Chief Executive Officer, Chair,
Treasurer and Trustees
Hibiscus empowers and champions the rights of marginalised foreign national (FN); black, minority ethnic and refugee (BMER) women in prison and the community, at court, those in detention and families facing removal. With over 30 years’ experience Hibiscus provides advocacy, support and specialist services to reduce isolation, facilitate rehabilitation and provide effective advocacy within the criminal justice and immigration systems. Supporting over 1,000 clients from over 120 countries each year, Hibiscus empowers their clients to make informed choices and positive changes to their situation.
Having supported Hibiscus with their Chief Executive, Trustee and Director recruitment previously, Prospectus were delighted to work with the organisation again to secure their next Chair. We were looking for a Chair to lead Hibiscus through their new change strategy, that put women at the heart of the services.
We sought inclusive and democratic senior leaders, with a passion for social justice and eliminating inequalities and strong knowledge of the immigration or criminal justice sector. Given the nature of Hibiscus’ work, it was a requirement that the post holder be a woman and we proactively identified and approached women of colour to reflect Hibiscus’ commitment to championing diversity.
Therese Prince was appointed to the position. Therese brings a wealth of experience from the legal sector, and rights-based social justice work. Therese started her legal career in the Government Legal Service and is the former Chief of Staff at the Law Society of England & Wales where she was director of governance and internal communications following her successful and substantive time as Senior Legal Adviser to the Society, supporting the Society’s strategic litigation. She is currently Head of Legal, Governance and Risk at Universities UK. Therese has a real passion for contributing to a fairer and more just society and has long supported the work around women’s rights.
Prospectus were subsequently asked to secure a Treasurer for Hibiscus and as well as successfully making this appointment, we also secured an additional three Trustees plus an Independent Advisor to the Finance and HR Sub-Committees for them.
Mufeedah Bustin, Operations and Finance Director at Hibiscus said ‘We’ve worked with Prospectus successfully for several years, specialising in senior level recruitment. They understand our needs and those “hard to articulate” soft skills that suit our organisation. Prospectus’ value add to Hibiscus is in networks and search facilities which we could not replicate in-house.’