Member Article

Gentoo Group's Caroline Gitsham awarded MBE

Gentoo Group is thrilled to announce that Executive Director Vision & Culture, Caroline Gitsham, has been named in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

Caroline has extensive Local Government experience, having started her career in 1983, previously working for Middlesbrough, Langbaurgh and Stockton Councils. She joined Sunderland Borough Council as a Housing Manager in 1991.

Caroline was appointed Director of Gentoo Living in 2007, and cares passionately about working with people, social injustice and quality of life issues known as the ‘Art of Living’ at Gentoo.

She said of her award: “I was astonished when I opened the letter. I work in a great sector and for a fantastic organisation. Throughout my career I’ve had the support of people both at Gentoo and elsewhere and I love what I do.

“I work with brilliant people who make a real difference to our City and change lives every day and I am delighted to accept this honour in recognition of their commitment and contribution.”

Her agenda includes: Health and Wellbeing, Financial Wellbeing, Work & Learning, Community Empowerment, Volunteering, Safety, Support and Crisis and the BE Programme.

Encouraging innovation and creativity, Caroline cares passionately about people and is prepared to challenge established approaches to find better ways of working which are effective and sustainable and tackle the causes of issues not just the symptoms.

Peter Walls, Chief Executive, Gentoo Group congratulated Caroline, saying: “This is brilliant news. Caroline is one of the most inspiring of people, who enhances lives. I am obviously both professionally and personally immensely proud of her.”

Gentoo Group’s whole ethos is about believing nothing is impossible and finding new ways to challenge conventions, Gentoo aims to make society a better place to live and to make a real difference to the way people live their life. To find out more about Gentoo, visit gentoogroup.com for more information or follow @gentoogroup on Twitter.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Laura Facey .