Our People
Our team is led by Chief Executive, Jo Harper and our Board is Chaired by Paul Hanna.
Gateway was originally set up to help people into formal training or employment – and so to better health. This pre-employment training provides a “gateway” into employment – it’s what gave our organisation its name.
We say that people are best helped by those who are two steps ahead – in other words, people who have experienced problems but have made progress. So we employ people with direct, personal knowledge of the issues our clients face. Often, they’ve overcome similar problems themselves. The people they are supporting will relate to them, and their achievements don’t seem too far out of reach.
The people we employ are recruited from all communities. Our approach to recruiting and training local people means that we provide reliable, long-term staff, and our diverse workforce connects better with the people it serves.
Jo joined Gateway in 2009 as a Programme Lead before moving to Operations Manager in 2012. She took over as Chief Executive in Nov 2022.
Jo's experience includes work within the private sector as well as charities and the Third Sector, though always with a focus on reducing inequalities; she has in the past worked with those affected by long term unemployment and those with disabilities. Jo is keen to increase opportunities for young people, in particular those classed as NEETS.
Jemma has been a Programme Manager with Gateway since January 2017 and manages the Solihull Integrated Lifestyle Service. Jemma also works on Business Development and created our Workplace Wellbeing offer for corporate clients.
Jemma’s background is in managing Children and Families services. In previous roles, she has been a Youth and Community Worker, a Youth Offending Officer and has managed a team of Community Workers delivering prevention initiatives across a county to disadvantaged young people and their families.
Cathy supports and coordinates the Solihull Integrated Lifestyle Service (SILS) team to advise the local community, improving health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities across Solihull.
Cathy joined Gateway in 2019 from the Solihull Stop Smoking service, where she was a specialist stop smoking advisor for workplaces and an events coordinator. She comes from a nursing background, and previously specialised in haemodialysis.
Debbie has been with Gateway since 2011, working on the Lighten Up and Five Ways to Health & Wellbeing services as programme manager and coordinator.
Debbie ensures the successful collection, collation, auditing and evaluation of service data across a range of contracts. She also manages the Triage function of the Solihull Integrated Lifestyle Service, supervising staff training and development, and managing the programme’s data collection.
Maxine joined Gateway in 2009 as a Programme Administrator to the Health Trainers, then became Gateway’s Office Manager in 2014.
Maxine has a background in various administration roles in the public and private sector working in HR, insurance underwriting and customer service before her current role in the Third Sector.
Anita Ward comes to Gateway after five years in a managerial role for a community charity in Birmingham and now manages the Social Prescribing Link Worker teams.
Leah Crawford previously worked with people with dual diagnoses of mental health and learning disabilities, using a holistic, positive approach to help people build their confidence and wellbeing. She’s looking forward to bringing this experience to Gateway.
Joining Gateway in Nov 2021, Chris has a wealth of experience in the areas of marketing, social media, and PR. Creating and curating authentic, inspiring, and engaging content is a tool he uses for the good of others, helping businesses and services to stand out from the crowd.
Chris is responsible for ensuring that the PR and marketing strategies implement across Gateway are creative, engaging and deliver against our objectives.
