GambleAware has expanded its governance board, announcing the appointment of four new trustees, to help the charity achieve the objectives of its new five-year organisational strategy. 

The trustees will strengthen GambleAware’s oversight on public health matters and the commissioning of grants for gambling harm research, education and treatment (RET) projects.

Labour House of Lords peer Baroness Hillary Armstrong joins the board of trustees, to provide GambleAware extensive guidance on its charitable and societal mandate.

The current chair of UK poverty prevention charity Changing Lives, Armstrong is a former Board Member for Durham and Darlington Hospital Foundation Trust; and Chair of Tony Blair Sports Foundation, and Trustee of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales.

Meanwhile, Ofcom Policy Director Marina Gibbs will work to strengthen the charity’s organisational oversight and communications strategy.  

Gibbs has served as a Non-Executive member on the Legal Services Board, the legal sector’s oversight regulator, and as Co-Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications Remedies expert working group. Prior to working for Ofcom, Gibbs was a Partner with Spectrum Strategy consultants.

Furthermore, GambleAware’s research units will be supported by the appointment of Social mobility expert Mubin Haq, the current Chief Executive to the Standard Life Foundation – leading research on UK living standards and addressing financial problems of low-to-middle income earners.

Haq is a director at several organisations including London Strategic Migration Partnership and London Funders, whilst also serving on a committee of London & Quadrant Housing Association and recently working as Director of Policy & Grants for Trust For London.

The final appointment sees Senior Clinical Lecturer at Kings College Dr Koravangattu Valsraj, a psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, join the board of trustees.  

An expert in public health and clinical leadership, Dr Valsraj currently serves as a Trustee of mental health charity Careif and will be instrumental in GambleAware’s efforts to increase access and support for gambling harms amongst minority communities and networks. 

The new appointments will see GambleAware expand its governance board to 10 members, led by chair Kate Lampard CBE, who welcomed the new trustees

Lampard remarked: “We are very pleased to announce the appointment of four new trustees, each of whom bring with them skills and experience which will help guide and support GambleAware as it works to deliver its new five-year strategy.

“Our current Board composition is strong on health and public health, but we recognised there was a clear need to increase the diversity of the Board and extend the skill base of trustees. With these new appointments, we look forward to building and expanding the Board’s expertise that will support the charity in the years ahead.”