New EHRC Commissioners appointed

The three-year appointments will further strengthen the Commission’s work on gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, and human rights, as well as its work with employers in the public and private sectors, and trade unions. The Commissioners, who were chosen from more than 600 applicants, are (alphabetically by surname):

• Stephen Alambritis
• Ann Beynon OBE (Wales Commissioner)
• Professor Geraldine Van Bueren
• Kay Carberry CBE (appointed for another three year term)
• Meral Hussein Ece OBE
• Baroness Sally Greengross (appointed for another three year term)
• Dr Jean Irvine OBE
• Angela Mason
• Michael Smith
• Simon Woolley

Ms Harman said:

"These new Commissioners join the existing Commissioners to create a strong team to take the EHRC forward.

"Each one brings a wealth of experience, and the new team will be vital in taking forward support for the Equality Bill."

They will join existing Commissioners Trevor Phillips (Chair), Baroness Margaret Prosser (Deputy Chair), Morag Alexander (Scotland Commissioner), Maeve Sherlock, and Joel Edwards to further strengthen each of the equality strands.

Disability

• Stephen Alambritis was previously a member of the Disability Rights Taskforce and a Commissioner of the Disability Rights Commission.
• Dr Jean Irvine OBE is Trustee and Director of RADAR.
• Michael Smith is on the EHRC Disability Committee and Chair of the National Centre for Independent Living. He has been involved in disability rights organisations for the last ten years.

Scotland and Wales

Joining existing Scottish Commissioner Morag Alexander, the new Wales Commissioner will be:

• Ann Beynon OBE is currently BT Director of Wales, Chair of the Wales Advisory Board for Business in the Community, and was previously the Prince of Wales Ambassador in the Community for Wales.

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