Sally Burton, chief executive of Shaw Trust, has stepped down from her role after nearly two years, during which time she instigated a new strategy and set about hiring lots of new talent into the top team.

Announcing the news in a statement, John Briffitt, chair of the Shaw Trust, said: "We are very grateful for her commitment to our mission to help people with disability and those at disadvantage find employment and live more independent lives."  The charity added that the decision to part ways was a mutual one.

Burton, who leaves the charity with immediate effect, joined the Shaw Trust in November 2009 following a 25-year career in the public sector. Her last role prior to the Shaw Trust was chief executive of Solihull NHS Care Trust.

On joining, she set about hiring lots of new staff. When Civil Society interviewed her in February 2010, she had already moved former retail director Nick Mason into a new role of director of business and performance and made Stuart Knowles, previously in charge of programmes as director of employment, the new chief operating officer.

Burton also created a number of new divisons in the organisation, including an operation division and a workforce and organisational development division.

As well as hiring new staff, there was also a number of redundancies during Burton’s tenure. The Shaw Trust paid out £915,000 in severance payments during 2009/10 to 15 employees who earned salaries of £60,000 or more.

The Shaw Trust had record income during the year of £96.6m, up from £81m the previous year.  It employed 2,552 people (averaged throughout the year), virtually unchanged from 2009 (2,562 staff).  However, its wages bill rose significantly – from £47.5m in 2009 to £53.7m in 2010.

The trustees are acting to appoint a replacement for Burton. Jerome Walls, chief finance officer and Steve Offord, executive director, are leading the organisation in the interim.