The next chief executive officer of the Diocese of Lichfield is returning to the city where she went to school after a career in banking and church leadership.
Sam Rushton, who will take up the post in April, grew up on a farm near Lichfield, which is now partly under the M6 toll road, and attended The Friary School, where she was the first female head prefect.
An Oxford University graduate, Sam entered the banking industry as a graduate trainee with Lloyds Bank, and then spent 10 years in strategy and planning, and programme management. During her career with Lloyds she undertook a number of strategic reviews at board level, including for Cheltenham and Gloucester, TSB Scotland and Lloyds Bank International, based in Geneva.
She left banking in 2002 to train for ordained ministry at Trinity Theological College in Bristol. She served her curacy in Bristol, then became diocesan adviser for licensed ministry, and in 2015, she became an archdeacon in the Diocese of York, serving in Cleveland and York as well as spending a year as director of strategic transformation.
The Diocese of Lichfield will soon be launching its strategy for 2025 to 2030 in 421 parishes in Staffordshire, the Black Country and North Shropshire.
Sam said: “As diocesan CEO I want to make it possible for every parish to serve their local community effectively and with joy, and to bring the Kingdom of God a step closer in their local place every day.
“It is a joy to be returning to Lichfield and I look forward to working with the staff at St Mary’s House whose reputation precedes them. I shall miss North Yorkshire, but it feels somehow fitting to be following in the footsteps of St Chad who journeyed from Lastingham on the edge of the North York Moors to Lichfield.”
The Rt Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield, said: “Sam commended herself to us with her career equally divided between banking and diocesan leadership, her passion for parishes and her grasp of what it takes to bring about effective change.”
The Most Revd Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York said: “The Diocese of Lichfield has made an inspired appointment of Sam Rushton as its new CEO. In the Diocese of York we have known Sam as someone who brings wisdom and experience from inside and outside the church with an analytical mind and a warm heart. So much of our diocesan strategy is down to Sam.”
The Chair of Lichfield Diocesan Board of Finance, David Wright, added: “Mrs Rushton’s broad experience of financial institutions and the church offer great confidence that she can steer a path between financial prudence and making sure that available resources support growing mission and ministry.”
