The National Council for the Training of Journalists has appointed four new trustees to aid the “next stage of its development”.

The NCTJ has announced the appointment of Jas Nijjar, Neil O’Brien, Abbie Scott and Jo Webster to the positions, and the four attended their first board meeting last week.

Jas is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants who spent 11 years at publishing company Pearson plc, while Neil has been commercial director of NLA media access since 2016.

Abbie is deputy managing editor of the Financial Times and currently chairs the NCTJ’s accreditation board, and Jo is deputy global editor for visuals at Reuters.

Clockwise from top left: Jas Nijjar, Jo Webster, Abbie Scott and Neil O’Brien

An announcement by the NCTJ states they “will work with the board and executive team to help take the charity to the next stage of its development”.

It adds: “The four trustees bring a range of skills and experience the charity has identified it needs at board level to build its capacity and increase its impact.

“They also reflect the broadening of the charity’s stakeholder base and borders, and the growing significance of its work on equality, diversity and inclusion.

“n 2018/19, the charity’s income increased from £1.2m to £5.9m and it pledged to make a demonstrable contribution to the future sustainability of quality public interest journalism.

“The NCTJ is a partner in the Community News Project, which aims to recruit and train more than 80 journalists to work in under-reported communities.”