Outgoing Chair departs TLA after nine years

TURNING Lives Around has bid a fond farewell to our outgoing Chair Martin Ford who has stepped down from our Board of Trustees after nine years.

Martin became a trustee for the charity in 2016 and was voted in as Chairman in 2023. It was a long standing and personal interest in housing and homelessness that prompted his initial involvement and while this remains, he now feels it is time for others to take the lead.

“I’m a firm believer that charities do best when they renew their trustees at regular intervals,” explained Martin.

“I have enjoyed my time here immensely. It has been a very rewarding length of service, full of change, development and advances in the services we have been able to provide in Leeds and Wakefield, and a real difference made to thousands of people.”

Particular highlights during the last nine years for Martin have been the recent significant uplift in colleagues’ salaries and conditions plus the rebranding of Leeds Housing Concern to Turning Lives Around in 2017.

“We very much felt that the new name described what we did in as much as our services help to turn people’s lives around. It also had the advantage of not being restricted to one geographical area, enabling us to widen our reach beyond Leeds,” he recalled.

While Martin has stepped down from the Board at TLA, he remains a trustee for a mental health hospital in York, on the General Assembly of the Quaker Council for European Affairs and has just taken on the chairmanship of a new international organisation focusing on sustainable business and company ownership by staff.

“I shall miss being closely involved with an organisation that’s providing opportunities and making a difference to vulnerable people, and the reward that brings,” said Martin. “However, I have become a member of TLA so will be watching on with interest. I hope the new leadership will continue building on the charity’s 50+ year heritage while maximising the potential of the vibrant team of colleagues that make TLA what it is today.”

Thanking Martin, our CEO Steve Hoey said: "It has been a pleasure working with Martin over the last three years. He has supported me and led the organisation with a calm, steady hand. He brought his considerable professional experience to the role, and we are very grateful for all of his time, energy and service. We wish him well with his upcoming projects."