John Mathers has announced that he will be stepping down as chief executive of the Design Council.
Mathers has headed up the organisation for the last four years. Prior to joining, his previous roles included president at the DBA, chief executive at Holmes & Marchant, chief operating officer at Blue Marlin and senior roles at Fitch and Enterprise IG.
He is set to leave the role this November and Design Council is currently looking for a new chief executive to fill the vacancy.
Martin Temple, chairman at Design Council, says: “Having guided Design Council through a period of transformation…John Mathers has decided to step down in November of this year.”
Design Council is “entering a new phase”, says Temple, with trustees having just launched a new initiative to “address issues of national significance” with the aim of impacting “positive social, environment and economic change”.
Temple says: “[Mathers] feels Design Council will benefit from new blood to lead in this next phase.”
Mathers says: “The organisation is now very different to the one I joined, with great progress in major initiatives like Design for Europe…our groundbreaking Design Economy research, the UK’s first product accelerator programme Spark, as well as our support to cities and places around the country. I’m proud to have been part of the organisation in such a significant period of its history.”
Applicants can apply for the job through senior-level recruitment website Perrett Laver, where the application deadline is 17 June.
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