NatCen appoints Executive Director to lead on diversification and growth

Kris Hicks joins the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) in May 2023 as its new Executive Director for Diversification and Development.

In this role, Kris will oversee and drive the delivery of NatCen’s new strategy, ‘Making Life Better: Having Impact through Social Research’, focusing on the future direction of the organisation in the 2020s. The strategy builds on NatCen’s legacy of excellence achieved over more than 50 years, delivering high-quality social research to inform policymakers about the big societal issues of the day.

Kris brings a wealth of experience to NatCen with previous appointments including Business Advisor to the Welsh Government, Economic Advisor to Mid Wales Growth Board and a Non-Executive Director of the South African Chamber of Commerce. More recently Kris was Group Acquisitions Partner at Recruitment Capital Ventures, where he was responsible for investment origination within James Caan’s venture capital portfolio. 

Guy Goodwin, Chief Executive at NatCen, says: “Kris brings a refreshing mix of innovation, a commercial mindset and a passion for society to our Leadership Team. These are exciting times at NatCen and Kris’ role is pivotal in helping us shape the NatCen of the future. He will lead on our diversification and development, enabling us to offer a broader range of research services and products to support our customers and wider society.”

Commenting on his appointment, Kris Hicks adds: “I’m delighted to be joining NatCen at such a pivotal moment in the organisation’s history and will be looking to take its vast expertise and knowledge out to those who would benefit the most. We will be driving the organisation into new areas of work, engaging both existing and new customers to deliver innovative products and services whilst maintaining the highest standards in independent research to inform policy and decision-making.”