Town have announced that former club chairman David Sheepshanks has stepped down as chairman of the board of the PLC which owns 12.5% of the club. Roger Finbow, a former director of the club and member of the PLC board since its formation in 2007, is taking over as chair, while Supporters' Club chair Elizabeth Edwards is being added to the PLC board.
Sheepshanks, who will leave the PLC board entirely but remain a vice-president of Town, his only remaining involvement at the club, says he is stepping down now with St George's Park, the National Football Centre project of which he is chairman, set to open: "I am honoured to be a vice-president of the club and I will always have the blue and white of Ipswich Town in my veins!
"That said, with my various other commitments, not least to the FA at St George's Park, this is an appropriate time for me to stand aside.
"Roger Finbow is every bit as devoted to the club as any of us and is an excellent choice to succeed me. I will always be here to provide whatever help and assistance I can."
Lawyer Finbow, also a vice-president of the club, said: "I am stepping into some very big shoes indeed.
"For many years David successfully led and inspired Ipswich Town to achieve great things. He provided strong and effective leadership through the rough as well as the smooth.
"He has always had time for every supporter and has demonstrated a deep and genuine recognition of the club's position within the local community.
"We are all delighted that we will continue to see him at matches when his other commitments allow, and we know that he will continue to serve St George's Park with the same commitment as he has demonstrated to the club over the past 25 years."
Finbow says he’s pleased to welcome Edwards to the PLC board: "We are delighted that Elizabeth is joining the board. She is a lifelong fan, an associate director through her shareholding, a personal sponsor of the academy and has made a huge contribution to ITFC through her role as chair of the Supporters' Club.
"It is highly unusual for a football club in private hands to retain a shareholding drawn from its wider community - yet this provides an essential link to the tradition, history and community roots of the football club.
"The PLC board takes our responsibility on behalf of the wider shareholder and fanbase very seriously and Elizabeth will play an important role in both maintaining and developing the links between club and community."
Edwards added: "I am delighted to have been invited to join the board and feel very privileged and honoured to have been given this opportunity.
"Our club is far more than just a name or stadium - it is home to Town fans from Ipswich, Suffolk, East Anglia, the rest of the UK and worldwide.
"The link between club and community is just as important for our future as it was a part of our past. I look forward to developing the work I have done in my role as chair of the Supporters' Club and helping both to maintain and develop that link between club and community so that future generations can make ITFC their club."
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