Meet your local team
Gary Kernaghan
Contract Director for North East Yorkshire & The Humber
Gary joined the G4S team from SOVA, where he was head of development and operations.
Gary has been based in Yorkshire and The Humber for the last five years and brings to the team a wealth of experience in working alongside private, public and voluntary sector organisations to deliver employability programmes for offenders.
At SOVA, a large charity working to secure and maintain employment for offenders and ex-offenders, Gary worked on the largest European-funded offender resettlement programme in the UK. Gary has forged links with national and regional organisations that provide job brokerage and support to those socially and economically excluded, and looks forward to working in partnership with these organisations to deliver the Work Programme.
Sam Birney
Supply Chain Manager for North East Yorkshire & The Humber
Sam has a background in the public sector, having spent 20 years working for local authorities in the North of England.
Sam has been involved in many major regeneration and renewal programmes including SRB, Neighbourhood Regeneration Funding, Community Strategies, Working Neighborhoods Funding and Local Strategic Partnerships including the development of Local Area Agreements. Sam also has experience in the management and implementation of various European-funded programmes including Objective 2 and 3, ERDF and ESF.
For the last three years Sam has worked in the welfare-to-work arena with Remploy, which included working on programmes such as Workstep, Pathways and Workchoice, also bringing in new contracts from various sources including Learning and Skills Council (SFA), Flexible New Deal, and local programmes such as Working Neighbourhoods Fund.
Based in Lancashire, Sam has always worked in the North of England and is aware of the current provision and services available throughout the region. She believes that G4S provides the effective management and co-ordination of this provision to drive up performance in the sector.
Sharon Cawood
Supply Chain Manager for North East Yorkshire & The Humber
Sharon joined the G4S team from Serco, where she was a Contract Manager on the Greater Manchester FND contract.
Sharon has worked in and around the welfare-to-work sector for 15 years, during which time she has worked for DWP and Jobcentre Plusas a Jobcentre Plus Manager and ESF Contract Manager. She then moved to the private sector managing Employment Zone, ESF and DAF funded programmes.
Sharon is passionate about Welfare to Work and ensuring that people are developed and supported to reach their potential. Sharon believes that seeing people achieve their goals and change their lives for the better is incredibly rewarding. Sharon brings a wealth of experience of both frontline delivery and supply chain management to the team in North East Yorkshire and The Humber.
Kim Heard
Supply Chain Manager for North East Yorkshire & The Humber
Kim joined the G4S team in July 2012, having previously worked as a Site Manager for a member of the local supply chain. A seasoned Welfare to Work professional, Kim has many years of frontline operational experience from numerous contracts such as the Flexible New Deal at Working Links and the Work Programme at Pertemps.
Kim is passionate about the industry and is looking forward to bringing her experience to G4S in order to drive the performance of the Work Programme across the region.
John Newland
Customer Service & Talent Manager for North East Yorkshire & The Humber
John joined the G4S Welfare to Work team from Working Links, where he was the Regional Performance Manager.
John has been based in Yorkshire & The Humber for the last 4 years and brings a wealth of experience in welfare-to-work and recruitment. He specialises in providing training, recruitment and consultation as well as in work support to return the unemployed to sustainable employment.
John also worked for A4e across the whole of Yorkshire & The Humber, working on DWP, SFA and ESF employability contracts. John brings existing relationships with Stakeholders, Partner and Employer relationships across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
John is focussed on driving performance for G4S on the Work Programme.
Hannah Young
Contract Coordinator for North East Yorkshire & The Humber
Hannah has a background in the public sector, joining G4S from The Food and Environment Research Agency in York where she has worked in Procurement and Project Assurance.
Qualifying as a Prince2 Practitioner in 2011 and graduating with a First Class degree in Theatre, Film and Television in 2005, Hannah brings a wide range of experience and skills to the Welfare to Work team in this region.
Contact the Yorkshire & The Humber Regional Team: