Meet the new Mobilise CEO
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
Hi everyone, I’m Graham Footer, the new Chief Executive of Mobilise. I took up my post at the beginning of January and I must say I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to be part of Mobilise. This is a very exciting time for both Mobilise and me and I am looking forward to working with the organisation to develop its current plans, expand its membership and become the principal organisation in the UK representing the mobility interests of disabled people.
Before joining Mobilise, I served a full military career in the British Army, taking part in operations all around the world. I learnt an awful lot about people during my career and was able to gain a greater understanding of mankind from my interaction with people from all walks of life and various nationalities, often in difficult and traumatic circumstances. This experience has given me a very positive outlook on life and I bring that positivity with me to Mobilise, which I hope will rub off on those I work with internally within the organisation and also those I meet representing Mobilise outside the organisation. The wealth of experiences I had during my army career – some good, some bad – has stood me in good stead for facing the challenges that lay ahead, including those that face Mobilise and I am confident that we will not only face up to those challenges, but successfully overcome them and drive the organisation on to even greater success.
At the end of my army career in 2003, I joined St Dunstan’s, a charity that supports blind and severely visually impaired ex-service men and women. I became involved with St Dunstan’s whilst still serving in the British Army after my friend was blinded during an operational tour in Bosnia. I did some voluntary work with St Dunstan’s before joining them as a full time member of staff in 2003.
One of the things that attracted me to Mobilise was the outstanding amount the organisation has achieved in the past and the bright future Mobilise undoubtedly has. The campaigning achievements are simply outstanding and have benefited people with disabilities across the UK immensely over the years, and I know that we will continue that vital work long into the future. The charity has a feel of success about it and is leading the way in promoting mobility for disabled people.
The greatest challenges that face Mobilise today are to increase its membership and raise its profile. I will be working closely with the Board of Trustees on how we are going to achieve this. I hope you will all play your part in helping us grow our membership and raise our profile, which will give Mobilise a stronger voice and influence, which of course in turn, will benefit our members. I hope to meet as many Mobilise members as I can face to face and listen to your views and ideas. I am especially interested in what you think Mobilise should be focussing on and what you think are the hot topics that Mobilise should look at. I am always open to new ideas and new ways of approaching how we can achieve success, so if you feel you have some good ideas, please do not keep them to yourself, let us know them and let’s see where that takes us.
I hope to meet many of you at the regional forums that are planned for our members throughout the UK. The first of these is taking place on Saturday 13th March 2010 at the Days Hotel, Mill Hill, London (click here for more details). If you are not able to get to the first forum, or live too far away, all is not lost as there will be others later in the year. We are looking at venues in the North of England, Scotland, the West and Wales and Northern Ireland. Details of these will appear in future issues of Mobilise magazine. I do hope that you will be able to make it to one of these and I look forward to meeting you there.
I have already had the opportunity to get to know the team here at Mobilise HQ and I must say they are a dedicated, committed and hard working team who are doing their utmost to provide our members with the very best service they can. The spirit in the team is high and there is now a positive vibe buzzing around HQ as we all look to a bright and successful future for Mobilise.
Tags: membership
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