Driven to make a difference​

​

By Simon Heart

​

Jo Henney is, by her admission, not an academic. Indeed, she left school in 1986 with two GCSEs. What she had in abundance, though, was a desire to make a difference. “I just want to be known for having made a difference to somebody, someplace, somewhere,” says Jo, who today is chief executive of the Liverpool-based charity Nugent. 

At the 145-year-old charity, she believes she has found the perfect place to do just that. A visit to Hope University to examine the charity’s archives reinforced the point to her, as she examined the papers of founder Father James Nugent and his biographer, Monsignor John Bennett. “I was reading the speeches of both Father Nugent and Canon Bennett and nothing has changed. We’re needed now as much as we were then. 

“I’m the eleventh chief executive of Nugent, which is not bad for a charity that is 145 years old. When I read the speeches and read about the poverty then, we have got similar poverty today, so our mission is still strong. We still have got to provide as Father Nugent did.”

 
Jo arrived at Nugent in February 2019, originally as chief governance officer, before becoming chief executive in May 2023. Last April, she oversaw the launch of its new mission statement, the ‘Imagine Our World’ strategic plan. Nugent’s diverse range of support for the individuals and communities in need on Merseyside was extended to include acting as a housing provider. Moreover, as a response to the challenging financial landscape for charities today, ‘Imagine Our World’ conceived a pathway alliance with other charities and partner organisations within the social care sector. It has already brought together a significant number of organisations – including Emmaus Merseyside, of which Jo is the chair of trustees. “My hope is we have created a lifelong pathway of support for the vulnerable people of this region,” she affirms. 

Jo’s commitment to the region is strong. Born in Southport, she was raised in east London, where she was educated by the Ursuline Sisters, before returning to the northwest aged 17. It was at the then newly established Altcourse Prison in Fazakerley that she had her career’s crucial formative moment. 

She applied for a prison officer’s job there in 1997. Within three months she had become governor of its young offenders’ unit. “That taught me everything,” she explains. “Young offenders taught me everything I needed to know very, very quickly. It was a wonderful jail to work in. And it was described as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the prison service by HMIP.” 

A few years ago, an encounter with a window cleaner – who stopped her and called her ‘Miss’ – offered an illustration of the impact she made there. 

She recalls: “I said, ‘Where do I know you from?’ and he said, ‘Altcourse’. I said, ‘Oh, I don’t remember you. You must have been well-behaved.’ And he said, ‘I remember you. You were the only one who’d let me phone my mum on Mothers’ Day’.” 

Jo’s subsequent professional challenges have included a period running the Home Office’s immigration removal centre at Heathrow Airport. “People sometimes frown at me for doing those jobs,” she reflects, “but I’ve done those jobs so that people are treated with dignity and respect, with my role now enabling me to influence policy.” By way of example, she describes her efforts to help ensure that one elderly Indian man, suffering from dementia, was allowed to remain here in the UK, where he had long lived with his children who were his carers. “My whole life has been about championing the most vulnerable people really – the voiceless, as Father Nugent would have put it.” 

Which brings us back to the current focus of her efforts to make a difference. She is grateful to Archbishop John Sherrington and the Archbishop Emeritus Malcolm McMahon for their guidance and also to Canon Michael Fitzsimons – with whom she has common ground, both having worked within a prison environment – as well as all Nugent trustees for their support as a sounding board. She explains that working for a Catholic charity has helped reconnect her with her own faith too. As such, she is looking forward to going on pilgrimages to Lourdes and Rome later this year. “I have lent back into my faith, and I am going there to continue that reconnection,” says Jo. After all, even the best motors need maintenance sometimes.

​