Capacitybuilders’ Simon Hebditch is to step down at the end of March, following a two year stint as the agency’s first chief executive.

Hebditch said it was now important that a new chief executive be put in place to take the organisation through to March 2011, and to win renewal through the comprehensive spending review until 2014.

He added: “For myself, I will always be a staunch supporter of the need to build the capacity of the third sector and the increased role it can play in our communities. I will be concentrating on playing a wider role in this development in future”.

Catherine Johnstone, Hebditch’s special adviser, has been appointed as acting chief executive in his place.