Our board and its members

With a career spanning healthcare, publishing, construction, strategy consulting and logistics, Ian has over 40 years’ experience leading highly complex multinational companies including a number of chief executive roles.

Previously Executive Chairman of Four Seasons Health Care and Chief Executive of the General Healthcare Group, Ian has an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare system and patient needs, particularly in terms of acute, psychiatric, and elderly care. 

Ian was also Chair of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2017 - 2019 and is currently a Non-executive Director at the Ministry of Defence.

Karen’s career in the NHS spans more than 30 years, where her extensive experience covers a breath of areas and includes Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer roles across Surrey, south west London and Manchester. 

As well as being a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Karen is also a strong advocate for tackling health inequalities, which includes her work as a trustee and volunteer for a voluntary organisation that works to tackle multiple disadvantage in east Surrey.

Monica is a senior healthcare leader whose career spans the NHS, academia, the pharmaceutical industry and the voluntary sector, both in the UK and internationally.

Originally trained as a nurse, Monica was among the UK’s first nurse practitioners and the first nurse partner in a GP practice. She has held senior executive and board roles across the NHS, Universities and charitable organisations, including serving as Chair of the European Lung Foundation.

Her work now focuses on translating research and innovation into policy to improve population health and healthcare outcomes.

Monica is currently Chief Executive of the Centre for Applied Respiratory Research, Innovation and Impact (CARRii) and Professor of Practice in Translational Primary Care at the University of Oxford. She currently Chairs the Sussex Healthcare Research Partnership.

She was awarded an OBE for services to nursing and nursing education.

Michael is a fully qualified accountant with an impressive career history and is currently Chief Executive Officer at Parkers Chartered Certified Accountants.

With a strong interest in the NHS, Michael was Chairman at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for nine years and has also spent time as a Board member at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust, as well as the Food Standards Agency.

Made Commander of the British Empire in December 2010, Michael is President of the Sickle Cell Society and was also Chairman of the Royal College of Nurses Institute, as well as holding other advisory positions to the Royal College of Nurses.

Michael is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, London and an Honorary life member of the Institute of Risk Management. 

Michael chairs the Audit Committee.

Faustina is an experienced community development and engagement specialist with over 20 years’ experience in community planning and stakeholder engagement.

She has worked extensively with local authorities and district and parish councils to support community-led consultations and neighbourhood planning initiatives. Previously, Faustina served as a Senior Community Development Officer for Action in Rural Sussex and as an Associate Lay Member for NHS Brighton and Hove CCG, contributing her expertise to strengthen local voice and representation in decision-making. 

Faustina chairs the Remuneration Committee.

John has a wealth of experience of delivering complex workforce transformation programmes, with a particular interest in organisational design, culture and talent management. 

Currently an Associate Partner at management consultants Ernst and Young, John has a successful track record of Chief People officer roles, including as Group HR Director of the Home Office. As well as working with NHS Digital on their people agenda and with NHS England, John’s career also includes time working in a number of Government departments including the Cabinet Office, Home Office and the Prison Service. 

John chairs the People Committee.

Rahul is a Non-Executive Director of two housing associations. Previously, Rahul has been a Board Trustee of a national social care charity.

He has completed two terms as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Finance, Investment and Development Committee at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Rahul also has extensive experience of working in an IT career in the private sector, where he held roles as Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Senior Executive Vice President and Management Consultant. 

Rahul chairs the Finance and Performance Committee.

With over 30 years’ experience in nursing, Steve began his career in coronary care before taking on senior leadership roles across the NHS, voluntary sector, and higher education.

Steve currently serves as the Group Chief Nursing and Improvement Officer for the Bristol NHS Group, where he leads professional nursing, midwifery and allied health leadership.

Committed to safety and compassion and a champion of inclusion, quality improvement, and the power of professional and patient voice in shaping excellent care, Steve was admitted to The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in 2011 for his service to St John Ambulance, and he was awarded an MBE for services to nursing in the 2022 New Year Honours. Steve is a Visiting Professor at the University of the West of England.

