New Chief Operating Officer appointed at children’s charity

15/04/2022
Lesley Glen (KidsOR Chief Operating Officer)

AN AMBITIOUS charity has announced the appointment of a new Chief Operating Officer to help drive the improvement of children’s access to surgery in some of the world’s lowest income countries.

Lesley Glen, has joined KidsOR in the newly-created Chief Operating Officer role, bringing over 30 years of experience within the finance, business and strategy sectors.

Joining from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), where she also served as COO for 9 years, Lesley will play a key role in KidsOR’s continued expansion as it seeks to take a transformative role in the provision of safe paediatric surgery to low- and middle-income countries. 

KidsOR, launched by husband-and-wife philanthropists Garreth and Nicola Wood, has so far installed 50 paediatric Operating Rooms across Africa and Latin America creating capacity for 30,000 children’s operations annually.  The charity aims to install 120 new Operating Rooms in Africa by 2030.

Lesley Glen, said: “It’s an exciting time to be joining KidsOR as the charity plans for new developments and installations over the next few years.”

I’m proud and excited to be joining Kids OR at such a key time – I’m looking forward to playing my part in driving the ambitious plans to enable safe surgery for ever more children around the world.” 

Prior to her role at ICAS, Lesley held a position as Vice Principal at Stevenson College Edinburgh and retained her affinity with education after leaving the sector through a number of non-executive appointments, including time on the Boards of Stevenson College, SRUC and South Lanarkshire College.

Lesley graduated in Law from Glasgow University followed by undertaking her accountancy training at Strathclyde Regional Council, becoming a CIPFA accountant and prize-winner.

David Cunningham, CEO of KidsOR, said: “Lesley brings a wealth of experience from a variety of sectors which will help us reach new audiences while bringing fresh ideas to the way we operate.”

“These additional skills will be fundamental in helping us drive change across policy, behaviour and social views while continuing our drive to grow as a charity, making Lesley a real asset to the team.”

KidsOR is a charity tackling the global crisis in children’s surgery. You can donate to their lifesaving work by visiting www.kidsor.org.

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