The trustees from Volunteering England who will sit on the NCVO board following the merger of the two umbrella bodies have been announced this morning.

Chris Wade and Tessa Willow will join the NCVO board while a third trustee, Lynne Regan will join NCVO's nominations committee which considers nominations for the trustee board.

The news follows the appointment of Macmillan Cancer Support and Guide Dogs for the Blind chief executives Ciaran Devane and Richard Leaman to the board last week. The trustee board for the merged body will comprise 14 members.

Last week NCVO chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington advised the merger is set to complete by the end of the year. In September the organisations announced a new directorate for the merged organisation that would put volunteering at the heart of the operation. The appointed trustees will play a role in driving this agenda. Chair of Volunteering England, Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs said:

"Chris, Lynne and Tessa are individually and collectively powerful advocates for volunteering. I am confident they will continue to champion volunteering within the merged organisation and give leadership and support to local infrastructure and national development."

Chair of NCVO, Martyn Lewis CBE, added:

"I very much look forward to working with Chris, Lynne and Tessa. Their volunteering expertise, as well as their broad experience of the voluntary sector, will be invaluable as we look to put volunteering at the heart of our work."

Tessa Willow has been the chief executive of Volunteer Centre Liverpool since 1998 and is chair of Volunteering North West. Chris Wade has worked at Victim Support since 2009, and is currently head of volunteering. Lynne Regan has been manager of Volunteer Centre Bexley for ten years.

Further staffing details for the merged organisation, including what role are yet to be announced.