NHWN Charity Granted CIO Status as New Chair Prepares to Take the Helm

The Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network (NHWN) has been granted approval by the Charities Commission to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and is preparing to welcome new trustees to its new Board.

Neighbourhood Watch is the UK’s largest voluntary crime prevention movement and sees tens of thousands of volunteers sharing information every week to help keep themselves and their communities safe from crime.

The Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network (NHWN) charity was established in 2007 to be a strategic voice for the movement and is supported by the Home Office and its sponsors ERA Home Security and the Co-op insurance.

The new CIO will be known as the Neighbourhood Watch Network (NWN) and its new board of trustees has already been appointed.

David Huse, OBE, pictured, who is an existing Trustee of NHWN, has been selected as the new chair and will take up his position later this year.

David started his career at Procter and Gamble as Sales and Marketing Director. He moved to Heinz as Sales Director before running the 2012 Olympic Games volunteer programme for the Mayor. In 2015 he was CEO of the Charity set up to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. He currently works with UNICEF and Deloitte on various projects.

The four additional new trustees are:

Joe Pearce – Treasurer – Joe has spent the last 8 years at Royal Bank of Canada in London prior to which he held positions at the Financial Services Authority and for KPMG, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and worked in both Audit & Advisory roles. Joe has a BSc in Economics from University College London. In his current role at Royal Bank of Canada, Joe is a Director for Strategic Initiatives and Finance Change Management where he is accountable for driving the prioritised initiatives impacting Finance’s data, technology, processes, and people across Europe and Asia. Joe manages a direct team of 34 and is currently responsible for implementing a new finance & accounting system into 10 geographical locations, for 14 operating entities.

Jessica Taplin – Jessica is currently CEO at v•inspired, the nation’s leading youth social action charity. Previously Jessica was CEO at Get Connected, the UK telephone helpline for under 25s, successfully leading its merger with Youth Net to create The Mix. Jessica also headed up Partnerships and Public Engagement at The Big Lottery Fund. In 2014 she won an ACEVO Judge’s Recognition Award for her people centred leadership. Prior to moving to the sector she worked for both News International & IPC Media leading on business development, multi-platform solutions and commercial partnership teams.

Rachel Griffin – Rachel Griffin joined Suzy Lamplugh Trust from Victim Support where she managed projects and policy relating to domestic violence, police and crime commissioners and partnership working. Previously she was at Voice for the Child in Care, where she established the Alliance for Child-centred Care. Before going into policy and development, Rachel was a fundraiser for five years, first at the National Deaf Children’s Society and then at The Prince’s Trust. She was a trustee of Prisoners’ Education Trust from 2003 until 2011 and she began her career as vice-president (women) at Oxford University Student Union, after graduating in Modern Languages.

Kirsty McHugh – Kirsty has been chief executive of ERSA since 2010, ERSA is the membership body for providers of employment support, during which time she has overseen a fivefold increase in membership and a major expansion of services.
Prior to ERSA, Kirsty spent nine years at Business in the Community, the national charity dedicated to responsible business. As Director for Regeneration, Kirsty led work on employment, regeneration and enterprise and as Director of Partnerships, Kirsty led BITC’s national delivery programmes, including a network of 100 local groups delivering regeneration, employee volunteering and pro-bono schemes.

Recruitment of the new board members was supported by Prospectus.