Race Equality Partnership for Sheffield appoints Chair

Experienced leadership, diversity and inclusion professional has been appointed as the Chair of the Race Equality Partnership for Sheffield (REPS).

REPS, which launched earlier this year, is an active, collaborative network of people and organisations with a shared aim to make Sheffield an anti-racist city.

REPS has been established by partners including public sector institutions, local businesses and community groups, following the publication of the Race Equality Commission (REC), in July 2022, and will play a pivotal role in supporting the city to deliver against the Commission’s recommendations and secure a legacy from the work.

The role of Chair will be to provide visible and collaborative leadership of REPS, working with key partners across the city.

Fatima Khan-Shah has been successfully appointed to the role due to her extensive experience leading on nationally recognised and multi-award-winning programmes around equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), as well as for her passion for Sheffield, the city she grew up in.

Councillor Tom Hunt, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said:

“Racism has no place in Sheffield or anywhere. The Race Equality Partnership will play an important role in helping us to create an inclusive city for all, free from discrimination, where everyone can thrive.

“I’m delighted to welcome Fatima Khan-Shah as the new Chair of the Partnership. Through the Partnership, she will play an invaluable role in helping to create a more inclusive Sheffield.

“The Race Equality Partnership for Sheffield provides an opportunity to think strategically about how we bring our diverse communities together and how we share best practice on race equality, and hold each other to account, in our pursuit of long-term change.”

Fatima Khan-Shah has extensive experience leading complex change and transformation programmes and has a reputation as being an advocate for public involvement, compassionate leadership, diversity and inclusion.

She is currently working with leaders across the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, where she provides expert advice on inclusion and addresses factors of social, economic and health inequalities.

Fatima is West Yorkshire’s first ever Inclusivity Champion, where she advises on inequality as part of the mayor’s pledge to achieve greater equality across the region.

Having been born and bred in Sheffield, Fatima says she is 'grateful for the opportunity to be in service to the people of Sheffield' in her role as Chair. She said:

“I'm delighted to be appointed as the Chair of the Race Equality Partnership for Sheffield.

“As someone born and bred in Sheffield my roots in this incredible city have made me the person I am today.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to be of service to the people of Sheffield. The Race Equality Partnership is an important opportunity for everyone across this city to work together to deliver upon the legacy of the Race Equality Commission and I will do everything I can to further our journey towards a truly anti-racist Sheffield.”

Richard Stubbs, Chair of the partner-led group which established REPS, added:

“I'm delighted to announce Fatima Khan-Shah as the new Chair of the Race Equality Partnership for Sheffield.

“Her commitment to inclusive leadership, her experience in delivering change and her exciting vision for the partnership will be instrumental to our progress towards ensuring that Sheffield is an anti-racist city."