Ruth Owen joined Leonard Cheshire as CEO in February 2021 after 17 years as CEO of Whizz-Kidz, a national children’s disability charity providing mobility equipment and services to young disabled people. A wheelchair user from the age of seven, Ruth believes passionately in the importance of independent mobility in a young person’s life and in removing the barriers disabled people face. In 2012, she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to disabled children and young people.