29th October, 2020

Suzanne Millard, current Managing Director of Regulated Services and previous Chief Executive of Guild Care, retires after seventeen years of service.

Suzanne, who recently moved into the temporary role to oversee the implementation of a programme of planned regulated service improvements, said: “A critical part of our service improvement plan was to ensure that following a difficult time in our care homes, we were able to implement new ways  of working. Thanks to the hard work of everyone at Guild Care the plans have reached fruition sooner than we anticipated.”

She added, “Not only have we implemented lessons learnt from the first wave of Covid-19 to ensure our homes are as secure as possible, but we have an excellent management team in place in the homes to continue the progress made into the future.”

Suzanne joined Guild Care in 2003 as HR Director, having previously worked for our charity in the Transport Department during the 1990s. She quickly progressed to the role of Acting Chief Executive before being asked to take the CEO role permanently. Her passion and dedication led to significant and positive growth for the charity over her 11 years of leading the organisation.

Suzanne’s legacy to our charity is significant and includes, but is not limited to, mergers with the Bell and Scope, expansion of our charity’s day services, redevelopment of the charity’s care homes and, more recently, the commitment to deliver quality affordable care to those who need it most, which led to Suzanne personally securing funding for and the development of our specialist dementia care home, Haviland House.

In recent months Suzanne stepped into the temporary role of Managing Director of Regulated Services following what has been the most challenging and difficult time in the health and social care sector, where she drove forward critical improvement plans.

Antonia Hopkins, Chair of Trustees, said: “We are so grateful to Suzanne for all that she has done for Guild Care, her experience, dedication and strong leadership have led us recently - with the onset of Covid 19 - through one of the most difficult times in the charity’s history.”

She added: “We now have a clear plan for our regulated services, are fully prepared for the future and are confident that Guild Care can continue to support the local community at this most difficult time. None of this could have been achieved without Suzanne’s hard work and dedication.”    

Suzanne will be succeeded by Alex Brooks-Johnson who recently stepped into the role of interim Chief Executive following a period as HR Director at Guild Care.