John Legg has quit his post as chief executive of the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) Scotland amid suggestions he may have been pushed out by London-based bosses.
Legg (pictured), a hugely respected figure in Scotland’s third sector, is expected to leave by the end of this month and made the announcement in a personal email to Scottish staff on Friday.
He is known to have been a staunch critic of moves to transfer Scottish RNIB staff to its sister charity Action for Blind People, which until now has had no presence or experience working in Scotland.
The move was branded as an efficiency measure but was heavily criticised by Scotland staff and members – some of whom mounted a campaign to stop it going ahead.
An insider at RNIB Scotland told TFN: “Obviously there's speculation among staff he was pushed for not toeing the party line regarding the Action for Blind People takeover.
“It's possible John just had enough of it and decided to go on his own volition, but we all think it most likely he was told his position was untenable.
“All of us in RNIB Scotland were stunned on hearing this. John was a hugely liked and respected boss, someone who was very supportive of his staff. He will be an extremely hard act to follow.
“He did a great deal for people with sight loss during his time as director, with some very real achievements.”
Over his 10-year tenure at the helm of the organisation Legg played a leading role in developing new services for the 180,000 blind and partially sighted people in Scotland.
Major milestones included the launch of Insight Radio, the Haggeye youth forum, the opening of employment and learning hubs and the refurbishment the charity’s Edinburgh and Lothian centre.
Most recently the development of Techshare Europe has seen it established as one of the leading technology conferences among disability organisations.
The charity's London bosses refused to confirm or deny if Legg had been forced to resign.
In a statement an RNIB spokesman told TFN: “After 10 years as one of RNIB’s senior leaders, John Legg, RNIB Scotland director has decided to leave the charity at the end of October 2015 to further develop his career outside of RNIB.
“John has led a strong team that has tripled RNIB Scotland’s reach developing an array of award winning services and set new benchmarks for service delivery and service user engagement.
"At a national level John has made a huge contribution to the work of the Cross Party Group on Visual Impairment, the Scottish Eyecare Group, the Scottish Vision Strategy and establishing Vision Support Services across Scotland in partnership with voluntary and statutory bodies.
“We wish John well in his future endeavours. We are now in the process of recruiting a new director to the role.”
Last month Asthma UK Scotland closed its Scottish office after a similar move saw it transfer management for its Scottish services to London.
