Phil Taylor OBE Chair of Trustees for Pact Expand Having completed 35 years’ service, Phil Taylor retired in 2013 as the Governing Governor of HMP Wormwood Scrubs. Awarded an OBE for his outstanding contribution to HM Prison Service in 2011, Phil’s career has spanned 12 prisons, including HMP Swansea where he supported and oversaw the development of the Community Chaplaincy scheme as a trustee. Phil also supported Pact and the Tudor Trust to enable the development of the new Family & Visitors Centre at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and developed a range of partnerships to improve the prospects of prisoners on release. Phil has been a member of the Butler Trust awarding panel, hosted BBC Question Time in the Wormwood Scrubs chapel, and participated in the Ministry of Justice Permanent Secretaries Front Line Forum for 3 years providing operational feedback to the Secretary of State and Ministers. As well as acting as a Coach and Mentor to senior managers across the prison estate, he has been a member of the Brent Social Mobility Commission chaired by Lord Jim Knight, and has acted as Project Director for an ESF project, The Active Inclusion Learning Network, a two year project (2013-15) working across the EU to enhance the employment objectives of the socially disadvantaged.
Sarah Mann Deputy Chair of Trustees Expand The latter part of Sarah Mann’s career in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice was spent in the National Offender Management Service working mainly with the probation service. She headed units responsible for the assessment and management of offenders (including intensive alternatives to custody and integrated offender management) and for the development and delivery of punitive and rehabilitative elements of community sentences. She was closely involved in the introduction of evidence-based practice across the probation service and led the development team that created the Offender Assessment System (OASys). Her career also included 18 months on secondment to the voluntary sector. She was a trustee of the Prisoners’ Families and Friends Service from 2012 until its merger with Pact in June 2014.
Nick Smart Pact Trustee and Pact Futures CIC Director Expand Nick has worked in the Criminal Justice System since 1979. He was Chair and CEO of the London Community Rehabilitation Company, delivering Probation services to 30,000 service users across the capital, from its inception in 2014 through its sale to private owners. Nick was previously CEO of Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust (SSPT). In this role, he led a pioneering project that resulted in a radical revision of National Standards for the supervision of offenders. He also chaired the Sussex Criminal Justice Board. Nick has held a wide range of senior management responsibilities within Probation. He has taught social work students up to post graduate level and was a front-line practitioner for15 years Throughout his long career, Nick has always been committed to the importance of the relationship between providers and service users at individual, family, group and community level, as a key factor in promoting positive change. Since stepping down from LCRC, Nick has sought to continue to contribute to the sector. In addition to joining Pact's Board of Trustees and becoming a Director of Pact Futures CIC, Nick is a Fellow and Director of the Probation Institute and is providing mentoring to third sector leaders in his home city of Brighton.
Margaret Hodgson Trustee Expand Margaret is a lawyer who advises the Ministry of Justice. She has advised every government since 1980 on a wide range of topics relating to the administration of justice, including the law on debt, housing, children, the enforcement of the civil and criminal law (including sentencing law) and matters relating to prisons and prisoners. She has been a supporter of Pact (and its predecessors) for her entire adult life: “I like its clear and simple determination to keep families in a relationship” says Margaret, “I like its understanding that hospitality, a warm welcome and a caring attitude is something that we must all practice. We make the world a better, kinder and happier place by doing so.” Margaret became a Trustee of Pact in 1994.
Wilf Weeks OBE Trustee Expand After graduating, Wilf coordinated a playground project for London student's union, funded by the Mobil Oil Company. He then became youth and community officer for the Conservative Party in London, working with charities and voluntary organisations, before moving on to two further posts at Conservative Party HQ: Secretary of the Federation of Conservative Students and the party's education officer. He ran Ted Heath's office for the next four years. In 1980 he co-founded GJW Government Relations, a lobbying company. He then sold the company to Weber Shandwick in 2000, where he continued to work in various capacities for the next eleven years. In 2006 Wilf received an OBE for services to the Arts in London. He has held a number of voluntary posts, including: The Chair of the Friends of the Tate, Trustee and Chair of the Board at the Dulwich Picture Gallery and Treasurer of the Hansard Society. Wilf became a Trustee of Pact in 2011.
Paul Booton BEd(Hon), MA, N.PQ.H Trustee Expand Paul spent 39 years in education working in Bath, Yate and Hitchin. During his time in education he had experience in finance and personnel issues. He had a particular interest in ensuring that students participated in sports and coached Rugby and Basketball teams. He represented the UK at the World Sports Congress in Italy and was a Trustee of the Hitchin Boys' School Charitable Trust. He has also served as a Borough and Parish Councillor.
