NSUN appoints new Chief Executive

Mandy Crandale has been appointed as NSUN’s Chief Executive Officer by the Board of Trustees, and will join NSUN on Monday 3rd June 2024.

Mandy joins NSUN with over 10 years of charity leadership experience, and has worked in a broad range of industries including hospitality, retail, and computer programming. Her previous experience includes 10 years with a user-led pan-impairment charity, Possability People, which is based in Sussex. Outside of work, she loves camping with her wife and dogs, reading, and a good game of Dungeons and Dragons.

Mandy said:

“I am honoured and excited to be approaching the start of my tenure at NSUN. It’s a truly incredible and unique organisation full of brilliant people who I look forward to getting to know, as well as working closely with the board to lead the next chapter of the NSUN story.”

Aimz Rushton, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said:

“We’re so excited to appoint Mandy to the role of CEO. NSUN is such an important and unique organisation, given its national reach and representation of both user-led groups and individuals with lived experience of mental ill-health, distress, and trauma. Mandy excelled in a competitive recruitment process and demonstrated a strong ability to recognise and appreciate this singularity of position within the mental health charity landscape, along with its potential. We so look forward to working alongside Mandy as a CEO who shares the same values and ambitions for the future as NSUN.”

Jen Beardsley, previously NSUN’s Head of Operations and Finance, held the position of Interim CEO from Akiko Hart’s departure in May 2023 until March 2024, when she moved on to a new role. Justin Irwin is currently in post as Interim CEO, and will complete a handover with Mandy in June. The Board thanks both Jen and Justin for their work during this period.