AN animal charity as appointed a new chief executive to help “grow its ambitions and increase its impact on cat welfare”.

Currently the secretary general of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, John May from Bicester will be joining Cats Protection in early November.

He originally trained as a teacher and has since been the national education director of Business in the Community, founding chief executive of Career Ready and chief executive of Young Enterprise.

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As the former non-executive director of UNICEF, Mr May also helped to found ‘Teach First’ in the UK.  

He said: “I’m absolutely chuffed to bits to be joining Cats Protection and look forward to supporting volunteers and staff as we work together to continue the development of this wonderful charity.

 “I’ve shared my home with cats for the whole of my life and, as an adult, have always had a rescue cat as a companion.

“I’ve benefited profoundly from the charity’s support to cat owners and can’t wait to join the whole Cats Protection network in championing the organisation’s homing and neutering activities, its advocacy for wider feline welfare, its vital education work and the impact that Cats Protection has in and on society.” 

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The charity’s chair of trustees, Kit Sturgess, welcomed the appointment and expressed his thanks to Dominic Sullivan who has acted as interim CEO since February 2022.

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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