Children's surgery charity appoints chief operating officer from Icas

A Scottish charity has appointed a chief operating officer to help improve children’s access to surgery in some of the world’s lowest income countries.

Lesley Glen has joined KidsOR in the newly-created role, bringing more than 30 years of experience within the finance, business and strategy sectors.

Joining from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (Icas), where she also served as chief operating officer, for nine years, Glen will play a key role in KidsOR’s continued expansion as it seeks to take a transformative role in the provision of safe paediatric surgery to lower income countries.

The Edinburgh-based charity, launched by husband-and-wife philanthropists Garreth and Nicola Wood, has so far installed 50 paediatric operating rooms across Africa and Latin America creating capacity for 30,000 children’s operations annually. It aims to install 120 new operating rooms in Africa by 2030.

Lesley Glen has joined KidsOR in the newly-created chief operating officer role, bringing over 30 years of experience within the finance, business and strategy sectors.

Glen said: “It’s an exciting time to be joining KidsOR as the charity plans for new developments and installations over the next few years.

“I’m proud and excited to be joining Kids OR at such a key time - I’m looking forward to playing my part in driving the ambitious plans to enable safe surgery for ever more children around the world.”

David Cunningham, chief executive of KidsOR, added: “Lesley brings a wealth of experience from a variety of sectors which will help us reach new audiences while bringing fresh ideas to the way we operate.

“These additional skills will be fundamental in helping us drive change across policy, behaviour and social views while continuing our drive to grow as a charity.”

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