News

It’s been almost three weeks since our new CEO, Karen Edwards, took to the helm at Derian House. Before she gets round to meeting you all, here’s a bit about her and what she’ll be getting up to here at Derian House.

After spending 27 years of her working career at another North West charity, Bolton Lads & Girls Club, Karen was overjoyed to be approached about the top job here at the hospice, and threw her hat into the ring straight away due to it being too good of an opportunity to miss.

One of the things Karen is most looking forward to about starting is getting to know all of the teams, both here at the hospice and out in our retail network, and also the 400 families we care for. In her previous role, she got to see a lot of the work that went on, and wants to have that same visibility to our families who use Derian House services.

Over the next three months, Karen wants to well and truly soak up everything ‘Derian’ – what our vision is, what our plans are, and enabling all of us to go on that journey together. There’ll be plenty of collaborative work going forward as she learns more about the world of palliative care… and she’s excited about all of it.

When she’s not heading up hospices, Karen enjoys singing, so she’ll be joining the Derian Voices as their newest member. She’s got a husband, Peter, two sons aged 12 and 13, and four dogs. They’re an active family, and enjoy lots of days out walking when the kids aren’t busy with their social lives!

FUN FACT: Karen hasn’t just climbed Kilimanjaro once… she’s tackled it twice!

…and if you thought you may recognise her familiar face, for fans of the iconic British TV quiz show Blockbusters – you’ll be surprised to find out that as a 17-year-old, Karen represented Wigan College and won all five ‘gold runs’, with her prize consisting of an all-expenses-paid trip to New York, a month down the East Coast of America, and a flight back to Miami on Concorde!