Senior Management
Chief Executive: Katherine Hewitt
Katherine took over as Chief Executive in June 2014. After joining Gateway in 2011 as Programme Lead for Health and Wellbeing she spent a brief time as Deputy CEO then moved to Operations Manager.
Katherine’s background is in community development and area based regeneration. She led the Community Empowerment theme of Sandwell’s New Deal for Communities Programme (NDC) and more recently she was responsible for their Connecting Communities programme. Previous to that she ran a community centre on a council estate in Grimsby.
Katherine has experience of working with partnership and resident led Boards and was responsible for ensuring that those involved were truly representative of the community they served. She was also heavily involved in setting up a Community Development Trust as the successor body to the NDC.
Although her previous work has largely been in the public sector there was always much focus on forging links with the voluntary and community sectors and building their capacity, so her move to the not-for-profit sector was a natural one.
Katherine’s email: K.Hewitt@gatewayfs.org
Head of Operations: Jo Harper
Jo joined Gateway in 2009 as a Programme Lead before moving to Operations Manager in 2012. She is responsible for ensuring all our work achieves its targets and is delivered to a high standard. Jo also manages service improvement and implementing new work to the business.
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.
Jo’s email: J.Harper@gatewayfs.org
Business Development Manager: Keith Rawlings
Keith joined Gateway as Business Development Manager at the beginning of December 2017. His responsibilities include developing new business and commercial opportunities, building strategic partnerships with commissioning bodies and fundraising.
Keith started his varied career as a design engineer at Cadbury Schweppes, moving into the world of life assurance and finance sectors before joining the public sector as Business Development Manager for Dudley MBC’s Early Years Team. Keith’s voluntary and community sector experience began as Lead Officer for the Summerfield Foundation and Community Development Officer for Dudley Racial Equality Council.
Keith’s email: K.Rawlings@gatewayfs.org
Programme Manager and Business Development Lead: Jemma Abbott
Jemma has been a Programme Manager with Gateway since January 2017 and also works on Business Development. She manages all of Gateway’s services, including the Solihull Lighten Up and Pre-diabetes contracts.
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.