Steve chairs the Integrated Assurance Committee.

Dr Charlotte Canniff has been a senior Clinical Leader in the Surrey system for over a decade. Originally Clinical Chair of North West Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group and, more latterly, of NHS Surrey Heartlands from its inception in April 2020, Charlotte is passionate about clinical and professional leadership and engagement.

A true clinical leader, Charlotte has supported the development of system-wide clinical networks, enabling them to thrive as active, multi-professional networks with a strong voice.

A senior partner at a large GP practice in North West Surrey, Charlotte is passionate about high quality, accessible primary care with a special interest in women’s health, paediatrics (particularly neurodiversity and child and adolescent mental health) and in managing complex frailty and end of life care. 

A Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia at St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (and the Trust’s previous Medical Director), Andrew is also an Honorary Professor of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at St George’s University of London.

Andrew has research interests in the fields of haemodynamics, surgical outcomes, sepsis and antibiotic delivery. He is widely published in these areas and is regularly invited to lecture on these subjects all around the world.

Andrew has held leadership roles at both a national and an international level. He is a past president of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and has held elected positions on the Council of both the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM) and the Intensive Care Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He is a non-Executive Director at Croydon University Hospitals NHS trust and vice-chair of Kent Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance charity.

Allison qualified as a nurse in 1992 and in June 2022 she was appointed as Chief Nursing Officer for NHS Sussex.  Previously, Allison was the Chief Nurse for all seven Clinical Commissioning Groups in Sussex.

Before working in commissioning, Allison held Senior Nursing leadership roles in acute provider organisations.  Allison has experience and clinical expertise in a wide variety of portfolios, including quality, safety, safeguarding and patient experience.

Allison is passionate about leadership in the NHS and was awarded the Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholarship in 2017.

Clare has over 26 years’ experience working in NHS finance, beginning as a national graduate finance management trainee, and working across a variety of NHS organisations including the community, mental health and the acute sector.

Clare’s first substantive Chief Finance Officer role was at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, before joining Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust as Director of Finance ahead of their merger with West Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2021. Before joining NHS Surrey Heartlands as Chief Finance Officer, Clare was Chief Finance Officer at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

Graham Wareham is the Chief Executive of Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, having previously held the roles of Chief Finance Officer and Deputy Chief Executive.  His ambition is for the Trust to go from ‘good to great’, and that much of what we need to do to reach that goal is simply about changing our approach to problems and slightly adjusting our thinking. It will lead to better clinical care, a happier workplace and fewer people finding our services difficult to access.

Graham joined the Trust in February 2015 from Leonard Cheshire Disability, a charity which provides support for disabled people, where he was Chief Financial Officer. During his time as Chief Financial Officer, Graham worked very closely with the Chief Executive in developing future plans and managing day to day performance of the charity.

Graham started his career in 1995 with British Airways and then with food retailer, Safeway, working across a wide number of finance roles including supply chain, retail, operations and change management and has played a significant role in implementing efficiency projects.  He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, with a BA in Economics and an MA in Transport Economics.

Dr Jane Padmore is the Chief Executive of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, having previously held the roles of Chief Nursing Officer at the Trust, and prior to that Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Quality and Safety at Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.  She is a registered mental health nurse and has worked in mental health and learning disability services since 1990.  Jane is passionate about driving continuous improvement to ensure high quality services that are safe, effective and a good experience.  She is particularly interested in how the emerging evidence in relation to neurodiversity can be applied to our services.

Initially starting her career as a volunteer then a healthcare assistant, Jane later qualified as a mental health nurse and has since worked in various clinical, leadership, managerial and academic roles, across CAMHS and adult mental health, learning disability, and forensic services.

Jane was awarded a doctorate from King’s College London following a research study into the mental health needs of young people in street gangs. She has published in relation to child and adolescent mental health, nursing practice and young people involved street gangs.

