This International Women\’s Day, Shaw Trust is delighted to announce three new appointments this month – all internal promotions – that see equality at its most senior group executive level.
Jenny Dillon (Managing Director for Specialist Employment Services), Jenny Woodrow (Managing Director of Employment and Skills) and Shelley Southon (Managing Director of Community Health and Well-Being) join the Group Senior Leadership Team.
These appointments reflect Shaw Trust’s wider successes in closing the employment pay gaps experienced by women.
This year’s gender pay gap report for Shaw Trust group, due to be published in the next month, shows an improvement with the Median Pay Difference falling from 4.5% in 2020 to 1.48% in 2022.
Shaw Trust has also committed to reporting its disability and ethnic background pay gaps. Of colleagues who have shared they have a disability the median pay gap is 0.4%,compared to colleagues who state they do not have a disability or long-term health condition. There is no pay gap between colleagues who state their ethnicity as white and those that state any other ethnic group.
Speaking about the changes, Sara Allen, Director of Policy, said: “I am personally delighted to be working with Jenny, Shelley and Jen as part of the our Group Senior Leadership Team. Each has demonstrated talent and commitment and has honed their skills within Shaw Trust and will now bring their fresh perspectives to the Shaw Trust senior leadership.
“As a recent Shaw Trust joiner, I am pleased to see the committed work Shaw Trust has done to reduce our pay gaps and will be pleased to contribute to future work to remove them. We all – wherever we work – have an important responsibility to foster pathways for all our colleagues, ensuring our future leaders fully reflect the gender, disability and ethnic backgrounds of our workforce.
“Shaw Trust shows an impressive commitment to internal progression and recognising talented women working across our organisation. The 2022 Future Leaders Programme, our fast-track executive programme, was made up of eight women and one man, and our current Chief Executive Shadow Board, offering opportunities for colleagues at the start of their careers, has ten women and two men participating.
“I look forward to working with all my colleagues – including our wonderful new MDs – to ensure we take seriously the responsibility to open the door wider for all those who follow us. Happy International Women’s Day.”
Shaw Trust helps more than 300,000 people every year by delivering a diverse range of not-for-profit public services focusing on care, education, work and wellbeing. It is one of the UK’s largest charities and employs more than 3,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales.
Our new Managing Directors
Jenny Dillon – Managing Director for Specialist Employment Services
Jenny Dillon joined Shaw Trust in September 2020 as the Head of Work and Health Programme. Since joining Jenny has led the CPA 1 and 5 delivery teams in both the Head of Programme and Contract Director role. Jenny began her career in welfare to work more than a decade ago and has gone onto to work in various employability programmes including Employment Zone, FND, Work Programme and Access to Work Mental Health Support Service, in various roles.
Jenny brings a wealth of knowledge, skills, and experience to her role at Shaw Trust. Jenny couples this experience with her strong belief in supporting and helping others. She possesses an understanding and experience of how the work we do genuinely changes the lives of individuals and their wider family. It is this knowledge that gives Jenny her sense of purpose for the role and enables her to lead her teams to deliver the best results for the contract, the business but more importantly, the participants.
Jenny Woodrow – Managing Director for Employment and Skills Services
Jen has over 20 years’ experience working in contract delivery across a variety of sectors including Retail, Employability, and Youth programmes, most recently as the Contract Director responsible for Shaw Trust’s JETS, Restart and IPES programmes. Throughout this time she has undertaken a number of roles overseeing Operations, Supply Chain Management and Contract Mobilisation. The common thread across her career has been to make a difference to society by driving performance through collaboration and innovation. Passionate about leading teams to empower them to make a difference, she is driven to deliver programmes that can make this country a better place and reinvent the ways in which we live. Jen is proud to work for Shaw Trust, an organisation whose values align closely with her own, and with the dedicated, passionate teams she works with across Shaw Trust and beyond.
Shelley Southon – Managing Director for Community Health and Well-Being
Shelley joined Shaw Trust in 2001 and has held a variety of roles across several teams in that time. She first started as a Management Accountant working in the finance team but moved later into operational management where she was able to utilise her financial skills alongside her passion for people and their development. In that time, Shelley has overseen and developed social enterprises, learning and skills services, employability programmes, consulted in Romania to set up of 8 social enterprises and most recently led the Health and Wellbeing division expansion and development. Her passion for people and the values we have as an organisation drives Shelley each day to push the boundaries of what we do, challenge the status quo, to grow people and services. Shelley is proud to work for an organisation that puts people first and to be a part of teams where the passion and hard work of each person can be seen every day.
