Yvonne Thomas has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of The Clink Charity and will be joining the company in January 2022.
Thomas joins having had three decades of leadership experience gained across public and private sector organisations including BT, The Ministry of Justice & Interserve.
Latterly, Thomas has been using her commercial expertise to advise organisations including charities and community interest companies, particularly those who help people find good jobs and decent accommodation.
Much of her career has been spent trying to find ways to support people who have offended in their rehabilitation journey. She is also a Trustee of the national charity, People, Potential, Possibilities (P3).
Finlay Scott, The Clink Charity’s chairman, said, “I'm delighted to welcome Yvonne to The Clink. The board of Trustees was hugely impressed with her vision for the future of the charity, strategy for delivering it and the experience she will bring to the role.'
Thomas commented, 'As the hospitality industry rebuilds following the coronavirus crisis, it will continue to face huge staffing challenges and has never needed The Clink Charity’s graduates more to help tackle the major skills shortage.
'I am looking forward to working in partnership with the Ministry of Justice helping to address the challenge of reoffending.”
The Clink Charity breaks the cycle of crime by changing attitudes both inside and outside of the prison, creating second chances and transforming lives whilst reducing reoffending rates for the benefit of society as a whole.
The prisoner students at each of The Clink Restaurants and other Clink training projects volunteer to be trained to gain their City & Guilds National Vocational Qualifications and benefit from the mentoring scheme in 32 training projects they operate across the country.