The Forces in Mind Trust is delighted to announce the appointment of Meri Mayhew into the newly created role, Head of Policy.

Meri’s new role as Head of Policy involves responsibility for policy development, building influence capability and evaluation across all activities. She will ensure programmes have maximum impact.

Following fourteen years in the RAF, Meri worked and volunteered in the charitable sector, with interests in welfare, education, disability and health. Meri has been FiMT’s Development Manager for the last three years, joining the team shortly after the Trust was established in 2012.

Meri said “After three years with the Forces in Mind Trust, I am really excited about moving into this new role.  We are currently funding 25 projects and I’m looking forward to working with all our funded projects to achieve as much as possible with the evidence and outcomes they generate.”

Air Vice-Marshal Ray Lock, Chief Executive of the Forces in Mind Trust commented: “With three successful but developing years behind us, we now understand far better how to take forward our strategy of greater proactive funding.  Making major positive change requires an understanding of the relationship between input and outcome, and the power of influence to match.  With the creation of this new post, the Trust will become more effective, more targeted and ultimately more transformational.

“I am delighted that Meri was selected as Head of Policy.  Being the longest serving member of the executive team, she brings to her new post a wealth of experience, and an innate understanding of the environment.  The challenge now is to provide the greater coherence and focus our ever-growing grants and commissioning plan requires.  Exciting times ahead.”

FiMT is currently recruiting a Grants Manager; follow this link for a job description. Deadline for applications: 29 June 2015.

~ENDS~

Notes to Editors: For interview requests, photos or more information, please contact:

Alice Farrow at The PR Office on afarrow@theproffice.com  / mobile:  07788 540 924 / direct dial: 0207 284 6955.

  • About the Forces in Mind Trust: The Forces in Mind Trust came about from a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund, Cobseo (The Confederation of Service Charities) and other charities and organisations. FiMT continues the Fund’s long-standing legacy of support for veterans across the UK with an endowment of £35 million awarded in 2012. Since 2004 the Fund has given more than £88 million to programmes supporting veterans. http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/.
  • During its first two years, FiMT has commissioned seminal research reports such as the Transition Mapping Study (TMS) which reviewed how the entire transition process from military to civilian life currently works and how it is viewed by stakeholders and recent Service leavers.  The economic model developed for the report calculated the total cost of poor transition to the UK as a whole to be £113 million in 2012, whilst the report itself has been discussed across Whitehall and debated in the House of Lords.