We are proud to welcome Jon Sparkes OBE, Chief Executive of UNICEF UK, as a trustee.

Jon has considerable experience at an executive level across the charity sector, particularly homelessness. Prior to his role with UNICEF UK, Jon was Chief Executive of Crisis, the national charity for people facing homelessness, from 2014 to 2021. He has also served as Chief Executive of Scope, the national disability charity.

While leading Crisis he held leadership roles on government projects including Chair of the Scottish Government’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group, Chair of the Welsh Government’s Homelessness Action Group and a member of the UK Government’s Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel. He was a founding Trustee at the Centre for Homelessness Impact and a Non-Executive Director at South Yorkshire Housing Association.

Jon says: “I am delighted to have been appointed to the Board of St Petrocs. During my time as Chief Executive of Crisis we enjoyed a very productive partnership with St Petrocs with our shared mission for ending homelessness. I hope very much to be able to contribute further to St Petrocs work as a Trustee. Having lived in Cornwall for more than a decade I am pleased to have the opportunity to support the amazing St Petrocs team. Homelessness should not happen, and I am proud to be associated with the St Petrocs team as they work to prevent homelessness, support people to leave homelessness behind for good, and contribute to the policy changes that will end homelessness for good.”

Henry Meacock, Chief Executive of St Petrocs adds: “In his time at Crisis, Jon was a leading player in the new approach to ending homelessness, putting evidence and data at the heart of the effort, and calling for policy change at a national and international level. We are delighted to be able to welcome Jon as a trustee of St Petrocs. His experience will be hugely valuable in support of our mission of ending homelessness in Cornwall.”

Earlier in his career he led Human Resources and organisational development in both the public and private sectors, including as Director of Organisational Development at NHS Cornwall. 

Jon lives with his family in Cornwall, just outside of St Austell and has long been a supporter of St Petrocs, contributing to campaigns and enabling the charity’s work to feed into national projects. He spoke to us on our podcast in June 2021.

Margie Ricardo, Chair of Trustees says: “We are extremely pleased that Jon Sparkes has agreed to join the board of trustees for St Petrocs. With his experience both as having been Chief Executive of Crisis and now of UNICEF UK we will benefit significantly from his knowledge and experience.”

Listen to Jon Sparkes' podcast with St Petrocs