In my limited experience of meeting Gretchen - just two or three times, and always in a relatively formal situation - I have to say that she appeared to be one of the best.
Whether any particular person working in NATS knows who she is or not is, perhaps, less important than whether the systems which she put in place within the organisation to help to manage safety are working. In this respect, judging from some of the comments in this thread, there are still a few dinosaurs in NATS who believe that if the controller does his or her job properly, then safety gets a tick in the box. Sadly, it seems that NATS does a better job at
PR - costing itself as a world leader in safety management - than it does at internal communication and maybe spreading a modern corporate culture.
After speaking with Gretchen, I, and I suspect many others, came away having had a thought provoking discussion - perhaps not agreeing with all of her views, but undoubtedly having gained something.
I wish her well in her new role. As others have suggested, SRG is not the most dynamic 'go ahead' organisation, and she will have many challenges in the months and years ahead. But it is probably far better that someone knowledgeable from outside now heads up the organisation rather than someone who has spent years climbing the ladder and lost touch with the real world.