Deafblind UK appoints new CEO

Deafblind UK has confirmed the appointment Steve Conway (pictured) as chief executive officer (CEO).

The charity, which supports people who have combined sight and hearing loss, marks 90 years since it was established this year and Mr Conway’s first task as CEO has been creating and implementing a new strategy. 

Speaking about his new role and the strategy, Mr Conway said: “Our new strategy clearly sets out our direction of travel for the next five years, which will see us supporting more people living with combined sight and hearing loss across the UK. We have much to do to raise our own profile as well as the understanding of deafblindness and will be looking at increasing our service offering by investing in modern technology, and making our services more accessible to those with the greatest need.”

In line with the new strategy, the charity will soon launch a revamped website, which has been designed by agency Morse-Brown. The website will be fully accessible on all devices and will feature personalisation to enable visitors to have a bespoke user experience that focuses on their accessibility needs.

Mr Conway was a Royal Marine for more than 25 years, during which time he held roles including signals officer for the Special Boat Service, adjutant of the Commando Training Centre, director of land and amphibious operations in NATO Allied Forces North Western Europe, and commanding officer of Royal Marines Reserve Scotland.

On leaving the Royal Marines in 2002, Mr Conway joined NHS Scotland as a national emergency planning officer and was responsible for ensuring that the NHS could respond to large-scale incidents. In 2004, he was appointed chief executive of NHS Orkney.

He later became a director of strategy and support for NHS National Services Scotland before being appointed chief executive of Erskine, a Glasgow-based charity supporting veterans.