📢 Exciting News! 🚀 Rochdale & District Mind welcomes our new interim CEO, Mike! 🤝👏
Mike Ruiter joins us with a wealth of experience and a passion for our mission. Here’s a glimpse of him at our annual staff day, where we came together to enjoy some fun activities, think about our wellbeing and enjoy each other’s company. 🌟
We’re thrilled to have him on board, leading us towards even greater heights. Stay tuned for amazing things to come under Mike’s leadership! 🎉
You can read more about Mike below…
“I’m delighted and feel privileged to have joined Rochdale & District Mind as Interim CEO. I would like to take this opportunity to briefly introduce myself and I look forward to getting to know many of our clients and supporters in the coming weeks.
I moved to the UK in 2011 and have worked in the charity sector ever since. My first role in the sector was with the YHA, where I focussed on developing projects that would enable more young people to get the opportunity experience the benefits of being outdoors.
Through this role, I was introduced to Devon Wildlife Trust, where I became general manager and led the development of a large-scale visitor centre. With a team of circa 25 staff and close to 200 volunteers, I was proud to open the site to HRH Princess Anne and welcome visitors from across the UK.
When I returned to the UK, I joined the RNLI as an interim manager to help identify how
staff could become more empowered with the aim for the tens of thousands of volunteers to feel more supported. This was a brilliant project that introduced me to all corners of the UK as well as hundreds of fascinating people, who all firmly believed in the cause of the RNLI.
I subsequently moved to Head of Operations for the Scottish SPCA at the start of the pandemic. Lockdown meant that rehoming animals, which the organisation had been doing successfully in more or less the same way for many years, had to be completed redesigned. And, with more people spending time in nature, our wildlife centre experienced an unprecedented influx of people reporting injured wild animals. To successfully navigate these challenges, we had to ensure that our team’s welfare came first, and we quickly build a culture of collective wellbeing.
In 2022, I realised that I missed travelling and that I wanted to be involved with a greater variety of charitable organisations, and I decided to become an interim director and consultant. I have since supported a number of organisations with a range of projects, including most recently, acting as Interim CEO for Redcar & Cleveland Mind.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Ruiter”
Posted on: 21st September 2023
