Judges say she's shown "outstanding leadership"
A Scottish charity leader has won a major award.
Roslyn Neely, chief executive of Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC), has been named Third Sector Director of the Year at the annual Institute of Directors Scotland awards.
She has undertaken a re-focussing of the charity, which was set up to raise funds for additional facilities such as arts and therapeutic design projects at Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh.
In 2017, the charity changed its name from the Edinburgh Sick Kids Friends Foundation to the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC).
The removal of the word sick aims to shift the focus away from why patients might be there. It is believed being labelled as sick can impact on children's self-esteem.
Awards judges said Neely had shown “an outstanding leadership performance in transforming and modernising an organisation through collaboration and entrepreneurship, the cumulative of which is the delivery of outstanding results in the past year.”
Anna Fowlie, chief executive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, which sponsored the third sector director award, said: “I’m delighted that the IoD’s Third Sector Director of the Year demonstrates the wealth of leadership talent across our sector.
“Roslyn Neely is an outstanding example of this. She has achieved so much at the Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity and I’m sure there’s more to come. I’d like to congratulate Roslyn and all of the other finalists on their great work over the past year.”
Neely told TFN: “Leading any organisation is a privilege but leading a charity is even more special. I have the pleasure of working alongside a terrific team, finding creative ways to transform the lives of babies, children and young people in hospital and healthcare.
“It’s lovely to receive this recognition of the effort we’ve put into modernising the organisation to make greater, positive impact. Each day at ECHC is an adventure and I’m grateful to all the people who join us on that adventure to help us make a difference.”
Scotland’s top directors were celebrated at the awards, held at the Hilton DoubleTree in Glasgow.
Twenty outstanding leaders collected awards in a ceremony that acknowledged the best in business across 11 key director categories and seven regional categories, including the new categories for innovation and inclusivity.
