Baroness Maggie Jones has been promoted from her role as Deputy Chair at the SFT to interim Chair, replacing Dame Suzi Leather. Jones, the former Director of Policy and Public Affairs at UNISON, has been involved in campaigning about school food for almost quarter of a century. Presumably, the headhunters who have been trying to fill this vacancy are still hard at work looking for a full-time Chair?
The previous Chair was so committed, she lasted less than one third of her contract before moving on. Is sitting on the board of a quango (or NDBP to use the correct acronym) a poisoned chalice? Many directors and CEOs at quangos seem hardly to warm their seats before money, a bigger job or ennoblement seems to tempt them away. So the question is, how will the SFT find and retain good an influential Chair or should they just hire Jamie - it’s unlikely to be tempting financially and it seems a bit too soon for Lord Jamie of Fifteen.
