Industry veteran Terry Tyrrell is appointed Design Council's new Chairman

We are delighted to announce that Terry Tyrrell, worldwide Chairman of Brand Union, has been appointed as our new chairman.

Having started his career as a graphic designer and gone on to co-found WPP’s global brand strategy and design agency, Brand Union, Terry Tyrrell has championed design throughout his career, making him an ideal appointee for the role. A Design Council trustee for the past two and a half years, Tyrrell will take on the new role with immediate effect. As the leading authority on the use of strategic design in the UK, Design Council has entered a new, exciting phase of its development in 2016.

Terry Tyrrell said: “It is an honour to be selected as chairman of Design Council in this new phase for the organisation. As a trustee of Design Council, I get to see first-hand how fundamental design is to both business and society. Our aim, as we move forward under a new strategic plan, is to ensure that design receives the recognition it deserves.”

Tyrrell will assume the strong position built by the former Chairman, Martin Temple, who retired this week. Tyrell will also be responsible for supporting the new Chief Executive who Design Council is in the process of appointing. Tyrrell added: “Martin Temple has been an exemplary Chairman, taking Design Council successfully from a government funded non-departmental public body to an agile, enterprising charity that demonstrates the value of design. We wish him all the very best for the future.”

Martin Temple was responsible for bringing Design Council and Cabe together in 2011. We are now a leading authority on the use of strategic design, demonstrating the value of design linking innovation to creativity, boosting the economy and, through the work of Design Council Cabe, improving the quality of the built environment.

Temple added: "Terry will bring passion for design and strategic wisdom to guide Design Council through this exciting new chapter.  With an impressive track record of organisational leadership, Trustees are confident Terry will work with the incoming Chief Executive to drive forward Design Council’s new strategy.”

Under the new strategy Design Council is well placed to deliver a series of new large-scale programmes addressing issues of national significance; delivering positive social, environmental and economic change.