Social care charity PSS has appointed Together Trust’s Jill Sheldrake as its new chief executive.

She joined North West based community support charity Together Trust in 1994 as a children’s homes manager, was appointed to its senior leadership team 14 years ago, and has been its deputy CEO and director of services for the last decade.

Eight years ago she was awarded an MBE for services to children.

She joins PSS in January 2025, taking over from Lesley Dixon who is set to retire.

‘I’m so excited to be part of PSS, an organisation I’ve admired for a long time,” she said.

“I’d like to thank Lesley for her outstanding leadership, which has laid a solid foundation for us to keep growing from.

“I’m looking forward to working with our team, partners and people we support to carry on making our services better and our impact bigger.

PSS chair Julie Cooke added: “Jill’s an excellent choice for PSS. Her understanding of PSS and all that we do stood out to us from the beginning.

“Jill will be a brilliant role model, an inclusive leader and will challenge how we do things to make sure we’re around for future generations to come.

“She’s clearly someone who will relish the PSS culture and she’s going to do great things with us. We’re delighted she’ll be at the helm when Lesley retires.”

Dixon will be semi-retiring in September before Sheldrake joins.

“I’ve truly loved working at PSS,” said Dixon.

“It’s fed my soul from the beginning in so many ways, and after 14 years, I still feel as inspired and proud of the work we do as I did on my first day – and I’m confident Jill will feel the same way as its next CEO.

“The people I’ve met, the stories they’ve told me about their experiences in life, and the ways our work has supported them will stay with me forever.”

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