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The Clink Charity is proud and excited to announce that Donna-Marie Edmonds will become its new Chief Executive at the beginning of April this year.
Donna steps into the role taking over from Yvonne Thomas who, after more than three years leading The Clink, is retiring from executive responsibilities and moving into a new trustee role in the social justice space.
Donna brings a wealth of experience to The Clink, as a charity leader, teacher, advisor and consultant. She holds AST (Advanced Skills Teacher) status and has also been a Headteacher in a SEND environment.
Most recently, Donna led the education charity Farms for City Children as its Chief Executive, where she successfully re-opened the organisation after it was forced to close during the pandemic. She leaves it in a very strong position, having helped to secure its long-term future and, in turn, its life-changing provision for young people.
Donna said: “It is a great privilege to pick up the baton to lead the next leg of The Clink’s evolution. I am so grateful for this opportunity to lead the charity’s transformative work providing second chances, training and rehabilitation support for those who need it most.
“The experiences I have had in my career to date have taught me that very often there is talent hidden in the most unlikely places. Unfortunately, the opportunity to develop that talent is not always forthcoming and I am so passionate to help our students discover their true worth.
“I am very keen to add my experience in the education system to the charity’s new Clink College training programme, which will connect young people to a community full of like-minded individuals and help them find their place.”
“Finally, I am so excited to lead the team who deliver our programmes in and outside of the prison estate, to work with industry champions in hospitality and horticulture who support our graduates, and to ensure that The Clink contributes to the national debate on prison reform and rehabilitation.”
Yvonne Thomas, The Clink’s current Chief Executive, will fully hand over to Donna on March 31 this year and leaves a wonderful legacy, which includes growing the charity’s student numbers significantly, securing long-term funding to open a new production kitchen in Herne Hill, as well as the Clink College, a training provision for young people who could be at risk of offending.
Yvonne said: “The saying ‘may you live in interesting times’ certainly applies to my three years at The Clink. From the post-pandemic low of January 2022 when I joined, to the end of 2024, our student numbers grew from under 100 to over 800.
“We established a new Clink Events production kitchen and launched the new Clink College, cementing our commitment to preventing offending, particularly among young people.
“It has been a huge privilege to lead The Clink and work with so many wonderful people who work so tirelessly to improve the lives of our students.“Although the charity faces more challenges in the years and months ahead, I have no doubt that, under Donna’s strong leadership, the future is bright and our staff, supporters and students will have so much to be optimistic about.”
