Breaking Barriers has announced plans to triple in size by 2030 as it appoints its second-ever chief executive.
Ciara Devlin will succeed Matt Powell, who established the refugee employment charity in 2015, and take on the post from 6 November.
Devlin will oversee the charity’s plan to grow its income from £4.8m to £15m by 2030, increasing its staff numbers from 80 to over 300 in that time.
It also aims to quadruple the number of refugees it supports to 4,000 a year and expand its five locations.
Devlin has spent nearly 20 years in the charity sector, including several roles at Crisis.
On her appointment, she said: “While working in the homelessness sector I met many individuals living here as refugees, an experience that opened my eyes to the huge challenges and barriers they face while trying to make new lives here in the UK. To now have the opportunity to lead an organisation committed to helping to break down those same barriers is very exciting.
“I feel delighted and privileged to be joining Breaking Barriers as CEO and I’m looking forward to working with the team to help grow the scale of our impact even further.”
Powell said: “I’m immensely proud of the team at Breaking Barriers and all we have achieved in the last eight years. I set up the charity to provide a simple solution, to link up refugees with businesses so that they could find meaningful employment in the UK.
“Since then we have gone on to become and to achieve so much more, thanks to the businesses, volunteers, funders, supporters, staff, and friends and family who have stepped up to make things happen. To those people I want to say thank you. What we have achieved together has been phenomenal.
“Looking ahead there is still more to do, and I predict an extremely exciting future for Breaking Barriers. I know that Ciara will not only do a great job of continuing the work I started, but that she will also build on this further, enabling the charity to help even more people across an even wider geography.”
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