TrustMark Appoints New Independent Chairman

23 Jan 2011

TrustMark, the Government-backed quality mark scheme for tradesmen, has appointed Liz Male as its new non-executive chairman.

Liz Male has 20 years' experience of building industry standards and consumer protection bodies, and a long career as a public relations and marketing consultant in the construction industry. She was head of communications for the NHBC, has advised many clients on campaigns that promote higher standards in building, and was also closely involved in the launch of TrustMark over five years ago.

Liz now runs a consultancy specialising in PR and sustainability communications, and works as a facilitator at Board level helping many organisations to identify and implement their strategic objectives and business priorities. From January 2011 she will dedicate three days a month in leading TrustMark and working with the Board of representatives from trade and consumer affairs organisations to strengthen the scheme and its service to homeowners.

Commenting on the appointment, she says:

"For many years I have tracked and supported consumer protection developments within the building industry, particularly within the RMI (repair, maintenance and improvement) sector which will become so much more important with the arrival of the Green Deal. It's a great privilege to put that knowledge to practical use now as Chairman of TrustMark.

"TrustMark achieved something that no one thought was possible, bringing together a diverse group of trade associations, commercial organisations, local authorities and consumer affairs bodies and helping them to agree a set of standards that would give homeowners the basic protections they need when carrying out essential repairs or improvements to their properties. Five years on, TrustMark now covers 26 separate trades and has the UK's largest database of accredited tradesmen. TrustMark's tradesmens' details were viewed more than 3 million times in 2010.

"My focus will be on working closely with the Chief Executive and Board to ensure TrustMark's brand awareness is further developed as well as ensuring the membership is grown across all trades, particularly with a future that will be dominated by the Government's ambitious plans to improve 26 million homes in the UK. There has never been so much interest in the accreditation and consumer protection standards needed in the RMI sector. TrustMark has many years' direct experience of what does and doesn't work in aligning so many different schemes. We must make sure that knowledge is shared with all the relevant Government departments and other interested groups."

TrustMark approves and monitors the work of 35 scheme operators who together provide access to over 17,000 registered trades operating to Government endorsed standards. It is a not for profit organisation, licensed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and supported by consumer protection groups.