As an environmental charity recognised for punching above its weight, and Europe’s only conservation NGO focused on all invertebrates, Buglife’s vision is for a wildlife-rich planet where other species thrive alongside people. We believe that our actions in the next decade will be vital in turning around the rapid and dangerous declines in invertebrate populations. We want to help develop a society that has a friendlier relationship with invertebrates and where we have safe spaces for invertebrates to flourish in all their environments.
Following three very successful years under the leadership of Professor Steve Ormerod, Buglife is in a sound operational and financial position. Steve is now at the end of his term, and a new Chair is sought to bring the experience, skills and leadership to the board in overseeing a growing and more public portfolio of work. Buglife has already been highly successful in important conservation initiatives, including The State of Nature, Back from the Brink, B-lines and various national and EU bug-friendly conservation policies including the ban on agricultural neonicotinoid use. We aim to do even more.
Buglife is working to stop the extinction of invertebrate species and to achieve sustainable populations of invertebrates. This is no simple mission, but Buglife’s outstanding staff already use the charity’s limited resources to mighty effect. We repeatedly measure as one of the most impactful charities per pound spent. With an ambitious strategy rolling out in 2021, the new Chair will join us at a key period in Buglife’s development. The need for growth and to increase the scale and scope of our impact is well evidenced by science. The resources and processes to deliver on our ambitions need to be further developed to meet that need.
The time commitment required by the Chair is likely to be a minimum of 150 hours per year. The recently expanded Board is enthusiastic, motivated, and ready to offer practical support to the Chair across its fiduciary, strategic and generative responsibilities – providing an appropriate balance in supporting, challenging and championing Buglife. The Chair also line manages the CEO.
We need a Chair who will inspire and lead our growth to help us achieve new levels of impact, influence and sustainability. We particularly seek someone with the experience to provide oversight on the Board in some combination of
- Leadership
- Governance
- Strategy
- Conservation science
- Invertebrate knowledge
- Finance
The full role description for Buglife Trustees and the additional responsibilities of the Chair are available through the recruitment portal.
The anticipated timings for the recruitment process are
- Application deadline 28 February 2021
- First round interviews, by Zoom, week commencing 22 March 2021
- Second round activities (tbc), week commencing 5 April 2021
- Appointment confirmed at the AGM 19 June 2021
A CV, covering letter, each of no more than 2 sides of A4, describing your relevant experience and reasons for applying should be submitted along with the trustee application form via the Buglife recruitment portal no later than the 28 February 2021 . If you have any questions please direct them to [email protected] and we will respond as soon as is possible.
