive the Willow Foundation forward. Last year we saw our 5000th Special Day take place, which is an amazing achievement, made possible by the very special team of people that work here. We’re confident Richard is the right man to lead this team to achieve even greater things in the months and years ahead and Megs and I look forward to working with him in our new role as Life Presidents,” he continued.
The charity also announced the appointment of Gina Tress to the board of trustees. Gina is a partner at Luther Pendragon, one of the UK’s leading communication consultancies.
The Willow Foundation was established in 1999 by former Arsenal and Scotland goalkeeper Bob Wilson, and his wife Megs, in memory of their daughter Anna. The charity takes its name from Anna’s nickname ‘Willow’. Bob was also called ‘Willow’ in his younger days when he was playing football. In the first year the charity provided 17 special days to seriously ill young people aged 16-40. Now, in 2010 the charity is set to complete 1500 Special Days within the year, the overall total now standing at 5,500.