THE next Third Church Estates Commissioner will be Dr Eve Poole, who will succeed Andrew Mackie, it was announced on Tuesday.
Dr Poole, an academic who has taught leadership at Ashridge Business School for 15 years, will take up the post in April. Her previous posts include working for Deloitte as a change-management consultant and running the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust.
Mr Mackie has held the post since 2013.
As Third Church Estates Commissioner, Dr Poole will chair the Commissioners’ Pastoral, Closed Churches, Bishoprics, and Cathedrals Committees. She will also be a member of the Commissioners’ Board of Governors.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said that Dr Poole had “significant leadership and management experience”, and was “a hugely skilled and distinguished leader with an exceptional record of service”.
Dr Poole said: “My first job after university was working for the Church Commissioners in the Pastoral and Redundant Churches Department, and what I learned then set me in good stead for my resulting career, at both Deloitte and Ashridge.
“It’s a great privilege to take all that I have learned in the twenty years since, and offer it back in service to the Commissioners.
“It’s a time of change for the Church, and for the cathedrals in particular, and I look forward to playing my part in shaping this exciting future.”
Dr Poole is the author of books that include Leadersmithing: Revealing the trade secrets of leadership, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Business Book Awards (Comment, 3 March 2017).
She is also chairman of Gordonstoun School, an independent school in the Scottish Highlands where the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh were pupils, and is a regular contributor to the Church Times (Comment, 21 December 2017). She spoke at the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature last month (News, 23 February).
The First Church Estates Commissioner, Loretta Minghella, said: “Among her many gifts, Eve brings a wide and deep understanding of the Church to this expanded role.
“We will also benefit enormously from her creativity and commitment and I look forward very much to working with her.”
Dr Poole joins Ms Minghella and the Second Church Estates Commissioner, Dame Caroline Spelman MP.