Kids’ Village – the ambitious charity which is aiming to build the UK’s first holiday village providing free breaks for children with critical illnesses – has confirmed the appointment of Katrina Cooke as the charity’s first permanent CEO.
Katrina joins Kids’ Village from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, where she has most recently held the role of Chief Commercial Officer, having previously been the Director of Marketing & Communications
Prior to the Chamber, Katrina began her career at Aston Villa Football Club, where she held a number of roles in the Marketing & Communications department, with a focus on data analytics and customer insight.
Katrina joins Kids’ Village from today (Monday, 1st July), taking over the helm from Paul Faulkner who has held the role of Interim CEO since the charity’s relaunch in January.
Together with Chairman Doug Wright, Paul led the process to recruit a permanent CEO. Paul will continue to work with Kids’ Village over the summer as he hands over to Katrina, and will then look to take up an ongoing Trustee position with the charity as it aims to raise £5million in order to build the facility.
Commenting on the appointment, Doug Wright, MBE DL, the Chairman of Kids’ Village said:
I’m delighted to welcome Katrina as our new and permanent CEO. Kat has a wonderful track record of delivering projects and was the standout candidate through our recruitment process. She has all the attributes to lead Kids’ Village into our next phase and to ultimately bring the Fletchers’ dream of creating this much needed facility to fruition.
I am greatly looking forward to working with her and have always admired the exceptional work she has done in her previous roles. This is a very exciting phase of her professional development as she steps up into the role of CEO.
I must also thank Paul Faulkner for his excellent work as our interim CEO. He has done a stellar job managing us through the re-launch and advocacy phase. He has worked tirelessly to embed systems and processes into our charity. I am delighted he will remain with us as a Trustee as he will be an exceptional link to the business community.
Katrina Cooke, CEO of Kids’ Village said:
I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead Kids’ Village as its first permanent CEO.
The charity is inspired by founder Sam Fletcher’s own experience with childhood cancer, and the Fletcher family and Kids’ Village Chairman Doug Wright have my full commitment to making Kids’ Village a reality and to provide holidays for sick children and their families.
Paul Faulkner has done a phenomenal job in his role as interim CEO in the last six months, and I look forward to working with Paul again, firstly during a handover period and then in his role as a Kids’ Village trustee.
As a charity, our current task is to raise £5m to build Kids’ Village in Wychnor, Staffordshire and I would welcome the opportunity to meet with anyone interested in finding out more, getting involved, or donating to this important cause.
Sam Fetcher-Goodwin, co-founder of Kids’ Village said:
I’m so excited about Kat’s appointment at Kids’ Village, she brings great energy, experience, ideas and balance to the team. Paul has done a wonderful job as interim CEO and an equally wonderful job in appointing Kat. I can’t wait to work with her.
Paul Faulkner, said:
Katrina is an outstanding individual who I have had the pleasure of working with at both Aston Villa and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, where she played an instrumental role in commercial growth and developments.
I have seen her grow professionally and have no doubt that she will do an outstanding job as she steps into this CEO role.
Kids’ Village is a wonderful charity that I have been proud and privileged to be involved with for the past six months. As I have said many times, it is hard to believe that such a facility does not already exist for sick children and their families, and that gap in support is exactly why everyone involved with the charity is working so hard to raise the money that is needed to get it built and open to those in need.
I am looking forward to once again working closely with Katrina over the coming months as we hand over executive responsibilities, and then continuing to support Kids’ Village as a highly engaged Trustee moving forward.