The Coal Authority has appointed Jeff Halliwell as chairman effective from 1 April 2021.
He replaces Steven Dingle who has held the post for eight years.
Mr Halliwell’s executive experience is with consumer businesses such as Fox’s Biscuits / Northern Foods, First Milk and Bernard Matthews.
His background is in international marketing and commercial roles with blue-chip businesses including Mars and Colgate. He also ran a private equity backed tech SME.
Mr Halliwell is currently chairman and non-executive across private, public and third sector organisations.
He has been chairman of Cafedirect plc and Airport Coordination Ltd, as well as non-executive director of Working Links Ltd and Natures Menu pet food.
He has served as a Trustee of Shaw Trust and of Homestart Leicester, NED in a number of NHS organisations, and has been on the boards of two universities.
He is currently the chairman of Transport Focus (transport watchdog) and the Customer Engagement Group for Electricity North West.
The Coal Authority protects the public, drinking water and the environment in coal mining areas and seeks opportunity from the UK’s coal mining legacy. It also operates a 24-hour incident response.
The authority additionally works towards making a contribution to decarbonising heat using mine water and mine assets.