Member Article

Newcastle Carers Unveil New Leader Thanks to Experience Bank Group

Newcastle Carers has welcomed a new CEO into its fold ensuring that the charity, which supports carers of all ages, moves into a new era of opportunity.

Edward Gorringe brings to the role great experience of commercial and charity leadership, placing him in a position to build on the solid foundations handed to him by the board and his predecessor.

Board level recruitment specialist, Peter Neal of Experience Bank Group, assisted the board and its chair, Mary Youngs, on the all-important search for the perfect candidate. Edward shone out during the recruitment process as the ideal person to take the internal and external relationships forward at a time of change.

Mary, who took on the role of chair in September after being a trustee for over two years and is also a trustee at The Key, explained how important it was to find the right person:

“Our previous CEO left the charity in very good shape, so it was real challenge to replace someone so respected. But, as a board, this was an opportunity to evaluate what we wanted going forward. We put together a business case for investing in a recruitment agency as we hadn’t use one before and compared four or five agencies. Experience Bank Group came out as the favoured agency, and we were delighted to receive five very strong candidates to interview.”

Newcastle Carers provide a range of practical services and holistic support to those looking after someone, so everyone can access professional information and guidance. The experienced team ensure that carers and their roles are identified and recognised from adult carers, young adult carers and young carers.

Edward, who moved to the North East from Northern Ireland to be near his son and daughter who both came to University in the region and then settled here, held a similar role in a mental health charity and also worked within the Church of England Diocese in Durham. He is also a trustee at ReThink. Edward said:

“I was looking for a role where I could directly make a difference and see the positive impact of our work. Newcastle Carers is perfect for that – anytime I need to remind myself why I have taken on a challenge like this, I can simply spend some time with clients and remember why the work is so important.

“The recruitment process with Peter was really good – the fact that there were several interview stages gave me the chance to get to know the organisation. It allowed me the space to ensure my skills were a good match, and that I could do a good job, as well as the recruiter making sure I was the right person for the job.”

“I was delighted to get the role and am now really looking forward to working with such a dedicated and capable staff team. My priorities will include positioning the charity for the future, building on our existing strong relationship with our commissioners to support their vision, and looking for opportunities to expand our services through innovation, collaboration and partnerships.”

Peter said:

“Working with Newcastle Carers was a pleasure. They had a very specific skills set needed combined with the right personality – I enjoy a challenge and am delighted in this case we presented the perfect candidate. I am confident that Edward will do an amazing job.”

Mary concluded:

“Our decision to use a recruitment agency, particularly Experience Bank Group, was to improve the calibre of candidates, by marketing the charity and the role correctly and effectively to also bring an insurance policy for what is a very crucial role. Peter took the time to specifically understand our organisation and our challenges before starting his search. He represented us to the candidates well and brought forward the right people for us to meet.

“Peter is straight forward, cares about what he does and is trustworthy. We are delighted he led us to appoint Edward, who is a values led person all the way through, a characteristic that is essential for leading our workforce. He combines this with a top class set of experience in the right fields bringing a calm and warm leadership style, well suited to our internal and external relationships. We look forward to the future with Edward at the helm.”

Experience Bank Group incorporates The Experience Bank philanthropic, social enterprise company along with a commercial venture providing two, symbiotic services - EB Board Level Recruitment and EB High Performing Boards.

With this combination of specialist expertise, the Experience Bank Group is uniquely positioned to help organisations ensure they have not only the right skills in the leadership team and boardroom but also optimum board performance with higher value creation 5% of all revenue from Experience Bank Group is gifted to The Experience Bank social enterprise to enable more start-ups, early-stage businesses, charities and social enterprises access to high quality, advisory and non-executive talent.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Toms .