A new era for the Vivensa Foundation
After nearly ten years at the helm, Susan Kay deservedly sails into retirement at the end of the year. The Vivensa Foundation is delighted to announce that its new Chief Executive Officer is Katy Saunders. Katy says:
“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the Vivensa Foundation. Together with the team and our partners, I look forward to building on the Foundation’s powerful work to fund the remarkable science and radical social change needed to help everyone age well. We are at a pivotal moment for health and social care. I am excited to lead us into our next chapter of impact, as we continue to invest in those who have great ideas and methods for improving the health and wellbeing of older people.”
Katy has expertise across all parts of the health and social care ecosystem, having worked within the NHS for over 20 years and for a large healthcare charity. She has been with Social Finance since 2019, working her way up from Associate Director to Director then Executive Director of Investment and Strategic Partnerships. She works across Social Finance’s social investment portfolio and provides independent, expert advice to large charities on market analysis and strategic diversification of their business models. She pioneered a non-profit social investment model in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support which resulted in the launch of the highly successful Macmillan End-of-Life Care Fund.
She has extensive experience of service transformation, cost benefit analysis, outcome measurement and how to successfully scale impact. Projects include the development of an HSJ-nominated new model of care for heart failure; prototype and scale of the first Macmillan Cancer Navigator; and work to achieve ‘most improved’ NHS Trust for patient experience. Katy is a Trustee of the Health Creation Alliance (opens new window) and a member of Women In Social Finance. (opens new window)Her work has been published in the HSJ, Healthcare Leader and HMFA (opens new window), the professional organisation for healthcare finance.
Katy will spend a period of time working alongside the current Chief Executive, Susan Kay, before she leaves in December. Susan says:
"The last nine-and-a half years have been quite a journey. I’ve met and worked with some enormously talented people and had the opportunity to support some truly transformational work along the way. I’m thrilled to be handing the tiller to someone who I’m confident will hold dear the values and principles which have come to define us at the Vivensa Foundation.”
Jeremy Porteus, CEO of the Housing LIN, added:
“On behalf of all the Housing LIN crew, I’d like to offer our heartfelt thanks and best wishes to Sue as she sails off into the sunset for a well-earned retirement. It’s been a real pleasure collaborating with her and the Vivensa Foundation on a number of horizon-scanning Vivensa-funded programmes — from the Technology for our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation (TAPPI) and Amar Bari, Amar Jibon research projects, to the Serious Game and more. Her leadership has helped steer advances in policy and practice and navigate uncharted routes to innovation, positively impacting later life housing and care. We now very much look forward to working with Katy as she takes up the baton and leads the Foundation’s Flagship Programme for its upcoming strategic plan period”.