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Rachel Takes Over the Reins
 Connexions Somerset – the county wide young people’s advisory service – has appointed a new chief executive.
Rachel Bendall, who has devoted more than 25 years of her life to helping young people, takes over from Peter Renshaw when he retires at the end of March.
Rachel has held the post of Transition Manager with Somerset County Council for the past 12 months.
Today, speaking about her appointment, she said she was looking forward to her new role and building on the excellent reputation Connexions Somerset already has for providing information, advice and guidance for young people.
She added: “When I became a single mum at the age of 18 there was a lack of support and specialist advice available. Since then I have had a passion for helping young people, whatever their problems might be.
“Today young people have even more complex choices to make and need to understand the wider implications, whether financial or otherwise, and the impact their decisions may have on future opportunities and their lifestyle.”
Rachel, aged 43, joined Connexions Somerset as Head of Partnership Development in 2004 before being seconded to Somerset County Council for 12 months to take up the role of Transition Manager.
She is originally from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and now lives near Chard.
Commenting on the appointment of the new chief executive, Connexions Somerset Chairman Heather Strawbridge said: “We are delighted for Rachel and the board is very confident in her ability to lead the organisation and ensure its continued success.
“As an organisation we are very fortunate to have a senior management team with the skills, experience and knowledge essential to drive the service forward and ensure our continued high quality performance in delivering services to young people.”
Speaking about her mission as newly appointed Chief Executive Rachel said: “My aim is to protect and develop the high quality services necessary for young people by working with other service providers to maximize the benefits to young people.
“It is also to ensure availability and approachability to guidance services for young people and their parents and carers to demystify progression routes and maximize choice.”
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