Lorraine Gailey steps down from Hearing Link after 31 years

After 31 years leading the work of Hearing Link, our Chief Operating Officer, Dr Lorraine Gailey, has moved on to new challenges. 

Lorraine has dedicated her career to supporting adults with acquired hearing loss and their families across the UK.

Her background was in psychology and speech & language therapy before joining the LINK Centre for Deafened People in 1988. She then became LINK’s Chief Executive in 1991, when its founder-director Rosemary McCall OBE retired. In 2008, Lorraine oversaw the merger between the LINK Centre and Hearing Concern to become the Chief Executive of the resulting organisation Hearing Link.

In 2017, following the merger of Hearing Dogs and Hearing Link, Lorraine became Chief Operating Officer with a remit to oversee the integration process between the two organisations. Now two years later, and after three decades at the helm of Hearing Link, she has left her role at the end of June 2019.

She said: “Leading the work of Hearing Link has been an absolute privilege. I have seen so many people’s lives transformed by the unique peer-led support it offers. To see them reconnect with their families, friends and communities after their world has been turned upside down by hearing loss has been nothing short of inspiring.

“Of course, Hearing Link couldn’t succeed without the determination, passion and positivity of our wonderful team of volunteers. They are at the heart of everything we do, showing others a way to live their lives fully again when they had almost given up; and I’m honoured to have been a part of helping make this incredible work happen over the past 30 years.”