Pathway Fund Announces Asher Craig As New CEO
Pathway Fund is delighted to announce that it has appointed Asher Craig as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Pathway Fund is delighted to announce that leading racial justice advocate, Asher Craig, has been appointed as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Asher will be working to steer Pathway, as it embarks upon the second stage in its growth plan - collaborating with its Chair, Lord Dr Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE and its new board, as part of this.
Asher brings a wealth of experience to the role, having been the Deputy Mayor of Bristol and the founder of a social enterprise - Mosaic CIC. She also currently holds leadership roles as part of a series of social justice and racial equity initiatives, across the country, including the MAZI project, and the Bristol Legacy Foundation.
Asher and Pathway Fund look forward to driving racial equity in the social investment space, over the long-term.
Pathway Fund’s delighted to be able to announce the appointment of Asher Craig, as our new Interim CEO.
This marks a significant step in our journey, as we enter the second phase of Pathway’s growth plan. And there couldn’t be a better person to drive forward our work.
Asher brings with her a wealth of experience, having been the Deputy Mayor of Bristol, where she was at the forefront of the city's efforts to catalyse Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities.
At Pathway Fund, Asher will be working to ensure that our key programmes, deliver for those communities we’re turbo-charging. She’ll be campaigning, working with our newly appointed board and our Chair, Lord Dr Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE, and will be ensuring Pathway drives ever-greater impact, over the long-term.
In her role as the Deputy Mayor of Bristol, she oversaw the development of ground-breaking initiatives for Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities and drove forward the city’s £4m post-covid recovery fund for the city’s voluntary, community, and social enterprises. Her work focused on harnessing the potential of Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities, in turn.
Moreover, she knows what we’re about at Pathway Fund – Black and Ethnically Minoritised social enterprise. She founded and led a successful social enterprise, Mosaic Advocacy Centre, which provides a variety of support services to a diverse and inclusive client base.
Through mentoring, coaching, and therapeutic approaches, they help their clients harness their potential, over the long-term. She has used this experience to transform large organisations’ approach to equity, diversity, and inclusion, too.
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome Asher – and look forward to all that the future has to hold for our exciting, fast moving, project!
Pathway CEO, Asher Craig, said: I’m delighted to have been appointed as the new CEO of Pathway Fund. It’s a fantastic organisation, with a critical mission – to catalyse Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities, using social investment.
I’m pleased to have been appointed at an exciting time for Pathway, when we are seeing our series of programmes, begin to materially improve outcomes for our communities. That being said, it’s an incredibly important time, too, given the need for us to focus on catalysing the communities being supported by Pathway, following the events that we witnessed, during the deeply concerning race riots, last summer.
Indeed, we know that Pathway’s programmes are working. The organisations that we support, feel more confident in delivering for their communities. We know that this leads to economic growth. And crucially, we know that this can be done, across the country.
That’s exactly what we’re committed to doing, at Pathway. We’re here to support those riot-hit communities - and the many others, that offer the UK such opportunity. I’m very pleased to be able to begin in this role – and look forward to seeing Pathway’s impact grow. This will see us drive real change for our people, over the long-term.”
Pathway Chair, Lord Dr Michael Hastings CBE, said: “I’m delighted to be able to welcome Asher to Pathway Fund. Both her knowledge of the space and her experience in delivering for Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities, are unrivalled.
She joins Pathway at an important time for the organisation – and the sector more widely. There’s a clear need for us to be driving racial equity, in the social investment space – Asher’s experience of doing this, in a number of contexts, will be invaluable in seeing this delivered.
Indeed, we know that Pathway’s enterprises can all make a major contribution to UK plc and the new government’s inclusive growth agenda – them being able to generate thousands’ of jobs in the UK’s most deprived but opportunity-abundant areas. That couldn’t be more relevant, given that we saw the worst race riots witnessed in a generation, in 2024.
Those enterprises can improve the quality of Black and Ethnically Minoritised people’s homes, their health, and augment their wealth, which is what we need to see, if we’re to realise racial equity, across the UK. But, key to unlocking those enterprises fully, is seeing Pathway’s programmes reach them. That’s why we’re so pleased to welcome Asher to Pathway – as a long-standing racial justice campaigner, there couldn’t be a better person to ensure that this happens.”