Ed Mayo

Ed Mayo
Ed Mayo, former Secretary General of Co-operatives UK

Secretary General of Co-operatives UK
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 November 2009
Preceded by	Dame Pauline Green (Chief executive)
Chief executive of Consumer Focus
In office 2008 – 2 November 2009
Chief executive of National Consumer Council
In office 2003–2008
Succeeded by	Organisation became Consumer Focus
Director of New Economics Foundation
In office 1992–2003

Personal details
Born	(1964-04-14) 14 April 1964 (age 59)
Alma mater	City University Business School

Ed Mayo (born 14 April 1964),^[1] is the CEO of the London-based charity Pilotlight. He is the former Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, the UK trade association for co-operatives and former chief executive of the British National Consumer Council (NCC) and CEO of the NCC's successor, Consumer Focus.^[2]^[3]

Education

Mayo was educated at Downing College, Cambridge – reading philosophy – and City University Business School. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the London Metropolitan University in 2007.^[4]

Career

After a short period as a management consultant at Andersen Consulting, Mayo joined the World Development Movement, serving as acting director until 1992.

Mayo rose to prominence as director of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) from 1992 to 2003. He led NEF from two to fifty staff, creating the leading 'think-and-do tank', looking at ethical market activity, local economies and public service reform. NHS Foundation Trusts were an idea partly inspired by NEF and Mayo, particularly his October 2001 pamphlet, The Mutual State, published with Mutuo, a think tank set up by the Co-operative Party. NEF also co-ordinated the Jubilee 2000 campaign during this time, for which Mayo was the strategist. It gained 24 million signatures for the worldwide petition on development and poverty.

In 2003, he left to become chief executive of the National Consumer Council, staying with the organisation for 5 years. In 2008, the National Consumer Council merged with energywatch and Postwatch to form Consumer Focus, a move which Mayo oversaw as he became chief executive of the new organisation. In July 2009, he announced that he would be resigning to take up the position of Secretary General of Co-operatives UK following the retirement of its chief executive, Dame Pauline Green.^[5] He took up the position officially the following November.^[6]

Other activities

Mayo has also been involved in other regeneration, development and community projects. He has been on the board of AccountAbility, War on Want, the Fairtrade Foundation, the Local Investment Fund, Social Investment Forum and www.oneworld.net, a popular portal on human rights, development and environment. He has advised HM Treasury on enterprise and led the development of the new Community Investment Tax Credit introduced by Gordon Brown.

He is also an honorary Vice-president of the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies. He was the founding chair of the London Rebuilding Society and is involved in his local community as a trustee of the MERRY charity, linking up communities in Deptford and Mozambique through music and culture. In the field of economics, Mayo is a fellow of the World Economic Forum and addressed the annual summit in Davos from 2000 to 2003 on issues of economic change and social inclusion.

In June 2003, Mayo joined the NCC. That year The Guardian nominated him as one of the top 100 most influential figures in British social policy and in November 2004 commented that 'from cancelling third world debt to justice for working-class consumers, Ed Mayo is a key figure in social innovation.^[7] He was nominated a 'Young Global Leader' by the World Economic Forum in January 2005.

The Power of Information: An Independent Review by Mayo and Tom Steinberg was published in 2007;^[8] as was the official government response to it.^[9]

He is married with three children and lives in south London.

Publications

Poverty, social exclusion and microfinance in the UK with Rogaly and Fisher, Oxfam Books 1999
Brave new economy (CD-ROM), NEF 2000
Banking and social cohesion with Christophe Guene, 2001
The Mutual State, Mutuo October 2001
Building the mutual state, ed. with Henrietta Moore, Mutuo 2002
The organics tax credit, NEF 2002
'Life saving: Community Development Credit Unions with Mick Brown and Pat Conaty, NEF, the National Association of Credit Workers and NCC
Steinberg, Tom; Mayo, Ed (2007). "The Power of Information: An Independent Review". Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
Mayo, Ed; Nairn, Agnes (2009). Consumer kids: how big business is grooming our children for profit. London: Constable. ISBN 9781845298807.

References

^ "Mayo, Ed". Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 December 2014. (Ed Mayo, born 14 Apr. 1964)
^ "Farewell to Secretary General Ed Mayo". Co-operatives UK press release. 3 June 2020. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020. After more than a decade at the helm of Co-operatives UK, we say farewell to our Secretary General, Ed Mayo who leaves us to take up an exciting new role at London-based charity Pilotlight. Alt URL
^ Hadfield, Miles (7 February 2020). "Ed Mayo to leave Co-operatives UK for charity role". Co-op News. Co-operative Press. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
^ Chief Executive and Chair, 21 November 2009, archived from the original on 13 July 2012, retrieved 1 December 2009
^ Smithers, Rebecca (14 July 2009), "Ed Mayo resigns from Consumer Focus", The Guardian, London, retrieved 1 December 2009
^ Welcoming Ed Mayo, 2 November 2009, retrieved 9 November 2009^{[dead link]}
^ Making the carrot stick, Tash Shifrin, The Guardian, Wednesday 3 November 2004
^ Steinberg, Tom; Mayo, Ed (2007). "The Power of Information: An Independent Review". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
^ "The Government's Response to the Power of Information: An Independent Review by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg" (PDF). UK Government. June 2007. Retrieved 6 March 2019.