Above: Catherine Feast stands outside 10 Downing Street.
Tom Franklin, who has been Chief Executive since May 2021, is retiring and his replacement will be Catherine Feast, an award-winning senior leader with more than 25 years’ experience working in membership organisations, public sector, charity and non-departmental Government bodies.
Catherine has represented organisations across the UK and internationally, championing for better conditions, income generation or support for a given cause.
Most recently, as Director of Engagement and External Affairs at The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) she had overall responsibility for developing five teams into a new directorate, leading functions across membership services, policy and communications, marketing, events, digital content and E-learning. Liaising with influential key stakeholders across the sector to position RCEM as a leading and trusted voice in Emergency Medicine, key achievements included strategies to increase membership, improve member value and recognition, increase income generation, and improve engagement with members and stakeholders. She also oversaw the launch in 2025 of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Emergency Care.
During the pandemic, she worked to highlight homelessness for St Mungo’s, a leading homelessness charity and housing association, liaising with influential key stakeholders across the housing and charity sector to position St Mungo’s as the leading solutions-based homelessness charity in order to drive brand awareness and support income generation. Key achievements included the crisis comms handling following the sudden death of the CEO, delivery of an integrated strategy with the Director of Fundraising to accelerate income generation, including a brand refresh and the launch of the charity’s first national TV fundraising campaign.
Catherine’s interest in criminal justice began in her early days, starting her career as a journalist on local newspapers in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and then working for Cambridgeshire Constabulary, the National Crime Squad (now National Crime Agency) and the National Offender Management Services (NOMS) before moving into the charity and membership body sector. Catherine led the communications response on a number of high-profile incidents and cases, including the Soham murder enquiry, animal rights attacks at Huntingdon Life Sciences, an abandoned baby and the death of serving police officers, dealing with people from all walks of life.
She led change programmes across NOMS, developing and delivering a communications strategy for the HR directorate for approximately 50,000 prison officers and probation staff nationally, working with the Ministry of Justice leading on the merger with the Probation Service.
While at the Police Federation of England and Wales, representing 122,000 police officers, she oversaw the successful award-winning Protect the Protectors campaign which led to a change in the law and the implementation of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018. While there, she was editor of the national POLICE magazine and led the national coordination of influencing activity across 43 branches across England and Wales, delivering high-profile events including international policing conferences with the Home Secretary and Policing Minister; National Police Memorial day with HRH Prince of Wales; and Police Bravery Awards with senior police personnel, Government ministers and celebrities.
Throughout her career she has delivered organisational improvement plans and champions the rights and services of those in the non-for-profit arenas. Outside of work, she is an avid motorbiker, watcher of true crime documentaries, loves live music and is a keen theatre-goer.
David Ford, National Chair of the Magistrates’ Association said:
“I am delighted that Catherine will be joining us in March as our new Chief Executive. The magistracy is undergoing generational change, with increased responsibilities for magistrates and an ongoing recruitment drive to bring thousands of new magistrates to the bench. Catherine brings a wealth of experience from membership and other third sector organisations, and her skills and experience make her the ideal person to take the MA forward into 2026 and beyond.
“The MA has greatly improved its profile, relevance and authority over the last five years under Tom Franklin’s leadership, and the Board of trustees and I are immensely grateful to him for his leadership, expertise and unceasing effort. With Tom headed for a well-deserved retirement, I am thrilled that we’ve appointed Catherine as his successor, and I, the Board of Trustees, and our expert and dedicated staff team, are very much looking forward to working with her.”
