Respect appoints new Chair alongside four Trustees

Mary D'Arcy - Chair

Mary D’Arcy has worked for more than 30 years in Probation and Local Government and started her own consulting business in 2023. Mary’s work focuses on enabling leaders, Boards and Executive teams, to lead within their organisations and across wider systems by building effective relationships.  Mary is also a trustee and treasurer for Brighton’s Women’s Centre, and brings a wealth of chairing and trustee experience. Mary has been involved in Domestic Abuse systems/service reviews within Local Authorities and has a track record of leading EEDI within organisations. 

Mary will take over from Diane Scott, who has been acting as Interim Chair and led the recruitment. Diane will remain as Vice Chair and we’re very grateful to her for all her support through this interim period.

Rufsana Begum - Trustee

Rufsana Begum is Director of Inclusion & Culture at Macmillan Cancer Support, leading organisation-wide culture change to embed equity into strategy, systems and leadership practice. She has worked across 45+ countries advising UN agencies, governments and international NGOs on national gender equality policies, violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategies, and inclusive development programming. She has previously worked as a frontline domestic abuse officer and at Leadership level in Women's Aid and she has developed domestic abuse policies for public and private sector bodies, translating frontline insight into organisational policy and governance. Her expertise sits at the intersection of international development, gender equity and EDI-led transformation — delivering measurable, sustainable impact at scale. 

Kate Bohn – Trustee

Kate Bohn is a global leader in Financial Services. With over 25 years across capital markets, asset management and fintech, she has led global technology, innovation and governance programmes for institutions including Macquarie Asset Management, Lloyds Banking Group, Citi and Scotiabank. Delivering positive impact and change across the financial industry, Kate has been longlisted in ‘Most Influential Women in UK Tech’ for six years in a row. She is passionate about ending domestic abuse and brings to Respect her clear focus on innovation and simplification, with the use of human-centred design and storytelling.

Jon Eserin – Trustee

Jon Eserin is the Assistant Director for Public Fundraising & Mass Engagement at the RSPCA. Jon has worked for many large charities and founded and ran a charity fundraising agency for many years prior to this. Jon brings a wealth of fundraising and financial expertise to Respect’s Board.

Esther Hamilton – Trustee

Esther Hamilton has over 25 years’ experience in the charity sector in the UK and internationally, working across social change, gender and human rights. Her career spans post-conflict Kosovo, including managing a counter-trafficking shelter and working on women’s financial inclusion, as well as roles in and leadership of charities of all sizes. Her experience includes serving as a charity CEO focused on advancing social justice and meaningful, community-centred change. Esther founded Social Innovation Solutions Ltd, a consultancy supporting charities to strengthen their impact in communities through strategic development, fundraising and programme design. She provides consultancy and mentoring on strategy, income generation, impact assessment and governance, and has served on a number of charity boards, with a strong focus on inclusion, good governance, risk management and safeguarding. 

Photo credit: Serena Bolton