Our chairman and chief executive
| James has spent his professional career in the pharmaceutical industry. Having been a member of the main board of Wellcome PLC, he joined the board of Glaxo Wellcome PLC in 1995. After retiring in 2001, James became chair of the South West London Strategic Health Authority, a post he held until mid-2006. | | | 
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| James continues to retain an interest in the commercial sector as vice chairman of TNT. However, his experience in the voluntary sector is extensive: he is currently a trustee of the youth development charity Raleigh International and a board member of the Medicines for Malaria Venture and of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
James joined the British Red Cross as chairman in 2007. He is married to a GP and has four daughters.
Sir Nicholas Young
Nick Young has been chief executive of the British Red Cross since July 2001.
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 | | | As chief executive, Nick heads up a senior management team of 11 directors who lead on the charity’s strategy and implementation of policies laid down by the board. He has focused closely on the charity’s core services – emergency response at home and overseas, delivering community care services which meet the needs of vulnerable people in our neighbourhoods, and educating people in life-saving skills. | |
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Nick travels widely. He has visited all the countries where the British Red Cross is working following the tsunami, went to Iraq in 2003 and has also been to Uganda, Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, North Korea, Syria, Sierra Leone, Darfur and India, amongst others. On these trips Nick gets involved with our project work and the operational environment, helps support other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and often meets with foreign governments and representatives of our own government.
In the UK Nick visits branches and projects to check on the challenges facing staff and volunteers, promote key messages, find out how we are working with the statutory authorities and learn how best we can respond to vulnerability and need in our own communities.
Nick acts as an ambassador for the organisation with government, the media and major donors. He attends and speaks at many public functions and fundraising events, and maintains a close relationship with our President, HRH The Prince of Wales, accompanying him on visits to Bam in Iran following the earthquake there in 2003 and to Sri Lanka in 2005 after the tsunami. In 2006 he showed Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall our work in Pakistan following the massive earthquake the previous October.
Nick was knighted in 2000 for services to cancer care through Macmillan Cancer Support, where he was also chief executive.
Read Nick's trip reports
Senior managers
Our trustees
About our governance | |
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