Airmic Leadership Group discusses criminal justice at House of Lords

Published on Tue, 26/07/2022 - 16:48

The Leadership Group heard Damon’s West's inspirational story at its latest event, held at the House of Lords, supported by Airmic partners AIG, and hosted by Lord Tim Clement-Jones.

The meeting, attended by a capacity audience of 50, took place on 5 July and followed on from the successful series of Brexit events organised by Airmic with AIG for members at Westminster.

AIG has been collaborating with Damon on his ground-breaking work in the US prison system. Damon’s work through the ‘Be a Coffee Bean’ foundation is aimed at addressing criminal justice reform, systemic racism and generational incarceration in the US, with programmes focusing on children with incarcerated parents and incarcerated black men and at-risk youth.

Julia Graham, Airmic CEO, said: “The interaction between Damon and our members following his presentation could have run well past our allocated time – witness to the fact that it would have been hard to leave this session without being affected by his passion and experiences, how we might learn from them and apply these in the context of our own personal and business lives.”  

Damon West, Founder of the Be a Coffee Bean foundation said: “The smartest criminal justice reform initiatives deal with pre-interventions for at-risk youth, educational opportunities for the currently incarcerated and second-chances for the formerly incarcerated. Through AIG’s pro bono programme, the Be a Coffee Bean foundation has found a partner who believes in all three.”

Suzy Awford, International Head of Regulatory & Government Affairs said: “AIG’s longstanding partnership with Airmic's Leadership Group has been focused on sharing new insights and perspectives, and what better and more refreshing perspective than to learn from Damon’s personal journey, and his message that our attitude is a choice - and that we should work to influence the world around us for the better.” 

The event sponsor, Lord Tim Clement-Jones, has a deep interest in risk management and the world of technology, information security, data and artificial intelligence, and associated law and regulation.