The chief executive of the social care charity the Together Trust is to retire in December.
Mark Lee, who has led the charity for 11 years, said he wanted to spend more time with his family after a 30-year career in the social care sector.
Before joining the Together Trust, Lee spent six years as a regional director at Barnardo’s and prior to that worked in several positions during an 18-year stint at The Children’s Society.
He said seeing other colleagues retire made him re-evaluate his position and consider how precious time was.
“What I’ve enjoyed most about working at the Together Trust is the sense of camaraderie and purpose,” Lee said.
“At the heart of everything we do are the people we support, their families, carers and all the staff who put their time and effort, beyond what you would expect someone to do, working together to try and improve lives year on year.
“My achievements have always been gained through working with an amazing team. No one person achieves things, you achieve as a team or as an organisation, contributing a little bit but achieving a great deal,” he said.
Jill Sheldrake, service director at the charity and who has worked with Lee throughout his tenure there, said: “Mark brought passion, dedication and authentic leadership. He has guided and led the trust through nationally difficult times, understanding the need to be agile and responsive to change.
“He has held the trust steady and striven for growth when the people we support required more diverse and specialist services, and he will leave the trust with over 47 services that provide outstanding support, in a strong market position.”
The charity said it had begun the recruitment process for Lee’s successor and hoped to make an announcement before the end of the year.