Congratulations, Hazel Cheeseman!

Hazel Cheeseman has been announced as the new chief executive of ASH.

She will begin her new job on October 1, taking over from Deborah Arnott who is retiring after 21 years in the role.

The news won’t surprise readers of this blog because I kind of predicted it in February when Arnott's 'planned retirement' was revealed.

At the time I wrote:

As for her successor, one would imagine that Hazel Cheeseman, her deputy since 2021, is the hot favourite.

And a year before that, having speculated that Arnott might retire, I noted:

I’ve no reason to suppose Arnott's retirement is imminent, but it didn't go unnoticed that in 2021 Hazel Cheeseman stepped up from director of policy to deputy chief executive.

I may be wrong but I don’t recall ASH ever having a deputy CEO (or deputy director) before, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she is being lined up for the top job when Deborah does call it a day.

According to the press release issued by ASH today:

Hazel was appointed by the Trustees following an open and competitive recruitment process …

I’m sure it was, but I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when the interviews took place, if only to know who the other candidates were!

The good news is that, although Cheeseman has worked for ASH for over ten years, she is significantly less prickly (with me at least) than the woman she is replacing.

On the relatively few occasions we’ve gone head-to-head, I can't remember things ever boiling over or becoming unpleasant or personal.

That said, I genuinely wish Deborah a happy retirement, although it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up in the House of Lords.

I wish Hazel well too. We may not agree on much but I hope we can continue to be civil to one another. It's not a lot to ask, is it?

See: Deborah Arnott - a tribute (of sorts)