Graham Findlay, CEO of North East Sensory Services retires
North East Sensory Services logo
Fiona Sandford, Chief Executive of Visionary and the Board of Directors of North East Sensory Services (NESS) send well wishes to Graham Findlay, CEO of NESS upon his retirement
Message from Visionary
Many of you know Graham Findlay, recently retired CEO of (NESS). Graham was a ‘weel kent face’ in the Visionary network and always cut a dash at our annual conference in his fabulous kilt (one year the famous kilt got lost between Aberdeen and Birmingham – but that is a story for another day!).
Graham was a trustee of Visionary from 2012 until he retired in 2022. He was the chair of Visionary when I came into post, and he made the transition into a new job so much easier than it might have been. As a Visionary trustee and chair, Graham was kind, knowledgeable, insightful and very funny. Graham has supported many of the Visionary members and he was always very generous with his time and expertise and never hesitated to offer help. I am sure you will all join Visionary staff and trustees in wishing him happiness and success for the future.
Fiona Sandford
Chief Executive of Visionary
Graham Findlay smiling, wearing shirt and tie.
Message from the NESS Board of Directors
Dear all,
I am writing to let you know that NESS chief executive Graham Findlay retired on 31 July 2024, following a period of ill health.
Graham has been involved with our charity for more than 30 years and his impact on our staff, the way we operate and the thousands of people we assist has been immense. He first started at the charity, then known as Grampian Society for the Blind, as a social work assistant. At the time, he had only recently been diagnosed with sight loss himself.
Graham worked his way up through the ranks to Senior Social Worker. On leaving Grampian Society for the Blind to take up another post, he served on the charity’s board for six years, before returning as chief executive in 2005. Under his leadership, the charity rebranded itself as North East Sensory Services, cementing our status as the leading provider of fully integrated joint sensory services in Scotland. He also oversaw the expansion of our added-value services and led the charity through the Covid pandemic, writing to staff every day during lockdown to check they were OK.
Graham was an inspiration to many people at NESS, quite simply because he embodied our mission of achieving independence for those with sensory loss in everything he did. On behalf of everyone at the charity and the many people whose lives he has touched through his work here; I would like to wish him the very best for the future.
Yours faithfully,
NESS Board of Directors
End
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