Venture Trust appoints inequalities and human rights leader – Alastair Pringle – as new CEO

Posted on 03 August 2021

Scottish charity Venture Trust has welcomed Alastair Pringle as its new CEO.

Alastair joins Venture Trust with over 30 years of experience in the public sector.

He arrives after most recently serving as Interim CEO at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) – Britain’s Equality Regulator and a National Human Rights Institution.

Alastair joined the EHRC as Scotland’s National Director in 2012, before taking on UK wide role as Executive Director in 2016.

In recent years he had executive responsibility for EHCR major investigations including BBC on Equal Pay and Labour Party on Anti-Semitism as well as inquiries into Adult Deaths in Detention, Housing and Disability and Accessible Football Stadia.

Previously, he held senior leadership roles in the NHS in Scotland and the Scottish Government, leading on national programmes of work on patient information, patient experience and patient’s rights.

Venture Trust Board Chair, Susan Davies said:

“Venture Trust’s reputation and impact as the ‘go-to’ organisation that aims to end cycles of disadvantage and adversity for individuals, their families and communities has been growing in recent years.

“Alastair’s knowledge, experience and values are a perfect fit with those of Venture Trust. He is a thoughtful strategic leader and an experienced partnership collaborator who is motivated to help people end cycles of disadvantage and adversity for individuals, their families and communities.

“We are delighted Alastair is joining us at a time when we are entering a period that will see us develop and launch our next 5-year plan. It is a time when the services of Venture Trust are much needed in communities across Scotland.”

On joining the organisation Alastair Pringle said:

“I’ve had many fantastic opportunities in my career to date. These have allowed me to combine my drive to tackle inequality and discrimination, with work to promote human rights and to seek to remove the systemic barriers that can stop people from reaching their potential.”

Closer to his role as Venture Trust Chief Executive Officer, Alastair worked in residential childcare where he regularly took young people in his care on expeditions to bothies. He was also a co-founder of the Men’s Health Forum in Scotland, which strongly advocated for the therapeutic wellbeing benefits of the outdoors for those with complex social needs.

“I am delighted to be joining the team at Venture Trust, which offers me the opportunity to bring together my deep held belief in the therapeutic benefits of the outdoors alongside the skills and experiences I have developed working for over 30 years in the public sector.”

When not at work (and when Covid guidelines allow) the keen outdoor enthusiast can be found running around the hills of Scotland.

For more information please contact: 

Venture Trust Communications Team: comms@venturetrust.org.uk

Sign up to our newsletter

Keep in touch with what's going on at Venture Trust, read inspiring stories about our participants, and find out how you can get involved in supporting us.

Follow us

Latest Tweets