New charity chief’s drive for diversity
WELSH homelessness charity The Wallich has appointed a new chief executive.
Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, who has herself experienced homelessness, moves from NewLink Wales, where she was CEO for six years.
The Wallich’s previous chief executive Antonia Watson sadly died in July 2017. Joint-interim chief executives Darren Pritchard, director of finance and IT, and Antony Kendall, director of operations, oversaw the organisation during the search for a new CEO.
Mrs Cordery-Bruce has more than 18 years’ experience in the substance misuse field. She has previously advised commissioning groups, Welsh Government and managed a vast portfolio for the English Community Partnership including housing, domestic abuse and community policing.
She is co-author of a Substance Misuse Treatment Framework (SMTF), also known as the Recovery Framework for Wales, called Recovery Oriented Integrated Systems of Care, and is academically published on the subject of culturally-appropriate practice in the substance misuse sector.
The Wallich’s core objectives are getting and keeping people off the streets, and creating opportunities for them. Running more than 70 projects in 19 local authorities, it works with more than 5,000 people every year across Wales.
Mrs Cordery-Bruce’s appointment complements The Wallich’s mission to diversify its workforce. It pledged to ensure 25% of its workforce had lived experience of homelessness by the year 2020. The figure currently sits at 15.5%.
Mrs Cordery-Bruce said: “I am really delighted to join The Wallich. Having spent all my career trying to help disadvantaged people improve their life chances, I believe that the innovative work going on is incredibly important.
“For a period of time, as a vulnerable teenager, I did not have a roof over my own head and I understand deeply and personally how the services which our staff deliver, day in and day out, can make an enormous difference to people who have all but given up hope.”