This month our Chair of the Board of Trustees, Peter Crisp, stepped down at the end of his term as Chair.
We’re delighted to introduce you to Caroline Artis, our new Chair.
She is looking forward to taking on this role, getting to know our team and volunteers. We chatted to her about this new role, and why she’s passionate about access to justice.
It would be great to find out a little more about you. What’s your background and what do you do in your day to day at the moment?
I was born in Leeds, and went to school there until I left for university. I moved to London aged 21 to do a post grad teaching course, but ended up working for Price Waterhouse as a tax accountant, moving to EY in 1998 where I became a partner, ultimately being part of the UK leadership leader and Office Managing Partner for London. From early 2022 I started to refocus my life away from EY and have taken on a number of not-for-profit roles including Chair of Support Through Court, Trustee and Chair of Finance at Catch22, Chair of the EY alumni council, and a non-executive director for a Satellite Tech Catapult.
What sparked your interest in the role of Chair at Support Through Court?
The first role I took on as I prepared to leave EY was an extension to the work done by the EY foundation, at Catch22, a social business which designs and delivers public services that build resilience and aspiration in people and communities. This work building opportunities for disadvantaged young people helped me to better understand the challenges faced by people who, for whatever reason, face court without support, hence becoming interested in the important work that Support Through Court undertakes.
What most excites you about your role?
The challenges faced by Support Through Court, both during and post pandemic have shown that this is an organisation which can innovate and pivot into new delivery models and new financing models in order to continue with the vital services we provide. The cooperation and joint working between volunteers and staff is inspirational and the opportunities ahead to collaborate with partners are very exciting.
What are your hopes for the coming year?
After two years of tumultuous challenge, I’m hoping for a period of calm to enable us to embed the new hybrid working practices and to develop close working relationships. I’m hoping that the Fundraising team can deliver on the plan to make the organisation less and less dependent on government funding, giving us some certainty for the near and medium future. I’d then like to get out to visit as many sites as possible to hear first-hand from service users, volunteers and employees how we can continue to deliver our services to people who need them most.
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