INNOVATIVE charitable organisation ADVANCE has begun the search for a new Chair to spearhead its work helping hundreds more people across the UK lead independent lives.
The current Chair David Bettle, who is stepping down after some six years in the role, believes a rewarding and challenging experience awaits the right candidate.
We are looking for someone with the leadership, vision, drive and energy to continue the exciting developments which have been taking place within Advance in recent years.
In this fast-moving world of the voluntary sector a future Chair will never be short of challenges and should ideally have experience of this role within the voluntary, corporate or commercial sector, said David.
The 30 year old organisation based in Whitney, Oxfordshire, focuses on supporting people with a learning disability or mental health problem to live as independent a life as possible.
During the last five years Advance Housing has developed a rapidly expanding Home Ownership scheme by which tenants buy their own property using benefits to pay a part mortgage while Advance own and rent them a share.
I am very proud of the success of this very exciting area of development. We have helped some 200 people buy their own homes and it looks set to expand tremendously in years to come, said David.
Advance has also successfully set up Advance Working and Work-in-Progress, two Job Broking projects mainly funded by the New Deal for Disabled People, which has helped some 425 people into work in the Midlands and Berkshire area.
These are key achievements which are set to expand in the years to come and I am very proud to have been at the head of the organisation during this time.
I would have been happy to continue and will remain on the Board, but I believe six years is long enough in the role of Chair and the time is right for an injection of new blood, he added.
The organisationís turnover has more than doubled from 8 million to more than 20 million over the past six years and thanks to this financial stability, the board believes an exciting future lies ahead.
We are mapping out a new more inclusive policy aimed at including staff and those we support in the overall thinking and development and the challenge for the next chair will be to deliver this and continue to improve services to our clients, he said.
The successful candidate would be expected to ease into the organisation with a seat on the Board from immediate effect and the role of Chair from September 2006. A remuneration package is currently being considered.
Exciting future awaits charitys new chair
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