Norwood announces Miles Webber as new Chair of Trustees

Jewish communal charity, Norwood, has announced the appointment of Miles Webber as its new Chair Designate of Trustees. He will begin a period of transition before succeeding the outgoing Chair Neville Kahn, who has held the role since 2018, later this year. An experienced corporate affairs director, Miles Webber has held senior roles at a number of major corporations, recently as the senior partner at Baytree Advisors, having spent five years previously as Group Corporate Affairs Director on the executive committee of FTSE100 real estate business, Landsec. Prior to Landsec, Miles held senior roles at General Electric and Merrill Lynch. His passion for leading Norwood is rooted in his own experience of Norwood’s life-changing services, having been adopted as a baby through Norwood’s historic adoption services.

Miles has extensive communal leadership experience, both in a professional and lay capacity, having begun his career as Executive Director of Labour Friends of Israel. As a lay leader he has held roles as Chair of Lead (JLC), Chair of Tzedek and a Trustee of the New Israel Fund. He is a serving Trustee of UJIA and the pride that I step into the role of Chair of such a vital communal organisation as Norwood. Having been enabled by Norwood from the very beginning of my life, I am thrilled to be officially joining the Norwood family, and in doing so, to have the opportunity to give back to an organisation that means so much to me in common with so many other members of our community. As I prepare to embrace the role, I can’t help but be inspired by the service of my predecessor, Neville Kahn, who has brought his outstanding leadership skills and commitment to Norwood, an organisation he has supported for many years. I look forward to working with my new colleagues, strengthening the Board of Trustees and working in partnership with the executive team, to further develop and build on Norwood’s trusted position in the community.”

Naomi Dickson, Chief Executive of Norwood added: “We are grateful and extremely privileged to announce Miles as our new Chair and to having him bring his strategic nous and significant experience of leadership in both professional and lay spheres to bear on our organisation. His reputation precedes him and the people we support in expressing our gratitude for Neville’s steadfast passion, energy and commitment to empowering Norwood to deliver the best possible care to the people who depend on us. He has been an invaluable source of guidance and support to me since I joined Norwood, and I know he will do the same for Miles over the next few months as he assumes his role as Chair.”

Lord Jon Mendelsohn and Lady Nicola Mendelsohn CBE, Norwood Joint Presidents, said: “We are delighted to welcome Miles Webber as the incoming Chair of Norwood. Under his leadership we are sure that we will continue to build Norwood and make its service available to all who might need them and his great leadership qualities and personal connection to our work will make a huge impact on all we do.

“We would also like to express our profound gratitude to Neville Kahn for his five years of service as Chair. It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with Neville, who has led the organisation with great skill, humanity and capability. He skilfully navigated us through the pandemic period and has been unyielding in his focus on making Norwood modern, relevant and a service the community can be proud of.”

Stepping down from his role as Chair, Neville Kahn said: “It has been a great honour and responsibility to serve Norwood, a role I have conducted with pride, particularly at such a critical time in its history. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me in the role and in particular the incredible staff, volunteers and my fellow trustees. I have always felt privileged to support the charity in any capacity and I will continue to do so as it transitions to Miles’ outstanding leadership. Also joining Norwood’s Board of Trustees is Dr Mark Berelowitz, who will take up the Children and Families portfolio for the charity, as they look to implement a new strategy to broaden support for the growing numbers of children and families within the community who depend on it. Mark is a very experienced Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Royal Free Hospital and the Clinical Service Lead of the CAHMS service. He was also instrumental in setting up the wellbeing project to support pupils, parents and teachers in Jewish schools, in which Norwood played an overarching role. As well as his professional role as Consultant within the neurodevelopmental team at the Royal Free Hospital, Mark also occupies several lay roles, including as a Clinical Adviser to a specialist Jewish charity which provides education and support to children with special needs in the Charedi community.