OAPA was established on World Homeless Day to help those living on the streets, as well as ex-offenders and vulnerable veterans, find employment in the hospitality industry.
The Board of Trustees include:
- Jennie Koo, head of operations risk management for Capital One plc.
- Andy Hornby, chief executive of The Restaurant Group (TRG)
- Maria Stanford, people & talent director at Westbury Street Holdings (WSH)
- Mollie Stoker, deputy general counsel at Ocado Group
- Fiona Eastwood, chief operating officer at Merlin Entertainments
- Paul Pavli, hospitality expert and managing director at Paul Pavli Consultancy Ltd
With the support of Damian Chisholm, founder of Fraser Giles Partnership who assisted in the search and facilitated introductions, the role of the Trustees is to oversee the compliance and governance of the charity, whilst supporting founder Greg Mangham.
Over the course of the next year the charity plans to help support 250 vulnerable veterans, ex-offenders and those suffering homelessness back into employment. The long-term aim is to help a further 700 individuals back into work within three years.
Mangham said: “We couldn’t be happier with the calibre of experts we have making up our Board of Trustees. This is such an important time for OAPA and their insight and guidance will be absolutely fundamental as we grow.
“It’s well-known that homelessness numbers in particular have exponentially increased since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, so our role is more important than ever as hospitality enters a post-Covid world.
“As we look to the future of the charity, we will continue to run our Life Skills Hub, Veterans Life Skills Hub, and Hospitality Against Homelessness campaigns.”
The new appointments join the existing board members:
- Tony Sophoclides, strategic affairs director at UKHospitality
- Ben Stackhouse, founder and chief executive of PubLove
- Dulal Ahmed, head of structured coaching at Crisis UK
- Matt Wyatt, senior partner at Wellers
- Greg Mangham, founder and chief executive of Only A Pavement Away