A hearing charity – which received substantial backing from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership – has appointed a new Chief Executive.
Melanie Gregory will this month (October) take over as Chief Executive of The Ear Foundation from Sue Archbold, who is retiring. (Attached photo shows, left to right, Sue and the charity’s outgoing Chair John Atkins, with new Chief Executive Melanie).
The Ear Foundation, based in Sherwin Road, Lenton, Nottingham, specialises in helping hearing impaired children and adults through the latest technology.
It opened an additional facility at its headquarters – the £700,000 ‘Sherman Centre’ – in April 2015, to expand its range of services and staff numbers. The building was part-funded with a £120,000 Unlocking Investment for Growth grant from the D2N2 LEP.
Sue Archbold was the first employee of The Ear Foundation charity when it was founded in 1990, and has been its Chief Executive since 2008.
She said: “We have been extremely fortunate to recruit Melanie and, having got to know her well over the last few years, I am happy that I couldn’t be handing over to a better person.
“I know The Ear Foundation and its great team will be safe and grow in her hands.”
Melanie Gregory is a qualified speech language therapist and audiologist, and brings 20 years’ experience working with adults and children with hearing loss and their families. She formerly worked with hearing loss consultancy The IDA Institute and has worked extensively with cutting-edge hearing technologies.
The Unlocking Investment for Growth (UI4G) programme – which has now closed and is no longer accepting applications – was funded by the UK’s Regional Growth Fund and the European Regional Development Fund. UI4G grant awards were given by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership‘s Investment Panel, chaired by Peter Gadsby. The aim of the fund is to create long term sustainable jobs.
Grants already approved will create over 400 new jobs and safeguard a further 350 existing jobs. The programme has inspired business owners in the D2N2 area to invest over £20million, alongside the grant support of £4.7million, to grow their businesses. The programme was managed for D2N2 by EMB Ltd.
For more information on The Ear Foundation and its services go to website www.earfoundation.org.uk
For more on the work of the D2N2 LEP see its website at www.d2n2lep.org
Media wishing to know more about the work of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership can contact Sean Kirby, D2N2 Communications Manager, on 0115 957 8749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
