Ed Mayo (born 14 April 1964), is the CEO of the London-based

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

Pilotlight. He is the former Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, the UK trade association for

co-operatives A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

and former Chief executive of the British

National Consumer Council National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

(NCC) and CEO of the NCC's successor,

Consumer Focus The New National Consumer Council, operating as Consumer Futures, was a non-departmental public body and statutory consumer organisation in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland. It was established by the Consumers, ...

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Education

Mayo was educated at

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

– reading philosophy – and

City University Business School Bayes Business School, formerly known as Cass Business School, is the business school of City, University of London, located in St Luke's, just to the north of the City of London. It was established in 1966, and it is consistently ranked as one ...

. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (f ...

in 2007.

Career

After a short period as a

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

Andersen Consulting Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accentur ...

, Mayo joined the

World Development Movement Global Justice Now, formerly known as the World Development Movement (WDM), is a membership organisation based in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South. The organisation produces r ...

, serving as acting Director until 1992. Mayo rose to prominence as director of the

New Economics Foundation The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice". NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth ...

(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 The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

Foundation Trust A foundation trust is a semi-autonomous organisational unit within the National Health Service in England. They have a degree of independence from the Department of Health and Social Care (and, until the abolition of SHAs in 2013, their local s ...

s were an idea partly inspired by NEF and Mayo, particularly his October 2001 pamphlet, ''The Mutual State'', published with

Mutuo Mutuo is a British advocacy organisation and think tank that advocates mutuals and cooperatives. In anticipation of the 2010 general election, it published the Mutuals Manifesto, which was the subject of an early day motion in the House of Commo ...

, a think tank set up by the

Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fair ...

. NEF also co-ordinated the

Jubilee 2000 Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Churc ...

campaign during this time, for which Mayo was the strategist. It gained 24 million signatures for the worldwide

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

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 Dame Pauline Green, (born 8 December 1948) is a former Labour and Co-operative Member of the European Parliament and former Leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Party of European Socialists (PES). As leader of the PES, she had a central r ...

. He took up the position officially the following November.

Other activities

Mayo has also been involved in other regeneration, development and community projects. He has been on the board of

AccountAbility Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...

, War on Want, the

Fairtrade Foundation A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Asi ...

, the Local Investment Fund, Social Investment Forum and www.oneworld.net, a popular

portal Portal often refers to: * Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

on human rights, development and environment. He has advised

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

on enterprise and led the development of the new

Community Investment Tax Credit A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town ...

introduced by

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

. He is also an honorary Vice-president of the

National Federation of Enterprise Agencies National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. He was the founding chair of the

London Rebuilding Society London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

and is involved in his local community as a

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to t ...

of the MERRY charity, linking up communities in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

through music and culture. In the field of economics, Mayo is a fellow of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

and addressed the annual summit in

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...

from 2000 to 2003 on issues of economic change and

social inclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. It is used across discipline ...

. In June 2003, Mayo joined the NCC. That year ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' nominated him as one of the top 100 most influential figures in British

social policy Social policy is a plan or action of government or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform society. Some professionals and universities consider social policy a subset of public policy, while other practitioners characterize soci ...

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. 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 Tom Steinberg is a nonprofit leader and author, with a career history mainly in public interest technology, and in the profession of grantmaking. He is the co-author of the book 'Modern Grantmaking: A Guide for Funders Who Believe Better is Pos ...

was published in 2007; as was the official government response to it. He is married with three children and lives in

south London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

Publications

*''Poverty, social exclusion and microfinance in the UK'' with Rogaly and Fisher,

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

Books 1999 *''Brave new economy'' (

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

), NEF 2000 *''Banking and social cohesion'' with Christophe Guene, 2001 *''The Mutual State'',

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 National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and NCC * *

References

External links

Interview
with the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...