NCS Trust appoints first chief executive

Michael Lynas will lead the government’s flagship volunteering programme for 15- to 17-year-olds after being appointed by the NCS board this week.

He steps up to the role after a year spent as the social enterprise’s director of strategy.

Prior to joining the NCS, 32-year-old Lynas spent two and a half years as the Prime Minister’s senior policy adviser on civil society, culture and philanthropy.

During that time he co-ordinated the government’s policy work for the 2012 Olympics and was part of the team that helped establish the NCS.

The organisation was launched in 2010 by David Cameron, civil society minister Nick Hurd and Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude with the help of Stephen Greene, the co-founder and chief executive of RockCorps.

Greene was appointed chair of the organisation in July 2012 tasked with leading the NCS’s transition from government to independence – something that was achieved last year with Lynas’s help.

Greene thinks Lynas’s previous work with NCS made him the perfect candidate for the job.

He said: “Michael is exceptionally talented and his commitment to NCS is well documented.

“We look forward to working with him throughout 2014 and beyond to continue to develop and build on the success of NCS.”

Lynas’s first job as chief executive was to announce a new NCS National Youth Board, made up of 20 young people who will represent the views of all young people involved with the programme.

He said: “My priority as the new chief executive of NCS is to build a movement of young people dedicated to making our country a better place, community by community.

“This means putting young people at the heart of everything we do – that’s why I am so pleased to announce our new National Youth Board.

“I look forward to working with them and partners across all sectors to make 2014 our biggest and best year yet.”