After over 11 years at Aspire, Chief Executive Officer of Aspire, Paul Roberts, will be stepping down and leaving the organisation in August 2024.

Paul said of his departure:

"After first joining Aspire as a volunteer fundraiser in 2012 and the senior management team in 2014, and following my appointment as the Aspire CEO in 2017, I have taken the incredibly difficult decision to leave Aspire Oxfordshire at the end of this summer, and to step down as the CEO.

I will be joining The National Grid in September, in a new community engagement role to support their efforts to lead the nation's massive transition over the next decade to onboard new renewable energy supply at scale, to accelerate the transition to net zero.

The Aspire trustees have responded promptly and empathetically to my decision and have put in place a recruitment plan to identify and welcome a new CEO. Aspire also has an experienced and capable set of senior managers to help weather this change and to maintain our strong relationships.

Leading Aspire has - without question - been the greatest privilege of my career so far. I want to thank everyone for their support to me and Aspire over these years. I will leave Aspire with an utmost sense of pride in what we've achieved in my time here, in spite of the many challenges the organisation has faced. I also leave with an absolute faith that Aspire's charitable mission and the social impact it can create, are more relevant and vital in our communities now than they have ever been. It is not the sort of job that you should do however unless you're fully committed to it and can do it justice, and so I know that now is the right time to identify and support a new leadership appointment to benefit Aspire.

There is a lot to celebrate and be thankful for, which I'll be taking the time to do later in the summer, but in the here and now, I'll be working hard as usual over the next few months!"