A Director for a number of charities for over 20 years, Shirley’s passion is a belief in people, that everyone should have the opportunity to thrive and lead fulfilling lives.
Her work in secondary education, witnessing the level of disadvantage some young people faced, inspired a change of direction, and she joined DISC (now Humankind), where she worked her way from practitioner to Director for Employment Services, and onto creating their Business Development capabilities to secure their future. Joining CGL in 2010, Shirley was responsible for a portfolio of services, in and out of prisons across Scotland and England, before becoming their Director for Culture nationally.
Joining Bounce Back Shirley has come full circle, back to her passion and roots of education and employment. Shirley has held trustee positions for Whole in My Bucket and Citizens Advice Bureau where she now acts as a co-opted advisor.
You should know: Shirley loves the outdoors, including hiking hills with her dog and to travel.

Claire has been involved with recruitment, talent, and people development since 2002. At Working Chance, she built the UK's first charity dedicated to supporting women leaving the criminal justice and care systems into jobs in 2009. Returning to the private sector Claire then joined a CIPD Award winning HR consultancy to advise, facilitate and develop great places to work for FTSE 100 organisations. In 2020 Claire joined the Bounce Back family as a consultant project manager in tandem with work within the homelessness sector and MOJ before joining us as Head of Employment Services in 2023. Claire now leads our frontline teams delivering ETE services across both our criminal justice and substance use pathways.

You should know: Claire’s dream job if she wasn’t working for us was as Children’s TV presenter.

With over 25 years experience within the criminal justice system providing strategic and fundraising support for small charities Kate has received several awards including The Butler Trust Award for exceptional support for marginalised people.
Having worked with, and advised, several Philanthropists and large grant giving Trusts and Foundations on areas of need of funding, and the importance of good and regular evaluation, Kate believes building relationships with like-minded funders requires a careful, comprehensive and strategic approach.

With extensive experience in education and training, Karen is passionate about supporting people to develop confidence and skills to improve their life opportunities. She has been a senior manager in Further Education and led a team of Personal Tutors who provided support to thousands of students, helping them gain work-ready interview skills and improve their employability. Over the past eight years, Karen has worked in criminal justice learning, within Youth Custody, where she has helped young people successfully transition to life after prison. Since joining Bounce Back , Karen has developed the training offer and leads on the contract management for the prisons and community training.

You should know: Karen loves changing her hair colour and has tried just about every shade, except green.