Chris Garside Trustee Expand After 14 years as a Royal Naval Engineer Officer Chris has worked in the consulting, information technology and business process industries since 1990. He has designed, sold and delivered complex solutions to meet varied business demands. His career has taken him into many business sectors, two of which include Education and Criminal Justice where he recognised the importance of the services Pact provides to improve the life chances of offenders and their families. Chris joined the Pact Board of Trustees in July 2017.
Paula Harriott Trustee Expand Paula is Head of Prisoner Engagement at Prison Reform Trust. She was previously Head of Involvement at Revolving Doors Agency 2015-2107, where she provided consultancy to two Big Lottery programmes on service user involvement, as well as supporting the active involvement of the Lived Experience Team in the national Liaison and Diversion service. As Head of Programmes at User Voice 2010-2015 she led on development of service user involvement in prison and probation, as well as forensic mental health services. Her passion for working with excluded members of the community stems from personal experiences as a prisoner 2004-2012. Her personal experiences and associated research – The experience of being a female prisoner Listener, a qualitative study submitted as part of a post graduate diploma in integrative psychotherapy, and The Health Needs of Women Offenders in Resettlement, commissioned by HOB PCT – sharpened her commitment to raising awareness of the issues faced by prisoners and to campaign and proactively deliver services which support both prisoners and ex-prisoners to progress personally and strategically past the stigma of imprisonment and multiple exclusion.
Tom Leman Trustee Expand Tom qualified as a lawyer in 1994 and since then has been working with founders, investors, directors and corporates in connection with mergers and acquisitions, fundraising and corporate governance – not something you would automatically associate with Pact! However, Tom has had an interest in the criminal justice sector ever since studying criminology and penology as part of his law degree. Tom believes in positive change and leads his firm’s cultural change program, sits on his firm’s Community Investment Steering Group and coaches and mentors colleagues to be the best they can be. Tom wants to help change the narrative around criminal justice, make people stop and think about prisoners as fellow human beings and to make people prioritise rehabilitation over punishment.
Alastair Gordon Trustee, Hon. Treasurer Expand Alastair is a qualified accountant having worked for Arthur Andersen for 12 years. He then spent 10 years in various senior financial roles with Berisford International plc, a London listed conglomerate. This included 3 years in New York managing mergers and acquisitions and as CFO of the North American operations. This was followed by a further 10 years with SDL plc as CFO of this technology based translation business. He managed the Initial Public Offering in 1999 and a number of strategic acquisitions before stepping down in 2008. He subsequently held a number of non-executive directorships including Chairman of Plus500 plc, floated in 2013. As part of his involvement with SDL, Alastair helped establish the SDL Foundation to support small structural and sustainable charities, and Alastair chaired the Trustees board through 2017. The main objective of the Foundation was supporting early stage income generating schemes or education and vocational programs that lead to the participants being able to generate income and support their families. The Foundation was available to the SDL offices in some 40 countries and was specifically orientated to projects where the SDL employees were involved in giving their time and/or applying their personal skill sets to the benefit of the recipient organisations.
Cathy Corcoran Trustee Expand Having served as CEO of the Cardinal Hume Centre based in Westminster for 15 years, Cathy stood down from full-time work in 2018. The Centre works with homeless young people, badly housed families, refugees and migrants helping them to access the support and develop the skills they need to overcome the barriers they face. Putting each individual at the heart of its work, the Centre offers a suite of services from welfare benefits and immigration advice to English and digital inclusion, family activities and residential services for 16 to 21 year olds. With an income of £3.4 million, the Centre welcomes some 1,200 people per year, with a staff of 63 and over 100 volunteers. Before joining the Centre, Cathy was the International Director at CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development with ultimate responsibility for development programmes and emergency response across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and Eastern Europe. In addition to travelling extensively, Cathy was the main media spokesperson for CAFOD as well as a key player in its public awareness and education campaigns. In both roles Cathy was fully engaged in both fundraising and advocacy work. She has been a Trustee of various charities including Chair of the Caritas International Emergency Aid Commission based in Rome, Christian Aid, Jubilee Debt Campaign, and CSAN - Caritas Social Action Network. She is currently a Trustee of the Plater Trust and the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Cathy was awarded an OBE in 2002 for her contribution to co-ordinating the response to famine in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.