Animal charity Blue Cross has appointed Sally de la Bedoyere, current chief executive of the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, as its new head.
De la Bedoyere, who has been in the role at the PFRA for the last two years, takes over the role at the Blue Cross following the sudden departure of its previous chief executive in January of this year.
Kim Hamilton resigned from her role of chief executive of the Blue Cross following press allegations of impropriety at the charity.
It is expected that de la Bedoyere will finish her work at the PFRA at the end of October, before joining the animal charity in November.
She said: “I have hugely enjoyed my time at the PFRA working directly with some great charities and their suppliers. I shall look back on my time here with great affection and pride in what we have achieved together.
“I shall miss the team but know they are well placed to continue the important work of the PFRA. I very much look forward to my new role at the Blue Cross and making a direct contribution to the welfare of pets throughout the country.”
While at the PFRA, de la Bedoyere led the organisation through both the review of the Charities Act 2006 by Lord Hodgson and a subsequent inquiry by the Public Administration Select Committee.
She went on to join forces with the Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Standards Board to commission PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out a review of the future of fundraising self-regulation.
De la Bedoyere joins Blue Cross at a time when the charity will be investing significantly over the next ten years to “upgrade and improve current sites and open new facilities in areas of some of the county’s highest welfare needs”. The charity hopes to double the number of pets it cares for by 2021.
She takes over from Stephen Swift, who has been interim chief executive since Hamilton’s departure.
De la Bedoyere joined the charity sector in 2010 as firector of income generation at the RSPCA after a 25-year career in media, marketing and communications at Associated Newspapers and Rajar.
At the beginning of the year, Blue Cross criticised The Sunday Telegraph for its coverage of the suicide of a former employee, after the paper alleged that she had relationships with both the charity’s chief executive and its director of fundraising. Later on in the same week Hamilton stepped down from her role as chief executive of the charity.
