A Message from Paul Ingram, Executive Director, BASIC
On March 1st, 2019, I handed in my notice to the BASIC Board of Trustees and will leave my position as Executive Director in the summer when a new ED is appointed, probably in June. I joined BASIC in 2002 as a senior analyst, and became its ED in late 2007. So that’s over 16 years in BASIC, over 11 years as ED. I think it’s a challenge for a small organisation to remain fresh with the same leadership for that long, and it’s a credit to the BASIC team and the Board that we have managed to retain an adaptive approach, redefining ourselves through several iterations. It’s now time to hand it on, and for me to change role.
I leave BASIC in a healthier position than it has been in a long while, with significant projects on practical disarmament steps, reducing nuclear risks and on establishing and charting nuclear responsibilities, funded by the Swedish, Dutch and British governments, as well as solid support from its traditional long term UK charities. The Board of Trustees is also going through a refresh, with a new Co-Chair in Dr Heather Williams of King’s College London, and the younger leadership has high ambitions to take the organisation to new levels of operation not seen since the 1990s. I wish them, the BASIC team and the new ED every success in this next chapter. I will not be leaving BASIC entirely, and have arranged to continue working as a Senior Fellow on the Swedish Stepping Stones (and Dutch Reducing Nuclear Risks) projects at least until the end of this year.