our senior leadership team

Our senior leadership team is made up of our CEO and three directors who are responsible for strategic and operational leadership, guiding our people across multiple departments including Frontline Services, Helpline, Business Services, Research, Fundraising, Communications, Operations and Finance.

We are governed by our Board of Trustees. For our Memorandum and Articles of Association, please see our filing history with Companies House.

Renae Mann

CEO

Renae brings over 25 years’ experience working in the social justice field and with people with lived experience of injustice, exploitation, and exclusion, including five years as executive director of services at Refugee Council. Renae developed an ambitious strategy for services to refugees’ access to quality support to secure safety and rebuild their lives in the UK. Renae has held senior roles at the No Accommodation Network (NACCOM), and Refugee Action as well as leading her own consultancy where she successfully led their strategic development with clients, supporters, funders and peers. Renae is a recognised spokesperson for refugees’ rights, frequently providing expert perspectives on the UK refugee protection system in national media, and enabling refugees to influence policy and practice.

justine carter

deputy CEO

Justine led the development of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, set up the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline in 2016 and has ten years of experience working with, and influencing, statutory and corporate partners. She is regularly called upon to present at national and international conferences and uses her experience of working with Ministers to influence other governments internationally to take action to address modern slavery and, in particular, business supply chain issues.

lauren saunders

deputy director of frontline services

Lauren leads Unseen’s frontline services, including the UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline, safe houses, and community support work, with over ten years’ experience supporting survivors of exploitation. She is skilled in trauma-informed practice and uses her expertise to influence national policy and frontline responses across sectors. She founded Unseen’s survivor consultant group to embed lived experience in service design and has contributed to key research on modern slavery, advocating for systemic change in how exploitation is identified and addressed.

Rachel burkinshaw

finance director

Rachel is our Director of Finance, with over 10 years’ experience in the charity sector. She is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), qualifying in 2003 with Deloitte, and holds an LLB in Law and Politics from Keele University. Rachel has primarily worked in locally focused charities and companies across the wider Bristol area, most recently within the social care sector. She brings experience in supporting sustainable, high-quality services for vulnerable people and communities, and is passionate about advancing work that supports those most disadvantaged and marginalised in society.

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about us

about us

Our mission is simple: to put an end to slavery for good. We do this by supporting survivors of modern slavery and work collaboratively with our partners to put an end to exploitation.

our people

We are proud of the expertise and experience of everyone in our team. We’re working together to end modern slavery and bring about positive and transformational change.

our impact

our impact

Since Unseen began in 2008, we’ve supported over 800 survivors of modern slavery through our safehouse & outreach services and identified over 23,000 potential victims via our helpline.

Justine Currell

As I came to understand more about the issue, including through a visit to an Unseen safehouse, I knew I needed to do more to stop this abuse and exploitation.

For the last five years of my Civil Service career, I was the Modern Slavery Senior Policy Advisor in the Home Office and led on development of the Modern Slavery Act, including the transparency in supply chains provision and business guidance.

I joined Unseen to lead the development of the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline, and Unseen’s work with businesses. I am regularly called upon to present at national and international conferences and use my experience of working with Ministers to influence other governments internationally to take action to address modern slavery and, in particular, business supply chain issues.

In my spare time I enjoy keeping fit, music, reading and travelling.

Andrew Wallis

What ultimately compelled me to act was a report on how people from Eastern Europe were being trafficked through Bristol airport to the USA. Kate Garbers, who went on to be an Unseen Director, and I wrote to all the city councillors, MPs and the Police Chief Constable challenging them on the issue. The challenge came back to us: this city needs safe housing for trafficked women. And so Unseen began.

But we never wanted Unseen to be just about safe housing. We wanted to end slavery once and for all, and that remains our driving focus.

I chaired the working group for the Centre for Social Justice’s landmark report “It Happens Here: Equipping the United Kingdom to Fight Modern Slavery”. This is now acknowledged as the catalyst behind the UK’s Modern Slavery Act of 2015. It was a great honour to be awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours that year. On the other hand, I’ve also been described as “the loveliest disrupter you could ever hope to meet”.

This job has taken me from building flat-pack furniture for safehouses, to working with businesses to address slavery in supply chains, to delivering training, raising awareness and advising governments around the world.

When not at work, I enjoy travelling, spending time with my dog Harley, cooking, supporting Liverpool and Yorkshire CC, music (I’m a former DJ) and endurance events such as the Three Peaks Challenge and Tribe Freedom Runs – which I vow never to do again. Until the next time.