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Our People

We believe our strength is our people.

We recruit people with lived experience – often whole careers - in the sectors and organisations we serve. They are passionate people, driven to make communities safer.

 

Our clients work with us because they trust us to deliver quality results with lasting impact. 

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Chief Executive, 
Office of Police and Crime Commissioner

“They’re a passionate team and an organisation that borrows from a range of disciplines and experience. They celebrate their people - and for good reason. They’re credible experts, but they don’t flaunt this. They provide reasons and hear out new ideas, and they don’t overpromise.”

Meet the team

Sam Cunningham
Harvey Redgrave
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Sam Cunningham

Executive Director (Strategy)

As the former Director of Criminal Justice Commissioning and Policy at the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC), Sam led major transformation programmes across London’s justice services. Sam oversaw the devolution of victim and witness support budgets to London, the development of the Mayor’s strategy to tackle violence against women and girls and the creation of the London Violence Reduction Unit. This followed roles in crime reduction operations and commissioning at Westminster Borough Council. At Crest, Sam has led a major programme of work at the Crown Prosecution Service improving outcomes for victims and helped 43 police force areas to prepare for the Home Office serious violence duty Sam is Executive Director with responsibility for Crest’s consulting practice.

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Gavin Lockhart-Mirams

Founder

Gavin has provided communications and strategy advice to criminal justice leaders and the British Government for over twenty years. He founded Crest in 2011, following a period in government as home affairs advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron after the 2010 election. In this role he presented communications and policy advice to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and other Cabinet-level Ministers about ways to modernise public services (developing both drug recovery and reducing re-offending schemes), shift power to individuals and communities (introducing legislation paving the way for Elected Police Commissioners) and increase transparency (publishing local crime data). Previously, he helped establish a crime reduction research unit at the Policy Exchange think tank authoring reports on serious violence and reoffending. CEO until 2017, Gavin is now Chair of Crest with responsibility for providing strategic advice to central government and for our roster of senior advisors from policing, the civil service and the wider criminal justice system.

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Sarah Kincaid

Director

Sarah joined Crest from the Department for Communities and Local Government after a 20 year career in government. During this time, Sarah was policy lead for the Troubled Families Programme, an independent inspector of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s response to child sexual exploitation and worked on numerous taskforces addressing social exclusion and vulnerability. At Crest, Sarah oversaw our two year research programme into the causes of serious violence and has led our support to local violence reduction initiatives. Sarah was the lead reviewer for Baroness Casey of Blackstock's independent review of standards and culture at the Metropolitan Police Service.

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Jon Clements

Executive Director (Development)

Before joining us, Jon was a broadcaster for ITN and a reporter for the Daily Mirror. He specialised in home affairs and crime, reporting and commentating on major events, including the 2011 riots, and public inquiries and other legal proceedings, including the inquests into the July 7 bombings and the Stephen Lawrence murder trial. After leaving journalism, Jon became Head of Policy and External Affairs at the national charity Victim Support. At Crest, he has advised statutory public inquiries and arms length bodies, overseen research into public perceptions of the Prevent programme and the use of stop and search, and led Baroness Casey of Blackstock’s independent review of disorder at Wembley during the Euro 2020 Final. Jon is Executive Director with responsibility for Crest’s business development and marketing.

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Rod Brenninkmeijer

Chief Financial Officer

Rod manages Crest’s financial operations and oversees the human resources, contracts and office management areas of the business. Before joining Crest, Rod was director for a major European retail company working to improve organisational culture and expand its operations.

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Sophie Davis

Director of Research

As a former Head of Home Affairs and Justice at the Behavioural Insights Team, Sophie has experience working with government departments, police forces and senior audiences across the criminal justice sector. Before this, Sophie worked as a Political Advisor to the Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Leader of the House of Lords, advising on crime and justice policy. Alongside her role at Crest, Sophie is an elected councillor and previously served as Cabinet Member for Community Safety at Lewisham Council. Sophie is a qualified solicitor, having trained at Hogan Lovells LLP. Sophie leads Crest Insights, Crest’s in-house think-tank.

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Charlotte Phillips

Executive Director (Communication)

Charlotte was previously Head of News at the Independent Police Complaints Commission, where she led the communications response to the police shooting of Mark Duggan, the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 disorder and the investigation into allegations of a police cover-up over the Hillsborough disaster. Before that, Charlotte was Press Secretary to the Attorney General and a communications officer at the Metropolitan Police. At Crest, Charlotte has provided communications support to a number of statutory and non-statutory inquiries, including the Manchester Arena Inquiry, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, and to technology clients working in policing and justice. Charlotte is Executive Director with responsibility for Crest’s people and culture.

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Ellie Covell

Director of Operations

Before joining Crest, Ellie was a civil servant at the Cabinet Office and at the Department for Housing Communities and Local Government. Prior to her career in government, Ellie was an officer in the Metropolitan Police, where she researched and implemented a methodology for preventing the exploitation of vulnerable adults by organised crime groups. Ellie also worked at Barnardos supporting children and young people at risk of involvement in serious violence. At Crest, Ellie developed the PoliSCOPE police performance methodology delivering it to five forces across England and Wales. Ellie now oversees our internal operations, training and programme management function.

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