St Anne’s Community Services, who operate in the North of England, is pleased to announce the appointment of Azra Kirkby as Chief Executive Officer and Mario Caswell as Director of Business Development.

These appointments, along with the recent appointments of Clynt Hall as Chief Finance Officer and Naseer Ahmed as Housing Director complete the planned changes to the Senior Management Team.

The new appointments will join long-standing directors Susie Maguire, Director of Operations, Quality and Safety/Deputy CEO, and Andrew Mason, Director of Human Resources. Azra and her new team are looking forward to enthusiastically leading St Anne’s in the next stage of its development.

A registered charity, St Anne’s will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary next year. St Anne’s supports people who live with learning disabilities, mental health conditions, substance use and people who are or have been homeless. The services include a variety of nursing, residential, housing and accommodation-based support, day services and community-based support.

Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Azra has extensive experience of leadership roles in social care, including more than 16 years with Leonard Cheshire, Real Life Options and NACRO after a successful career in the private sector. Azra joined St Anne’s as Interim CEO in late 2019 and has already made a very significant contribution to St Anne’s, including leading their response to the lockdown crisis.

Azra commented: “St Anne’s is a great organisation. I’ve seen first-hand the commitment and dedication of all of St Anne’s staff whether they are front line or in a supporting role and I’m excited at the prospect of leading such a superb team.

“While there are challenges ahead for the sector, I look forward to working with staff, clients and all of our stakeholders to ensure St Anne’s continues to be recognised as an organisation committed to providing excellent care and support to all our clients.”

Mario Caswell joins the board as the new Director of Business Development. Mario has a strong social care background, most recently leading Business Development, Marketing and Communications at Real Life Options.

As well as leading the organisation’s extension of community services Mario will be building positive relationships with local commissioners and overseeing marketing and communications.

Of his appointment, Mario states: “I am thrilled to be joining St Anne’s and I look forward to making a positive contribution to the organisation’s vision and the people it supports.”

St. Anne’s appointed Housing Director Naseer Ahmed in late 2019. Naseer will drive forward the organisation’s commitment as a housing association and social landlord. Naseer brings more than 30 years of experience in the social housing sector and has worked with numerous local authorities, housing associations, as well as the Housing Regulator.

Naseer has served as a board member at organisations including the National Board of the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Together Housing Group and the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. He also presently serves on the Board of local specialist BAME provider ‘Unity Housing Association’.

He said: “I’m pleased to be joining such a great team at an organisation that has an excellent reputation within the health and social care sector. I am looking forward to bringing my knowledge and expertise of social housing as we work towards offering our services to more people in the communities we operate.”

Clynt Hall joined St Anne’s some months ago as Chief Finance Officer after working within the industry for more than eight years. He joins as a qualified accountant after senior finance leadership roles at Danshell and Cygnet Healthcare and BUPA Care Services.

Clynt said: “St. Anne’s helps so many people within each of the areas it operates. I am delighted to be a part of the company and help drive our mission to provide care and support for even more people as we look to extend our services more widely.”

St. Anne’s is proud to be a leading employer for professionals from non-white communities and is a Disability Confident employer.


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