Dr Halima Begum steps down as CEO of the Runnymede Trust

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The Runnymede Trust is saddened to announce that Dr Halima Begum will be leaving the organisation in summer 2023 to become the new CEO of ActionAid UK, the international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty.

Sir Clive Jones CBE, Chairman of the Runnymede Trust said: “Halima has played a historically defining role leading the Runnymede Trust during one of the most complex periods in our 55-years working on race relations and civil rights in the UK. Steering us through Black Lives Matter, the Covid pandemic, and offering national leadership navigating the highly-contrived ‘culture war’ in which race has become a needlessly fractious issue, Halima’s contribution to the Runnymede Trust has been enormous.”

During her tenure, the Trust has published ground-breaking research in thematic areas ranging from the environment and climate crisis, to health, poverty, policing, the visual arts, and the experiences of women of colour in the workplace. Halima played a nationally significant role in combating inequalities related to the Covid pandemic including access to the vaccine, leading civil society’s response to the widely discredited report published by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, and building the Runnymede Trust’s staff team and partnership portfolio enabling the organisation to go from strength to strength.

Runnymede Trust colleagues and trustees would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Halima for all that she has done for the organisation these past few years. We will miss her enormously, and wish her every success in her new role.

“My time at the Runnymede Trust has been one of the most fulfilling periods of my career. Though there have been incredible challenges, including threats against my person that I have no doubt emanate from the futile attempt in some quarters to use the cause of civil rights and racial equity to divide the country, I have observed the British people become more and more willing to call out all forms of inequality - and those pushing back against such progress become increasingly remote from mainstream thinking.

“I am hugely proud of the role that the Runnymede Trust colleagues I have been privileged to work alongside these last three years have played in that process, together with our wonderful stakeholders and partners. I have never taken for granted the support and dedication of this truly remarkable group of people and the organisations they represent. I leave the Runnymede Trust with a heavy heart, but in the knowledge that the organisation is as prepared as it ever could be to continue shaping an equitable future for this great country.”

- Dr Halima Begum

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“Halima’s departure represents a significant loss to the Runnymede Trust, and we will be very sad to say farewell to an inspirational and dynamic CEO. Halima has enhanced the Trust’s reputation and work on race equality and civil rights for another generation. She has provided remarkable leadership both internally and externally. Halima leaves the Runnymede Trust well prepared for the future, and we wish her every success in her new role at ActionAid UK."

Sir Clive Jones CBE, Chairman of the Runnymede Trust’s Board of Trustees

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