The fourth top executive to fill the shoes of long-time Sunshine Coast Community Services Society (SCCSS) executive director Vicki Dobbyn has handed in her resignation. Valerie MacLean’s last day with SCCSS will be Jan. 11.
The departure of MacLean will leave SCCSS with interim executive director Keely Halward at the helm until an executive search team can find a permanent replacement.
“She’s leaving for personal reasons that she really would rather not discuss,” SCCSS board president Helen Carkner told Coast Reporter this week.
Dobbyn retired from SCCSS (after 27 years with the society) in June 2013. At that time, the board decided to switch to a co-management structure, hiring Lucie McKeirnan and Diana Rae to fill the executive director role.
That structure was abandoned by the board in September 2014 when Tracey Wiseman stepped up as an interim executive director for SCCSS.
In December 2014, MacLean took on the position.
“It’s a key role and we had hoped Valerie would be with us for at least a few years,” Carkner said.
“We were thinking we’d have some young leaders that she might be able to mentor into taking on the role, because you always hope you’re going to be able to hire from within or at least hire from your local neighbourhood. But for her personal reasons she was just not able to do that, so we support her in her decision.”
The board has now hired executive search team Westview to find a replacement who will hopefully stay in the role long term.
“It has to be the right person. It has to be somebody who has experience in community services but also somebody that really has an outgoing personality and that’s a relationship builder. That’s key to us,” Carkner said.
She was unsure how long it would take for a new permanent executive director to be found, but she said the board has full confidence in Halward, who will take on the role for the interim.
“We know her and trust her and we feel the community knows her and trusts her as well,” Carkner said, noting Halward is the director of Together Against Violence programs with SCCSS and has helped fill the executive director role for short periods in the past.
