CREATE’S CHIEF EXECUTIVE IS CHARITY TIMES’S HIGHLY COMMENDED RISING CEO STAR

Last night, our Chief Executive, Nicky Goulder was recognised with the prestigious Highly Commended award in the charitytimes Rising CEO Star category. After co-founding Create in 2003, she was appointed to the new position of Chief Executive in December 2012. Since then, our income has increased by 53%, enabling more than 3,000 disdvantaged and vulnerable children and adults to take part in sustained, life-changing programmes rated successful by 98% of community partners.

The citation read:

“Nicky has led Create to its most successful year to date, directly as a result of her passion and drive to make society fairer, more caring and more inclusive. Her commitment to disadvantaged and vulnerable people has helped transform the lives of more than 27,000 participants.”

In nominating Nicky for the award, our Chairman Eddie Donaldson wrote …

“I believe that Nicky should be recognised as charitytimes Rising CEO Star because of her passion and dedication to transforming the lives of society’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable people. As Chairman, I have witnessed first-hand her drive to make Create a centre of excellence. Never complacent, she leads her team to deliver the best possible outcomes for Create’s participants and community partners. When we appointed Nicky as CEO, I knew she would bring her vast experience to the table to meet our expectations, drive the charity, deliver new and innovative programmes in the community and increase Create’s income and visibility through new initiatives. As I suspected, she has done exactly this, meeting and exceeding expectations with grace and flair.

“Our Trustees, staff, community partners and funders often comment on Nicky’s dedication, professionalism, and integrity to effect positive change. Her vision and determination to make society a better place permeate all her actions, making her an outstanding CEO. Her commitment to disadvantaged and vulnerable people has had a profound and lasting effect on her team and the lives of Create’s 27,478 participants to date, who in turn go out to change their communities. Her ambitious plans for the next three years will continue to impact the lives of individuals and communities into the future.”

In commenting on the award, Nicky said:

“I have the privilege of leading an incredible, dedicated team of staff and artists and, thanks to the transformational grant that we received from The Queen’s Trust last year, we are on target to double the reach of our work by 2016. This award feels like wonderful recognition for all we are achieving as a team to help transform the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable children and adults through our carefully tailored creative arts programmes. I would like to thank our Chairman for nominating me, the judges for acknowledging our achievements and Lloyds Bank Foundation and The Rank Foundation for so generously supporting of my post.”

Charity Times’s Rising CEO Star award recognises “a chief executive who has demonstrated dedication, professionalism and integrity throughout their short career, and who has produced an identifiably profound effect on the sector through their work and management and shows great potential going forward”.

This piece is from 2014.