New Chair at Ecology
Thursday 27 May 2004
Manchester based chartered accountant Janet Slade is the new Chair of The Ecology Building Society. She takes over from Gus Smith, who remains on the Board of the UK's youngest building society. The new Vice Chair at the West Yorkshire based Ecology is Leeds solicitor, Malcolm Lynch.
Born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Janet Slade took a physics degree at UMIST and spent the next five years living in a local Housing co-operative and working at Grass Roots, Manchester's alternative bookshop. She trained and qualified as an accountant with Spicer and Pegler, which was later to become part of Deloittes. After working for a small practice in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, she returned to Manchester to establish her own accountancy firm, mainly working with charities and co-operatives.
An active environmentalist, Janet has served on the Board of the Ecology for seven years and is a member of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Henry Doubleday, The Centre for Alternative Technology and Sustrans. She also spent three years on the council of The Industrial Common Ownership Fund.
Janet said:
"I am looking forward to the challenge of being Chair. I want to clarify the various roles of Board members in the Society and hope to strengthen the relationship of the Board to the staff team and members. Gus Smith is now the longest serving director and is a very valuable resource to us all, since the rest of the non-executive directors have a lot less history in our blood! Malcolm Lynch and I look forward to working with him in our new roles."
In her leisure time Janet maintains an organic allotment, plays the clarinet and sings in the Manchester Community Choir. To keep fit she plays a little tennis, cycles and studies the Chinese art of Qi Gong, which is similar to Tai Chi.
