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NESTA appoints new Executive Director of Policy and Research

25/10/2008

"Stian Westlake has an unusually exciting blend of achievements across the public and private sector."

NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts, announces the appointment of Stian Westlake as new Executive Director of the organisation's Policy & Research Unit.

Stian Westlake, currently a Senior Associate at The Young Foundation, officially takes up his new post in January 2009, replacing NESTA's former Executive Director in Policy & Research, Richard Halkett.

Stian has a strong background in healthcare, social infrastructure and corporate finance, having spent five years at McKinsey & Company in London and Silicon Valley as a consultant and project manager prior to joining the Young Foundation. He has also worked at HM Treasury, providing policy advice on public-private partnerships.

Stian's work at the Young Foundation over the past year has seen him leading investment in socially innovative projects including Healthy Incentives, a scheme based on the Nectar card model in which cardholders earn reward points for positive behaviour.

Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO of NESTA, said: "Stian Westlake has an unusually exciting blend of achievements across the public and private sector. His appointment signals a deepening of NESTA's commitment to imaginative research that will influence public policy today and in the future."

Stian holds a BA from Oxford University, a master's degree in finance from London Business School, and undertook graduate work in economics and social sciences at Harvard University as a Kennedy Memorial Scholar.

Contact:

NESTA Press Office: Jo Oakes on Tel: 0207 438 2609, email Jo.Oakes@nesta.org.uk, or Catherine Anderson on Tel: 020 7438 2609, email Catherine.Anderson@nesta.org.uk

Notes to editors

NESTA

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts. Our mission is to transform the UK's capacity for innovation. We do this in three main ways: by working to build a more pervasive culture of innovation in this country; by providing innovators with access to early stage capital; and by driving forward research into innovation, with a view to influencing policy. www.nesta.org.uk