Mermaids interim boss promises improvement plan within 100 days

Mermaids newly appointed interim chief executive Lauren Stoner has pledged to develop an improvement plan for the transgender charity within 100 days.

The pledge comes as the charity tackles a Charity Commission investigation amid allegations of safeguarding failures.

Stoner, who had been chief executive of sexual violence victims support charity SV2 since November 2021, takes over from Susie Green, who left last month having led Mermaids for six years.

Last month the Charity Commission announced it had escalated its investigation into Mermaids to a statutory inquiry due to “newly identified issues about the charity’s governance and management”.

“Lauren acknowledges the challenges facing the organisation and says she wants to spend her first 100 days getting a clear plan in place to meet these head on,” said Mermaids.

In a letter to staff and supporters Stoner said: “I’m passionate about co-production, equity and culture and want to build organisations shaped by the people we support, where people can bring their whole selves to work.”

She added: ““Why Mermaids?”, you might be asking. Because young trans people and their families need great support now more than ever, and I want to support the charity to deliver that, now and in the future.”

Stoner’s other senior charity roles have included director of external engagement at VoiceAbility and development management roles at Papworth Trust.

“Key areas for me to focus on are ensuring that we understand our future direction and have the right people, right culture, right systems and processes to enable us to achieve that,” Stoner said.

“These are all big challenges and change can’t happen overnight, but I’m positive that as a team, and with support of our board, we can achieve our goals. We’ll share our progress and the lessons that we’ve learned openly.

“I’m not going to promise to resolve all of those challenges between now and the end of March. Instead, in 100 days’ time, I want to know that we’ve identified the root causes of our challenges, have a clear plan in place and are starting to address them in a prioritised way.”