The CMC Welcomes New Chair and Deputy Chair
The CMC welcomes new Chair and Deputy Chair to the organisation
This Year the CMC welcomes both a new Chair and a new Deputy Chair into their roles. The new faces will bring exciting change to the organisation.
Retirement of Chair & Appointment of New Chair
Sir David Foskett’s term as CMC chair ends on 31 May 2022 and the board has appointed Rebecca Clark, currently Deputy Chair, to the post of Chair from 1 June 2022.
Sir David Foskett says: “At the end of May I will have completed three years as Chair of the CMC – three years is about right for that kind of position. It has been a great privilege and I have been supported throughout by some excellent members of the CMC Board, including two outstanding Deputy Chairs, Tom Thomas OBE and Rebecca Clark.
The CMC is well served by its CEO, Paul Adams, and by the secretariat, headed by Helen Anthony. I leave the role at a time when the CMC has strengthened its position and influence in the mediation community when that community is itself beginning to get the recognition it deserves in the dispute resolution field. There is still a way to go, but these are exciting times and the CMC is well-placed to maintain the current momentum towards a changed landscape.”
Sir David continues: “I am absolutely delighted that the Board has appointed Rebecca Clark to become Chair once my term of office comes to an end. She is extremely well qualified to take on the role and very committed to the CMC’s objectives. Whilst there has been good reason in the past for the Chair to have had a former judicial profile, I have thought for a while that it is less necessary now than it once was. Rebecca breaks that mould and is also primarily based in the North of England which again is a healthy change. I wish her all the best when she takes office and I hope she enjoys the position as much as I have done.”
New CMC Chair Rebecca Clark adds: “I am delighted to become Chair of the CMC and would like to thank Sir David on behalf of all members for his work over the past 3 years. Exciting times are ahead. Change is coming and the CMC is helping to make it happen. Want to get involved, or know more? Watch out for our upcoming posts, or contact me directly.”
Appointment of New Deputy Chair
The Board of the CMC has appointed Nicolas Fournier to the post of Deputy Chair from 1 June 2022.
New CMC Chair Rebecca Clark says: “I am very happy to welcome Nicolas as Deputy Chair of the CMC. Nicolas came to mediation after a career in international business and is a great advocate for negotiated dispute resolution within the corporate world.”
New CMC Deputy Chair Nicolas Fournier adds: “Although my involvement in civil and commercial mediation is a recently discovered vocation, it finds its roots much earlier in the way I operated the businesses I was managing throughout my years in the corporate world.
I trust there will be more and more people in business realising how dialogue, trust and teamwork are so much more effective, productive and constructive than the sheer power play that often prevails.”
He concludes: “I believe the CMC has a wonderful legitimacy and history in England and Wales and I believe it can play an even stronger role in the future.”
Pictured from left to right former Deputy Chair Tom Thomas OBE, retiring Chair Sir David Foskett, new Chair Rebecca Clark and new Deputy Chair Nicolas Fournier
