Meet the people supporting young Londoners, their families and communities to live free from violence and exploitation.
Sherry Peck Chief Executive
Sherry has a wealth of experience working across the private, public and non-voluntary sectors. Her focus throughout her career has been, and always will be, the safeguarding of children and young people. Her approach is built on the understanding that children and young people are being expected to thrive in often brutal and toxic environments. This understanding drives her passion for providing the best opportunities to allow all children and young people to thrive and have positive futures.
Since taking up her position at Safer London Sherry has mobilised a team of talented individuals whose priority is the welfare and safety of the young Londoners and families that Safer London works alongside.
Sherry focus at Safer London is to deliver on the charity’s strategic aims, which will support vision of creating a city that is safer for everyone who lives here.
Katie Mitchell Deputy CEO
Katie is an experienced leader within the children’s charity sector with over 12 years’ experience managing and delivering services across the UK. Katie came to the third sector having worked as a teacher.
Katie’s achievements include heading up advocacy, early years, and services for young people with disabilities. More recently her work has concentrated on the successful running and management of charities – overseeing teams of talented individuals focussed on governance, business development, finance, communications, and HR. Katie has experience in setting the strategic direction of charities, contributing to policy and practice improvements and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.
Katie is passionate about inclusive practice and is a proud BSL and Makaton signer.
Kathleen Bruneel Head of Safeguarding & Quality Practice
Kathleen joined Safer London in 2021, having worked in various youth offending services across London. She has extensive experience directly supporting children and young people affected by violence and exploitation as well as managing practice teams and for the past 22 years, she has worked in both the statutory and charity sector, in the UK and Canada.
At the start of her management career, Kathleen contributed to a successful inspection of youth justice services and has subsequently driven quality assurance and strong case management in various roles, always striving to achieve the best possible outcomes for children, young people and their families.
As Safer London’s Designated Safeguarding Lead, Kathleen is passionate about safeguarding Young Londoners and supporting their families, working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders.
Alison Campbell Head of Practice
Alison has worked with vulnerable Londoners for 28 years, in a number of capacities, primarily in Substance Misuse, Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, Young people, Homelessness, Children and Family Services. Alison has worked in the private, voluntary sectors, and previously developed the first young people’s substance misuse service in Southwark.
Alison joined Safer London in 2018 and has held several positions in the organisation, working in roles covering supporting young Londoners affected by sexual exploitation, violence and County Lines.
Carly Adams Elias Head of Development
Carly Adams Elias is an experienced social worker and manager within the children’s charity sector; with 15 years’ experience specialising in supporting children, families and communities affected by sexual abuse, violence, exploitation and trafficking.
Carly has previously held national roles with both the NSPCC and The Children’s Society delivering, managing and developing services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes leading the national Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Prevention Programme, delivered in partnership with the National Police Chiefs Council and Victim Support; responsible for creating regional and national CSAE strategies, resources and toolkits to support improving practice in this area.
Through her work Carly has extensive experience of delivering training, influencing campaigns and strategic responses and contributing to policy and practice improvement.
John Moore Head of Business Development
John manages all income generation activity at Safer London, working in collaboration with staff across the organisation and through positive relationships with external partners, funders and commissioners.
John is an advocate for the unique power of charities to build fairer communities, and believes how charities raise their money defines whether they achieve this or not. He has 10 years’ experience in income generation roles in the charity sector covering business development and fundraising. This has included supporting all domestic services at the British Red Cross as well as securing contracted income in substance misuse and children’s services at several smaller charities.
Racheal Raji Head of Corporate Services
Racheal has over 18 years’ experience of providing innovative, high quality financial management including managing a portfolio of big public sector contracts and small grants
Racheal joined Safer London in 2018 as Head of Finance where she was responsible for leading the organisation’s finance function including overseeing revenue streams, financial planning & analysis, payroll, reporting and auditing.
Since 2020 she has been in the position of Head of Corporate Services and is responsible for overseeing the Finance (including Payroll and Pension) and HR (including recruitment) functions within Safer London. Racheal provides Finance and HR leadership offering a flexible pragmatic approach. She is trusted to provide detailed analysis and decision-making support across the organisation.
Janine McDowell – Chair Chair of Board of Trustees
Janine McDowell joined the Prison Service in England and Wales in 1989 as a Prison Officer at HMP Holloway and over the next 10 years worked at a number of establishments and in various roles before her appointment as Deputy Governor at HMP & YOI Feltham in 1999.
In 2001 Janine left the Prison Service and joined Sodexo Justice Services as Deputy Centre Manager at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre before appointment as Director – HM Prison Bronzefield in 2003. Janine was responsible for the start up and operation of this brand new prison for women from the opening of the establishment until taking up post as the SJS Operations Director, England & Wales in November 2007.
