New Co-CEO leadership model for BookTrust

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

9 July 2025

The BookTrust Board of Trustees has announced an exciting development in the leadership of the organisation – the approval of a new Co-Chief Executive model, with both Diana Gerald and Annie Crombie jointly taking on the role of Co-Chief Executive Officer.

Under the new structure, Annie Crombie moves from her previous role as Deputy Chief Executive to take on the new role of Co-Chief Executive, alongside Diana Gerald – who has been Chief Executive since 2015. Diana and Annie will share responsibilities, working together closely to lead BookTrust as it continues its ambitious plans to embed reading into the lives of every family in the country, with particular focus on supporting children and families from vulnerable backgrounds, or on a low income.

BookTrust works at national scale to deliver behaviour change in reading – working with over 7000 delivery partners across the UK supporting children and families to read together. As the organisation grows its impact and reach over the next five years, this new leadership model will enable BookTrust to benefit from the complementary skills, experiences and perspectives that both leaders bring.

I’m delighted to announce this exciting new development in the leadership of BookTrust. This model of leadership is increasingly common in the arts, civil service, commercial and not for profit sectors and we are confident that it will work for BookTrust because it will maximise what both Diana and Annie can bring to the organisation and its goals. We have ambitious plans for the next five years, growing our impact and our reach, and we think that this new model will give us the strategic leadership breadth and capacity to deliver our ambitions.

John Coughlan, Chair of Trustees at BookTrust

I’m really excited to be taking on this new role as Co-CEO at BookTrust so that we can deliver our ambitious plans for children’s reading. Diana and I already have a close working relationship, and our collaborative approach will give us the external energy and breadth of leadership needed at this critical point in time. We are very confident that we can make it work well because we’ve been working together for six years – and we also know it will be fun.

Co-CEO of BookTrust, Annie Crombie

At BookTrust, we know that too many children from low-income families don’t get the start in life they deserve and how important reading is to transforming life chances. Annie and I have worked together for six years at BookTrust – she has been Deputy CEO for three years and we have been working together in a joint way for much of that time. I’m thinking about it this way: authors and illustrators work together to create great picture books – we are not sure which of us is which, but we know both are vital!

Co-CEO of BookTrust Diana Gerald