Adam Hawksbee and Joshua Simons to join Engage Britain Board of Trustees 

Engage Britain announces that Adam Hawksbee and Joshua Simons are joining its Board of Trustees, bringing a wealth of experience with them.

Adam Hawksbee is Deputy Director at the think tank Onward, leading its work on strengthening local economies, producing research papers and advising national and local government. In the past he has focussed on creating stronger cities, both as Head of Policy at the West Midlands Combined Authority and a Research Fellow at the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative in the US.

Joshua Simons is a Research Fellow in Technology and Democracy at Harvard University, a founder and a trustee of the Civic Power Fund, and a trustee of the New Economics Foundation. He previously worked as a US-India Technology Policy Fellow at New America, a Researcher at the Institute for Public Policy Researcher, and a Policy Advisor for the Labour Party in Parliament.

Susan Hitch, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said: ‘I am delighted to welcome Adam and Josh to our board. As our country faces some of the toughest times in a generation, Engage Britain is attempting a completely new approach to building a better future. Our mission is to bring people together to have a say on the issues that really matter like health or cost of living, and using their own experiences and ideas to solve them. Adam and Josh both bring extensive knowledge and innovative thinking when it comes to connecting people and communities with politics and policymaking. I’m certain they will both be a huge asset in bringing to life Engage Britain’s bold new vision of how our country can work for us all.”

Engage Britain is fully independent charity, giving people a say on this issues that matter most to them, from health to cost of living. It brings people from all walks of life together to discuss the real-world problems and experiences they face every day, and then work on finding their own policy ideas to solve them.

Commenting, Adam Hawksbee said: “In my jobs in politics and policy, both in Westminster and the West Midlands, I’ve learnt that solving our biggest challenges means resolving thorny trade offs. The methods we currently use to do that are completely insufficient, so I’m delighted to be joining Engage Britain who are leading the conversation on how to empower the public to be at the heart of policymaking.”

Joshua Simons said: “It could hardly be a more important moment to forge new strategies for involving citizens in making and implementing public policy and exploring new ways of doing democracy. I’m thrilled to join Engage Britain’s board to support new strategies and projects, and bringing my experience in public policy, organising, and democratic reform to connect us with an emerging global community of practitioners, academics, and organisers.”

ENDS

Engage Britain’s current Trustees also include:
• Susan Hitch, Chair of the Board of Trustees
• Julie Mellor, Independent Chair of the Federation of Industry Sector Skills and Standards, Chair of the Young Foundation, Chair of cross-party think tank Demos and a Trustee of Involve
• Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies
• Sandip Shah, Partner at KPMG

More information can be found here.

For further information, please contact Freya Barnes, Head of Media and Campaigns at Engage Britain on 0203 953 6329 / media@engagebritain.org