Jenni Newberry – Biography

Born and raised in Yorkshire, Jenni now lives in York with her husband and son. Outside of work Jenni likes to spend time with family and friends and get out into the countryside. 

Jenni has always had a passion for making a tangible difference and instigating change, starting her career working within Women’s Centres, counselling survivors of Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence, and designing skills development and access to work programmes. 

Prior to joining the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Jenni spent eight years at senior management level within complex voluntary, public, and private sector setting working with key government departments including Ministry of Justice, Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions to develop and deliver justice, work, and skills programmes for vulnerable people.  

On arrival at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in 2013, Jenni established the Commissioning and Partnerships Team and developed a local portfolio of services to support victims to cope and recover, to address the root causes of offending behaviour, to protect vulnerable people coming into contact with North Yorkshire Police and enhance community safety.

Over the last 9 years heading the team, Jenni has successfully developed and delivered a strategic approach to commissioning, contract managing and continuously improving the Commissioner’s services which generates additional funding of between £500,000 and £1.500,00 per year enabling the expansion and enhancement of York and North Yorkshire programmes. 

Taking on additional responsibilities alongside her full time Director role isn’t something new for Jenni, In April 2018 she took on the additional role of Programme Director for an internal transformation programme called ‘Transform 2020’. Jenni was in this role for one year before taking maternity leave and it involved coordination between the Commissioner’s office , North Yorkshire Police, and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service which saw her providing strategic leadership and programme assurance to Chief officers. 

As a highly regarded member of staff, in 2021 Jenni was recommended to serve as Acting Commissioner for a short period whilst a new Commissioner was elected. 

Jenni is an experienced and highly accomplished Executive colleague within the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner and in October 2022 agreed to take up the role of non-statutory, non-political Assistant Commissioner and Victims’ Champion for North Yorkshire and York, to provide greater resilience and a clear commitment of support for victims. 

With a strong public sector ethos, personal legitimacy, accountability, and values which translate to leadership through honesty, and integrity, Jenni is committed to making a difference for the public every day – no matter which ‘hat’ she has on.