St Monica Trust is a local Registered Charity (202151) that gives older people the best experience of ageing. They support older people who live within one of their five retirement villages, four specialist care homes, the wider community of the Bristol City Region.
The Trust is proud of its reputation for quality and excellence and holds a unique position within its sector – contributing research, best practice, and innovation in social and specialist care for older adults.
St Monica Trust is proud of its’ heritage and history, and were seeking candidates who resonate with their values, behaviours, and standards, with the one aim of giving older people the best experience of ageing regardless of means. St Monica Trust values and endorses the continued legacy of care set by the founder, Dame Monica Wills, a century ago.
The Challenge
St Monica Trust approached Sandy Hinks Head of the Charity Practice at Moon Executive Search to search for several Trustees to join their Board particularly with skills in property/asset management, IT strategy, Artificial Intelligence or Robotics. Sandy also searched for candidates who could evidence commitment to the Trust’s priorities; the ability to guide, govern, inspire, and lead with commercial insight and people-centred compassion.
The Trustee Group were looking to appoint experienced individuals to apply their unique skills, passion, and experience to ensure the Trust’s strategy prioritises the needs of St Monica Trust’s residents, customers, beneficiaries and 1500 staff and volunteers.
These new incoming Trustees will play a vital and contributing role in progressing the Trust’s future ambitions, which include supporting local community organisations, offering more affordable rental opportunities, and reaching broader sections of the diverse local population.
Internationally recognised as experts in their field, the Trust owns a large-scale property portfolio and has ambitious plans for embedding robust IT systems to support better accessible living across their communities. From the outset, we saw this instruction as extremely high-profile, requiring a calibre of candidate that inherently understands how the region operates in order that they could leverage connections appropriately.
Due to the reputation of St Monica Trust, there was a high volume of interest from the candidates and the biggest challenge was ensuring that the shortlist covered each skillset whilst remaining diverse and well-balanced.
Our Approach
Sandy and her team reached out to their extensive community networks, not for profit and voluntary organisations as well as the local business and professional services community to discuss the opportunity and to advertise the role, outlining the goals and aspirations of St Monica Trust and provided the Board with timescales for the appointment.
Sandy then obtained expressions of interests and CVs from prospective candidates and individuals with the required experience and interests. She adopted a thorough search and screening process to fully assess each candidate’s experience, background, and assess those soft and hard skills against the search criteria to provide a combination of candidates. She looked at those who were not necessarily active in the market to short listing via our database and existing network of Trustees and senior contacts. We ensured that they had the confidence and technical knowledge to excel in the role and understand fully the future aspirations of the Trust.
The Solution
Sandy managed the whole campaign from the outset, thoroughly screening candidates against the search criteria, and managing the client and candidate communication from reach out to offer stage. Due to restrictions, the screening of candidates was done virtually. The candidates were questioned about what they would bring to the role, as well as being asked to evidence their enthusiasm, energy and be able to devote sufficient time to commit to the role.
The shortlist was drawn up based on the candidates experience of operating on a Board or major committee in a charitable, public sector or commercial organisation. The Board were delighted with the shortlist of candidates that they spoke to and selected two experienced leaders to join the Board.
Liz O’Driscoll was appointed based on her experience of collaboration across public and private sectors. Liz works as Head of Innovation at Civica and has experience with BAE Systems, Global City Futures and Exeter Velocities. Her experience of building stakeholder relationships, transformational change, and advocacy of technology for social benefit would be a great asset for St Monica Trust. Has a keen interest in the Internet of Things, AI and Robotics exploring ways in which these can help the Trust.
Anne Duff was selected by the Board based on her extensive strategic experience across many disciplines including HR, change management and governance. She is currently working in a voluntary role as Non-Executive Director with We Care Home Improvements. Anne was formerly Director of Corporate Services with Knightstone Housing Group and has a strong passion for people and housing.
Michael Bothamley, Vice-President of the Board of Trustees at St Monica Trust, commented:
‘Sandy and the team excelled in their efforts to source high-calibre candidates during testing times. The appointments of Anne and Liz fulfilled the brief perfectly. We chose Moon based on recommendations and Sandy and the team surpassed our expectations.’
Sandy Hinks, Head of Charity Practice at Moon Executive Search, said:
‘Michael and the Board were a pleasure to work with and amount of interest and the calibre of candidates at the shortlist stage were a testament to the reputation of St Monica Trust. The selections of Anne and Liz will add to the expertise and influence on the Board.’
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