Our Advisory Board

Meet the Team

Keith Jones

Keith has over 40 years’ experience in Retail, Operations & Financial Services in the UK, Europe & USA and an MBA from Manchester Business School. In a career including blue chip retailers such as Dixons Carphone, Kingfisher and Virgin he has also been CEO of two public companies, COO at Halfords and Managing Director of the PC World Stores Group & Group Retail Director for Dixons Stores Group.

More recently, Keith has applied his significant experience by operating independently as Chairman, NED, Advisor, Interim executive and mentor/coach to a range of retail, technology, services and financial-services-focused businesses. He chairs the Employment Advisory & Housing Advisory Boards for HMP Bedford and for the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Region, and contributes to the New Futures Network, all focused on creating sustainable employment and housing outcomes for people with criminal records to reduce reoffending.

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Sally Hopper, MSc, FCIPD, FRSA

Sally leads on all aspects of people management for a diverse workforce of over 8,000 staff at Hertfordshire County Council. Recognising the importance of attracting new talent into the workplace, in a competitive environment, Sally is keen to explore new pathways and pipelines to employment, which is what interested her in Fair Chance Alliance.

Outside of her ‘day job’ she is a Trustee for the London Playing Fields Foundation and believes in the benefits green spaces have on mental health and wellbeing.

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Mark Whelan

Havas UK comprises 20 agencies and 1700 people with a diverse range of capabilities across advertising and PR, media, design, investor relations, sustainability consultancy, employee experience and more. Mark joined the Havas family in 2008 through the acquisition of his company Cake, a pioneer in the branded entertainment space; taking brand marketing in a direction in music festivals, tv shows, fashion collaborations, music artist partnerships and dramatic stunts.

In a lengthy and eclectic career, he has won Cannes Lions, named several products and companies, creative-directed an Olympics experience, written for TV and film, created an alcohol-free sparkling wine and most recently become a regular speaker on AI. Mark is a trustee of Key4Life and on the advisory board for the Fair Chance Alliance, both of which work in the space to help ex-offenders find a new start in life.

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Rachel Evans, FCIPD

Rachel has 25 years’ generalist experience in HR and was appointed HR Director for Sodexo’s Government business (UK&I, Cyprus & Falklands) in 2018. She is a leader committed to driving positive, sustainable change with long lasting impact at every opportunity and already engages in various activities across the defence and justice industries.

Rachel is responsible for the people strategy for a 12,000 strong team and has harnessed her passion for people and used it to dynamic effect to make a positive impact for the team within Sodexo, and across the broader industry. Since joining Sodexo 17 years ago, she has become a formidable force, highly respected in her field and strategically engaged with the MoJ and MoD.

Rachel Co-chairs the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award Association, is an Advisory board member of Women Empowering Defence and a SSAFA Mentor.

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Patrick Burge

For over 35 years, Patrick has worked in and around sport, in direct marketing and marketing products, on Government funding and growth programmes, and as an advisor to many organisations on growth including tech start-ups, University spin outs, and more mature businesses. Lime Licensing Group is one of the best-known and respected franchising advisory firms in the UK. They help household brand names and SMEs that want to grow using franchising as their business model.

Patrick has had a varied career, including experience as an SME employer and colleague of people with lived experience of the Criminal Justice system. He knows good outcomes are possible, but is not blind to the challenges, and was therefore delighted to be invited to participate as an advisor to The Fair Chance Business Alliance, drawing on his direct professional experience.

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Dawn Moore, FCIPD

Currently part of the group executive committee at Murphy, Dawn is responsible for the people strategy and communications activities across the UK, Ireland and North America.

Dawn has proven, successful experience leading all aspects of HR, Health and Safety and Internal Communications. Areas of expertise include: HR strategy development and delivery, significant culture change and transformation programmes, Reward and Recognition, Diversity and Inclusion, Communications, Employment Law, Flexible and Family-Friendly working, Employee Wellbeing, Organisational Design, Employee Relations and Engagement, Mergers, Divestments, Acquisitions and Integrations.

As Deputy Chair of the HMP Berwyn Employment Advisory Board, Dawn was one of the first people to see the potential in an expert membership body like FCBA and started working with COO Neil Wood on this project before its inception.

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Neil Wood, FCIPD

Neil has over a decade of experience within the criminal justice sector and has also spent time working for the Timpson Foundation.

As COO of the FCBA, Neil’s responsibilities include delivering our strategic intent, enabling the membership value proposition and building out the Alliance so we can deploy collective employer action to solve one of the UK’s biggest challenges: removing barriers to employment for those often furthest from the workforce, which is good for communities and great for business.

Neil has both an MBA and MA in Personnel & Development, alongside being a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD. You can read more about his lived experience on his LinkedIn profile.