In January 2010 Janine was appointed Deputy Managing Director for Sodexo Justice Services in the UK with responsibility for operations and business development.
Janine was appointed as CEO Justice UK & Ireland in August 2015. In addition she is the chair of the Sodexo UK & Ireland Diversity Council and is a trustee of Safer London and the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion.
Fiona Hazell Vice Chair - Board of Trustees
Fiona Hazell is Director of Communications and Engagement at Breast Cancer Now, the UK’s largest breast cancer charity – following the merger between Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer which she helped to lead.
Fiona has worked in the sector since 2002, leading marketing, communications and policy and campaigns functions for a number of women’s health and equality charities. Prior to this Fiona worked for Fishburn Hedges, The National Lottery operator Camelot and KPMG. She lives in North East London with her partner and daughter and runs, plays tennis and gardens in her spare time.
Baroness Sally Hamwee Safeguarding Lead - Board of Trustees
Sally is a member of the House of Lords (appointed as a Liberal Democrat working peer in 1991). She has led for the Lib Dems on Local Government and Home Affairs, including Immigration. She has been a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and is Chair of the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Select Committee.
Her political background is in local and London government; she was a councillor in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames for 20 years and a member of the Greater London Authority for its first eight years, much of that time chairing the London Assembly. By profession a solicitor, she was a partner in the London firm Clintons which specialises in the creative industries. Theatre has always been a passion (she remains a stagestruck 18 year old at heart) and she is also a trustee of the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Sally has been a trustee since 2014.
Tim Jones Board of Trustees
Tim is a solicitor who worked at the international law firm Freshfields, Bruckhaus, Deringer for over 30 years and held a number of senior positions including Managing Partner of the London office. Between 1994 and 2000 he worked in Madrid.
He is Trustee of a number of other charities including Access Sport and Connection at St Martins. For a number of years he chaired the London Steering Group of Business Action on Homelessness and in recognition of that work was appointed by HRH Prince Charles as his Ambassador for Responsible Business in London 2010-2012. Tim has been a Trustee since 2013.
Dr Anthony Gunter Board of Trustees
Dr Anthony Gunter is Programme Lead for Childhood and Youth Studies at the Open University in the School of Education, Childhood, Youth & Sport (ECYS). Previously, he worked as Principal Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of East London.
Before embarking on a career in academia he worked for over 14 years in South and East London, firstly as a detached community and youth worker before taking on Project and Area Manager roles. His research interests and expertise are in the areas of: Black young people; youth cultures and transitions; serious youth violence and gangs; race/ethnicity, crime and justice; and policing multi-ethnic urban neighbourhoods. During the past two decades he’s carried out a number of ethnographic research studies examining and exploring contemporary urban youth subculture(s) and alternative youth transitions. More recently, his work has focused on serious youth violence with regard to: (i) current policy, policing and preventative practice aimed at tackling ‘street gangs’ and; (ii) youth led and community-based/ driven solutions and interventions.
Val Floy Board of Trustees - Honorary Treasurer
Val has worked in the voluntary sector for over 25 years, both at grassroots level and as a senior leader. The majority of this time has been spent in the children and young people’s sector, working in communities that have often been left behind in terms of service provision, and with cohorts of young people whose needs and ambitions have not been understood by policy makers and those providing services.
Val has extensive experience of the charity sector from a variety of perspectives including service delivery, safeguarding, quality assurance and operational oversight. In addition to being a trustee with Safer London Val has been a trustee for an international anti-slavery charity and more recently in a lottery funded heritage start-up organisation.
Val is committed to working in partnership and has been able to develop some really strong, mutually beneficial partnerships in both her current and previous roles.
Vaneesha Bailey Board of Trustees
Vaneesha Bailey is chief financial officer of cyber and intelligence solutions for Mastercard, a global payment technology company. She oversees the finances including financial planning and analysis, business development and strategy of the business unit that develops product solutions to ensure the safety, security and experience for consumers, merchants, partners and governments around the world. Prior to this role, Vaneesha relocated to Canada as chief finance officer of MasterCard Canada.
Before joining Mastercard in 2010, she held finance positions at HSBC as Senior Pricing Analyst and Cards Business Partner at HSBC Retail Banking division, based in the UK. She received a bachelor’s degree from Aston University in Accounting and Management, and qualified ACMA from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Born in London and living in Essex with her husband and son, she enjoys the best of both city and coastal life.
Gemma Bailey Board of Trustees
Gemma Bailey is a HR senior leader and business partner who has worked in the payments and financial services sector for over 20 years. Gemma has been at Mastercard for 14 of those years and, during her tenure, has held a number of senior global, regional and UK positions.
Gemma is married with two children and lives in Essex. Safer London is Gemma’s first Trustee position