Chief Executive Natalie Ceeney, of The National Archives of England and Wales, has announced that she is leaving in mid March to take up a new role, as Chief Executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service. Ceeney succeeds Walter Merricks who stepped down in October after ten years in the post.
Ms. Ceeney issued the following statement:
It’s with a real mix of emotions that, after over 4 years here at The National Archives, I’ll be leaving in mid March to take up a new role, as Chief Executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service.
I’ve loved working at The National Archives, and feel very proud of everything that the organisation has achieved over the last few years. Over the past four years we’ve built up and really championed the Knowledge & Information Management Profession, which is going to be critically important going forward. And we’ve developed, together with partners across government, services such as Civil Pages (which launches to the whole Civil Service in April), and the Shared Service Digital Continuity Service (which is now tendering for a framework agreement that Departments can embed in their IT contracts). And, across the wider archive sector, we’ve developed a clear strategy which should help take the sector forward. I will really miss my current role, and miss working with my colleagues across government, but with my five year contract coming to an end later this year, it’s now the right time for me to move on, and let someone else take over the leadership of The National Archives and of the KIM Profession. I’ve got every confidence that The National Archives and Government KIM will continue to go from strength to strength, and that I’ll read about the latest news regularly in the press!
The recruitment of my successor will be handled by the Ministry of Justice. Given the need to do a full, open competition for my role, this will take some time. In the meantime, the Ministry of Justice have asked Oliver Morley, currently our Customer & Business Development Director, to step into the Chief Executive role on an interim basis. I’ve worked closely with Oliver over the past year, and am confident that he’ll do an excellent job. I will try and introduce Oliver to as many people as I can before he formally starts.
I won’t be leaving for two months yet, so I hope that, over that time, I’ll have a chance to say goodbye to everyone. And thank you for all the help and support you’ve given me, and The National Archives, over the last four years. I hope we can keep in touch.
