Amanda McLean has resigned as chief executive of the Institute of Fundraising, just four months after she took up the position.

McLean has reportedly resigned in order to pursue a better work-life balance and felt that she missed a direct connection to a specific charitable cause. She has resigned with immediate effect.

Her departure leaves the Institute without a chief executive or a permanent chair, following the departure of Paul Amadi in December. Alan Gosschalk is acting chair at present, with a permanent chair expected to be announced in July.

The Institute’s chief operating officer, Bruce Leeke, will act up in the chief executive role while the board decides on how to recruit a successor.

McLean’s tenure in the Institute’s top post seems particularly short in light of that of her predecessor, Lindsay Boswell, who stayed in post for a decade before moving on to head up a charity.

The Institute expressed “regret” at McLean’s decision, and Gosschalk said: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Amanda for her contribution to the work of the Institute over the past few months and to wish her all the very best for the future.”

McLean was the Conservative Party’s candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon in the 2005 general election but lost out to the LibDems’ Evan Harris. One of the last meetings she attended as Institute CEO was at the Office for Civil Society on 8 March, to argue for the continuation of the Institute’s strategic partner grant.