Christopher Stacey - Chief Executive Expand Christopher joined Prisoners Abroad as Chief Executive in May 2023. Christopher is responsible leading the organisation, the governance of the charity and ensuring it is achieving its strategic goals, working with a dynamic and motivated board of trustees and a passionate and committed team of around 25 staff and many volunteers. Christopher has over 15 years experience of working in the criminal justice voluntary sector. Prior to joining Prisoners Abroad, Christopher was Director of Support and Development at Clinks between February 2021 and May 2023, and was acting Co-Chief Executive between June and September 2021. Christopher led Clinks’ work in supporting the voluntary sector, working closely with the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service to deliver a programme of infrastructure support to small and specialist voluntary organisations, as well as overseeing Clinks' membership, events, area-based support and thematic networks including the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance. Prior to joining Clinks, Christopher was Co-Director at Unlock, a national charity for people with criminal records, for 8 years until 2021 after originally joining the charity in 2008. He led the development of the charity’s award-winning services for people with convictions, including a national helpline, online information hub and innovative tools to support people to navigate the challenges they face because of their criminal record. He developed and led a number of campaigns and policy initiatives and achieved systemic change through reforms to legislation and changes in policy and practice. Christopher has an LLB Law degree from the University of Hull and an LLM in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice from the University of Leeds. Outside of work, he is a trustee of YMCA Lincolnshire, he enjoys spending time with his young family and can often be found running or cycling somewhere in the Lincolnshire countryside.
Zeta MacDonald - Deputy Chief Executive Expand Zeta became interested in criminal justice issues whilst studying criminology as part of her Social Policy degree at University and through this became a pen pal to a prisoner in Malta. She has worked for a variety of organisations since graduating including The National Trust and the NHS. Zeta joined Prisoners Abroad in January 2001 where she began her career in human resources and whilst working here completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management and later became the Company Secretary for the organisation. She's now a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel & Development. After leaving Prisoners Abroad in July 2009 she became Head of Human Resources for a large charity supporting girls and young women from disadvantaged backgrounds across the UK. Zeta returned to Prisoners Abroad in 2012 and is responsible for income generation and operations.
Theresa Gilson - Head of Service Delivery Expand Theresa started her career doing voluntary work with the Probation Service and for Release, the drugs and legal helpline. This led on to studying for the Diploma in Social Work which she gained in 1995, having specialised in criminal justice and completed placements in a probation office and in Belmarsh Prison. She then worked for the Bethlehem Hospital in their drug rehabilitation unit before joining Prisoners Abroad in January 1998. Theresa was a Resettlement Manager and spent some years developing this service and she now is Head of Service Delivery with responsibility for all of Prisoners Abroad's services.
Nancy Wright - Head of Finance Expand Nancy has 30 years of experience working as an accountant. She received her Qualification in 1984 as a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California. Nancy spent several years working in the US in public accounting and in 1988 took a position with the internal audit department of Warner Bros. International. The job included international travel to Europe and the Far East. She then transferred to England in 1990 by Warner Bros. to take over as Financial Controller of Warner Bros. Cinemas. UK Ltd. Her experience in England also includes working as the Accounting Manager for DaimlerChrysler Services UK Ltd. At both multi-nationals, she was responsible for all accounting and finance functions including managing the accounts departments, preparing all financial reporting to both local management and to head office, preparing the budgets, and liaising as liaison with external auditors. She spent 3 years working as the accountant for a small charity and during that time became familiar with the accounting requirements for charities (SORP) as prescribed by the Charity Commission. She acted as Treasurer for the charity for 8 years and became Head of Finance at Prisoners Abroad in April 2003.