New Chair of the Board

We're delighted to announce the appointment of Sheila Sansbury as the new Chair of our Board of Directors. Sheila succeeds Susan Elston who held the post for 2 years.

Sheila Sansbury said, “It is a privilege to be appointed as the Chair of the Foyer Board. I look forward to building on my predecessor Susan Elston’s outstanding leadership and working with the Board to ensure the Foyer continues to have secure and effective governance arrangements in place to support its work. It will be exciting to work alongside Leona McDermid, Chief Executive, and the senior managers to ensure the organisation continues to be innovative, to challenge and address youth homelessness and poverty in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.”

Sheila's professional background is in community development and she has worked in the academic sector in an action research project aimed at improving the outcomes for children, young people and their families in a regeneration area and has worked at national level in the third sector organisation as Assistant Director. She worked at both national and international level with government and other public and third sector agencies to secure resources and to inform and influence policy development across children and family services.

Now retired from a senior management position at Aberdeen City Council where she had the lead responsibilities for the policy, planning and delivery of integrated children’s services, managing families and vulnerable learners’ services and early years and family learning services, Sheila joined the Foyer Board in August 2017.

Leona said, “I am very happy to welcome Sheila as the new Chair. She is committed to maximising the opportunities and improving the outcomes for the most disadvantaged young people within the context of their family and community. She is strong advocate of the added value that the third sector can make to maximising available resources to deliver services.”

“I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to Susan Elston who has been on the Board for 10 years and Chair since December 2017.  Susan has provided insight, brought a wealth of experience in the private sector and a range of expertise and knowledge which has been so valuable to the governance of the Foyer.”