Ipsos Mori senior executive to lead participation charity Involve

Public participation charity Involve has appointed a senior executive at market research firm Ipsos MORI as its next chief executive.

Sarah Castell is to join Involve as CEO after 17 years at Ipsos MORI, where she led on public participation initiatives. This included setting up and heading the survey company’s Dialogue Centre for ten years.

She replaces Tim Hughes and takes on the top role at Involve in September.

“Sarah brings a wealth of experience not only of the democratic reform landscape but more broadly in terms of innovation in public engagement in decision-making, the role of technology and online deliberation and on a wide range of challenging social issues,” said Involve chair Ed Cox.

A key priority will be leading Involve as it “continues to adapt to the changing dynamics of post-Brexit Britain and address some of its most challenging issues”, said a statement from the charity.

Castell added: “I hope to build on Involve’s expertise and credibility, to find new ways to bring people, decision makers and others together - as we move forward into new and exciting times for democracy.”

Also joining Involve later this year is Calum Green as director of advocacy and communications. He joins in August and was most recently chief executive of London Community Land Trust. He has also been a senior organiser at Citizens UK.

🎉 IMPORTANT NEWS 🎉

We’re excited to announce that @sarahcastell has been appointed as Involve’s new CEO and @CalumDGreen as our new Director of Advocacy and Communications.

Find out more 👇https://t.co/Ddrl5n6vWJ
— involve (@involveUK) June 4, 2021

“Involve is at the forefront of ensuring we have the healthy, vibrant democracy required to tackle this challenge. I am proud to be given the opportunity to bring my campaigning and communications experience to help in that effort,” said Green.

They join a senior leadership team that includes director of operations Clive Mitchell, director of innovation and practice Kaela Scott and director of capacity building and standards Sarah Allen.