A Merseyside Chartered Accountant has been named the new chairman of the North West’s only locally based cancer research charity.

Nigel Lanceley, a director at the Liverpool office of Investec Wealth and Investment will take the reins at North West Cancer Research after working with the charity since 2013.

He succeeds Michael Potts, who has been involved in the charity in a senior capacity for 22 years, nearly 11 of which have been spent as Chairman covering two stints. However Michael will now return to his previous role of President.

NWCR has also announced several other board level changes, including Frances Street who will replace Sheila Gill as Vice Chairman. Sheila will continue to work with the charity as a Vice President, joining Olivia Ley and John Lewys-Lloyd who were also named as Vice Presidents.

In his new role as Chairman, Nigel hopes to build on the strong foundations that Michael has put in place during his time with NWCR, continuing the charity’s clear focus on fundraising, so it can secure as much money as possible and continue to support cancer research.

NWCR funds vital research into the understanding of cancer and how better to detect, treat and prevent it at research centres at the University of Liverpool, Bangor University and the University of Lancaster. The cancer research which it supports directly benefits people living in the North West.

Nigel, who became a trustee of NWCR in September 2012 said:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Michael for his continued hard work and dedication to help drive NWCR towards becoming the successful charity it is today.

“Under his strong leadership and the executive team at NWCR, there have been some significant changes over the last two years, following the recent merger with Clatterbridge Cancer Research, new headquarters and new team members.

“This is just the beginning of our development as a charity. Over the next 12 months, our main focus will be on fundraising, as we seek to attract new supporters and fundraisers to help us meet the ever increasing demand for cancer research.

“Thanks to the help of our dedicated network of fundraisers and supporters, we can raise funds at the lowest possible cost to ensure as much money as possible goes into cancer research.”

Since its inception NWCR has funded more than £28million worth of cancer research projects at the University of Liverpool, Lancaster University and Bangor University. Last year alone it invested a record amount in funding increasing its funding commitment by almost 50% from £1.5million to £2.2million and this year it has already announced £1.4million worth of funding.

This will support projects looking specifically at cancer cell resistance to treatments, as well as facilitating the creation of six MRes positions for students at the University of Liverpool. It will also allow for the funding of senior research posts at Bangor and Lancaster.

Thanks to its dedicated network of fundraisers, volunteers and committees, as well as several legacy donations and investments, the charity is on course to meet its fundraising targets by the end of the financial year.

Anne Jackson, CEO of NWCR added:

“Fundraising is the important part of what we do – without it we simply could not support our investment in life saving cancer research. We are immensely grateful to Michael Potts and are looking forward to working with Nigel in his new role, helping to take the charity further and achieve our fundraising and research goals.”