John Cooper joins CrossReach as chief executive officer

The social care arm of the Church of Scotland has appointed John Cooper as its chief executive officer.

Cooper will have overall responsibility for day-to-day operations and strategic developments for CrossReach, a charity that provides social care for over 14,000 people of all ages in Scotland. His focus will be supporting and expanding in the areas the organisation currently works in, including children and families, adult care, and older people services.

With over 25 years of experience across community, care and social work in both the voluntary and statutory sectors, Cooper joins from Angus Council where he has been working as head of community health and social care for the past three years.

His social care career started in community development at the City of Edinburgh Council, before working across other local authorities in Scotland as a team manager. He became a senior manager for children’s services at Dundee City Council, with oversight of children’s residential, fostering and adoption, before moving into adults and older people’s services at Fife Council.

During his time working for local authorities, his responsibilities included community justice, throughcare aftercare, children’s residential and fostering and adoption, care homes, Alcohol and Drug Partnership, commissioning, and adult support and protection.

Cooper succeeds Viv Dickensen, who retired in September after nine years as CEO and 30 years with the organisation.

‘This is an important time for CrossReach. We’re halfway through a five-year strategic plan that’s focused on growth and development, which has been expertly embedded and driven by the board and my predecessor, Viv Dickensen. It’s an exciting time, but it’s undoubtedly a challenging one, particularly as the parameters around the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government remain unclear, and the levels of unmet need across Scotland are startling,’ Cooper said.

‘There is much to do and we need to act, so we’ll be building on the relationships we have with local authorities and NHS trusts to ensure we’re a key commissioned partner to provide much-needed support across the country.’

Dr Mike Cantlay, convener of CrossReach, added: ‘The board is proud to welcome John as new chief executive of CrossReach, following a rigorous recruitment process. With his extensive experience across the social care sector, he is ideally placed to bring strong leadership to CrossReach and steer the organisation forward. I look forward to seeing him, together with the team, build on the solid foundation that he has inherited. We are already very much enjoying working with him.’