CEO Today United Kingdom Awards

33 www.ceotodaymagazine.com CEO Today United Kingdom Awards 2018 CHARITY Siân Morgan joined Hafan Cymru as Chief Executive on 4th January 2016, and she is ultimately responsible for all day-to-day management decisions and for implementing the business’s short and long-term plans on behalf of the Board of Management, whilst also acting as a direct liaison between the Board and Management of the Association. Hafan Cymru is a charitable housing association that provides accommodation and support to women, men, their children and young people across Wales, offering a complete package of support provided to help people with a wide range of needs. Siân was recently appointed as the Vice Chair of Cymorth Cymru, which is an umbrella organisation for the providers of homelessness, housing-related support and social care services in Wales. Cymorth Cymru acts as the ‘voice of the sector’, influencing the development and implementation of policies that affect its members and the people they support. Siân has worked successfully for a variety of Government bodies and private sector organisations during the last 40 years. Her specialism is within organisation development/growth and relationship building, having worked for many years in this field with a range of businesses and stakeholders. In her spare time, Siân was previously a trustee of a community charity, which offers childcare, training and family support services, and was proudly one of the first centres to achieve the Children and Young People’s Participation Standards. Siân was an active and supportive member of the Board during times when austerity measures were starting to impact and was able to support the Centre Manager through some key business challenges and although no longer a Trustee keeps in contact with the centre and offers support as needed. Siân is a committed lifelong learner from a human resources background, who has also designed and participated in a wide range of management development programmes and achieved a variety of work-based qualifications, culminating in membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in 1992. In her spare time her passion is her grandchildren - five in total with age ranges from 1 year up to 17 years old - and she also enjoys baking and cake decoration, although is nowhere near the standard you see on ‘Bake Off’! She lives in the beautiful Neath Valley and is always surprised by the beauty of nature and the changing colours that the different seasons bring; living at the bottom of a mountain you see a lot of nature and this allows her grandchildren to see a range of different animals from foxes to snakes, although the latter is not a favourite! The foundation of Hafan Cymru in 1989 is quite inspirational – what can you tell us about its beginnings? Hafan Cymru was formed in 1989 as a Registered Social landlord. The business grew out of an initiative of the Women’s Aid movement in Wales at a time when refuge was the only form of accommodation or support for women living with domestic abuse. The business was and is one of the key leading providers of housing and support services across Wales for women, men and children experiencing violence against women and domestic abuse, and our mission then was to work to prevent abuse and homelessness and to promote the independence of those they supported through a range of individually tailored support interventions. Over the past 29 years, the business has needed to develop and expand from its original intent in order to respond to the changes in legislation and service needs. This has seen the business grow in terms of employees and contracts and the constitution changing to enable support services to be delivered to men facing domestic abuse. How has the company changed since then? The business now delivers over 60 contracts across Wales, providing the much-needed support services to men as well as women and children, providing refuge, safe houses, temporary supporting houses and floating and outreach support. The business has also diversified the skill set and is able to deliver employability support to help people prepare themselves for the world of work, this also helps our clients who are ready to move on in life and live independently and we have been building a range of skills in other areas such as mental health and specialist domestic abuse support. We have been very successful in delivering a ‘Whole School Approach’ to tackling Domestic Abuse by educating schools in Wales about Healthy Relationships via the Spectrum Project. The project is an all- Wales programme funded by the Welsh Government and delivered by experienced teachers in primary and secondary schools. The project provides free, bilingual workshops that are closely linked to the curriculum in Wales and promotes the importance of healthy relationships, whilst raising the awareness of children, young people and adults about the issues of domestic abuse, sexual violence and violence against women. The engaging