Meet the Board: Shariat

I’m Shariat, and I’m a new non-executive for ACH. I started my career in the private sector, in IT, and then over to the public sector where I worked for the Chamber of Commerce for a while and then for the last 5 years at Birmingham City Council helping them make their social value policies, procedures etc. And I have also had other non-exec roles for charities.

Why and when did you choose to become a board member for ACH?

Unbeknownst to me, I have bumped into ACH over the past number of years. So, John Wells is an old colleague and friend of mine and he’s been involved with ACH for a while and he has been telling me about it. Also, ACH colleagues have been interested in social value measurements, so they have attended a number of my presentations on social value measurement and social value in general. And then John asked me to join the board, and when I saw the work that ACH does, I could not say no, because having been a first generation immigrant myself, I know how important it is to help people who have just arrived. Refugees have got a very very tough time, they have been through a tough time to get to this stage until their granted and then life is tough going forward. So, it’s really important that we are there to help them – housing, employment and all sorts of other support that they need. So this is really important work that needs to be done and I want to do whatever I can to help.

My ambition is that we grow ACH’s service in the West Midlands, so that’s what I would like to help ACH do. I know that there is a lot of demand for it and I know that the need is acute for those people who absolutely need it. So that is what I will be helping ACH achieve.