Council finds two directors

NEWS

The Design Council has filled two of its four vacant director posts. Its first director of research will be Angela Dumas, who has been the interim manager for research since last year. And its first communications director will be Paul Crake, former head of marketing and communications at Stirling District Council.

Dumas declines to comment and the Design Council declines to confirm her appointment.

Dumas’ permanent move means she may leave the London Business School, from which she was seconded to the council. She was director of the school’s Centre for Design Management when she joined the council in 1994.

The new appointments still leave two key posts unfilled, the director of design and the director of education and training. Interviews have been held over the past two weeks but a council spokeswoman will only say appointments are expected soon.

Crake joins the council in August from his post as public relations manager for Bromley Council. While at Stirling he commissioned the then McIlroy Coates to design a corporate identity for the council.

McIlroy Coates founder Andrew Hunter remembers him as “one of the best clients I have ever worked with”. Hunter says the council identity was “a brilliant case study in how to run a design project, including a paid pitch”.

Hunter adds: “He is extremely good at talking about design and he can do an enormous amount for the design industry.”

Crake says central to his role will be communicating the benefits of design to the UK’s business people: “There are no instant solutions to that problem.”