New appointments
Cats Protection Appoints New Director Of Central Services
19th May 2009
Cats Protection appoints new Director of Central Services
Cats Protection has appointed Helen Jacobs as the charity’s Director of Central Services.
Helen will be responsible for the charity’s core functions Finance, Human Resources, Procurement, IT and Property. She will be part of Cats Protection’s smaller Executive Management Team, created to shift the focus from administration towards helping the charity to improve on the 157,000 cats and kittens it helps each year.
As well as supporting Cats Protection’s 7,000 volunteers and staff to reach their full potential, she will lead the charity’s business planning, management information and budgeting, as well as develop new strategies for each of the core functions. Helen will be part of the charity’s Executive Management Team and report to Cats Protection’s Chief Executive, Peter Hepburn.
A biology graduate and animal nutrition postgraduate, Helen qualified as a chartered management accountant whilst working in finance roles with the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, and health and hygiene company Kimberly-Clark.
She then spent twelve years at Rolls-Royce, working in finance, strategic planning, business development, mergers and acquisitions, sales and IT implementation.
She is a former director of Design Council and UK Athletics, where she qualified as a chartered company secretary. Helen is a keen lover of cats, having fostered small animals for the RSPCA in the past and owned a pet cat, Bubbles, for almost 18 years.
Helen said:
“I am very pleased to be joining Cats Protection at this very exciting time. As the charity expands from its strong base of 252 branches and 29 centres, our 7,000 volunteers and staff will require more support to help them find homes for more cats. I am looking forward to leading efforts to provide this support, helping the charity to improve on its already excellent work.”
Peter Hepburn, the charity’s Chief Executive said:
“It was well worth putting a lot of effort into recruiting for this role, as it requires extensive knowledge of the functions that underpin the charity’s work and the vision to further improve them.
Helen’s breadth of experience, along with her enthusiasm for Cats Protection, makes her a natural choice and she will be vital in enabling the charity to help more cats in the future.”