New Chief Executive for Iain Rennie
The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home (IRHH) has announced that Robert Breakwell will take over as the charity's Chief Executive on 1st February 2009. Maddie Blackburn, the current Chief Executive, is leaving due to family circumstances that were unforeseen at the time of her appointment a year ago. She will take up a London-based post with Children's Hospices UK at the beginning of February. The IRHH is grateful for all that Maddie has achieved in the time that she has been with Iain Rennie.
Robert Breakwell has been associated with the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home for over 20 years and has been the charity's Appeals & Communications Director since 1995. He has accepted the position of Chief Executive following a unanimous decision by the charity's trustees to invite him to lead the organisation. His appointment will enable the IRHH to move forward with plans for developing its services without delay.
Robert is 51 has lived and worked in the Chilterns area for most of his life. He grew up in Berkhamsted where he attended Ashlyns School . A business career in the office furniture industry at director level followed before the tragic loss of his first wife, Karen, who died of cancer in 1988 led to a change in priorities and career. Karen was cared for by the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home nurses and Robert's great passion for and belief in hospice at home care and the need for patients and families to have choices about their care at the end of life stems from this personal experience. Robert has since remarried, and now lives in Aston Clinton with his wife, Diane, and two children, Guy (14) and Eleanor (10).
Robert founded the highly successful Sgt Pepper concerts in Berkhamsted which led to the establishment of The Pepper Foundation, a separate registered charity, in the mid 1990s. The Pepper Foundation has raised over £2million and for many years has been the major funder of the Pepper Children's Nursing Team operated by the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.
After working with IRHH as a volunteer fundraiser and a trustee in the charity's early days, he took up the post of Appeals Director at the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home in 1995. Since that time, he has been responsible for growing the IRHH's charitable income from £80,000 in 1994 to over £2million in 2008. Since 2000, Robert has been a joint Deputy Chief Executive at IRHH working alongside the organisation's Director of Nursing, Sue Varvel . He also takes a keen interest in hospice care nationally and chairs the Income Generation Reference Group at Help the Hospices, the umbrella charity for hospices.
"I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead an organisation which does truly remarkable work caring for a growing number of patients and families each year," said Robert Breakwell . "The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home's strength comes from its people who share a common purpose in working together to deliver excellent care to terminally ill patients across the Chilterns area. Our nurses provide a vital service which is set to grow over the coming years in the light of the government's End of Life Care strategy. I shall work tirelessly to build on the great achievements of my colleagues and predecessors as the IRHH moves into a new phase of its evolution."
5th December 2008
