He has been a member of the board since 1 June 2013.
This appointment is made by the Secretary of State on recommendation from the chair of the EA and in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.
The role of deputy chair carries a responsibility allowance of £4,199 per annum.
Macdonald was appointed acting deputy chair on 1 March 2016. This announcement confirms his role as deputy chair.
He is also a member of the Audit and Risk Assurance, Remuneration, and the Flood and Coastal Risk Management Committees is the lead board member for Land Agriculture and is area board member for the West Midlands.
He is the chairman of Farm Africa, a trustee of the Earth Trust and chairman of the Food Standard Agency’s Action on Campylobacter Board.
He is currently a non-executive director at Dairy Crest and Moy Park and is the vice chairman of the National Institute for Agricultural Botany.
His previous roles include chair of the ‘better regulation task force’, in which he took on responsibility for the group’s implementation, and he was director general of the National Farmers’ Union from 1996 to 2009.
The EA is a non-departmental public body, set up under the Environment Act 1995 to take an integrated approach to environmental protection and enhancement in England.
It has major responsibilities in flood management, water resources and quality, climate change, land quality, chemicals, pollution prevention and control, waste, conservation and biodiversity, fisheries conservation, air quality and navigation.