Jane is also currently the chair of the NHS Confederation Learning Disability and Autism Forum.

Siobhan Melia is currently Chief Executive of Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, the largest provider of NHS community services in Sussex.  She took over the role in September 2016 having previously held the position of Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Partnerships and Commercial Development at the organisation. 

Siobhan has a huge amount of public healthcare experience, having worked in the NHS since 1996 in a range of roles. She began her career on the clinical frontline, obtaining her postgraduate degree in podiatry from the University of Brighton and went on to hold a number of different clinical leadership roles. She subsequently undertook senior management and Board level roles at a large NHS community health provider in Berkshire. In 2012, she received her MBA (Health Executive) from Keele University. 

Louise was appointed as Group Chief Executive of Ashford and St Peter’s and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trusts in January 2025.

Louise qualified as a registered nurse in 1988 and had a varied clinical career across many specialities in a number of London teaching hospitals. She became Chief Executive of Royal Surrey in 2018 and prior to this held roles as Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Nursing. She was pivotal to the Trust achieving a ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission in 2018 and to Royal Surrey County Hospital achieving an ‘outstanding’ rating in 2020.

She has an MSc in Professional Practice (Leadership and Management), is a Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey and specialist advisor to the Care Quality Commission, participating in well-led reviews at other NHS trusts.

Louise chairs the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance and co-chairs the National Cancer Alliance Leadership Forum. 

In 2023 and 2024, Louise was included in the HSJ top 50 list of pre-eminent NHS Trust leaders, ranking 13th out of 219 NHS Trust chief executives by judges across the health and social care profession in the first year. Louise is passionate about putting the patient at the heart of every discussion and the effect that good leadership has on clinical outcomes.

Dan Ruaux is the Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning at West Sussex County Council.  He leads local education, social care, and family support services, focusing on corporate parenting, school partnerships and improving regional care standards.  Prior to his executive appointment, Dan was Assistant Director for Corporate Parenting for five years.

Dr Niki Lang is the Interim Director of Public Health at Brighton & Hove City Council. 

Mark joined East Sussex County Council in 1992, taking up the role of Assistant Director in 2005.  From 2017, alongside his role as Assistant Director, he became Director of Integrated Community Services with East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust taking strategic responsibility for NHS community and integrated services including community hospitals, nursing, therapy and rehabilitation services.

Having held the position of Assistant Director of Adult Social Care and Health with East Sussex for 15 years, Mark became Director of the service in November 2020.  He also chairs the South East ADASS Regional Finance and Resources Sub Group and the East Sussex Autism Partnership Board.

Terence Herbert is the Chief Executive of Surrey County Council.

Terence joined Surrey County Council in 2024. He was previously Chief Executive for Wiltshire Council in June 2020. Prior to this he held a number of senior leadership roles including Head of Service for Safeguarding, Associate Director for Children's Services, Executive Director for Children and Families, Leisure and Communities, Corporate Services and HR and Organisational Development, and Chief Executive Officer for People.

With over two decades of NHS experience, Mark has held senior leadership roles across acute and integrated care systems, most recently in NHS Sussex where he was previously interim CEO and, prior to that, Chief People Officer.

Before his time in Sussex, he served as Chief People Officer for the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group, where he oversaw workforce transformation across both Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals.

Amy originally trained as a radiographer and has held senior healthcare roles leading healthcare strategy, policy and Integrated Care System development, including at NHS England and Improvement, the Department of Health and The King’s Fund.

Amy has worked in the Sussex system since 2020, where her portfolios have included primary and community care, urgent care commissioning and transformation, digital, data and technology, amongst other areas. 

Claudia has worked in the NHS for over 15 years and has held a number of senior roles, including Director of Performance and Improvement in NHS England’s South East region.  

Claudia has a background in medical science and holds a Ph.D. in Anatomy and Medical Physics from the University of Bristol. Claudia is also a qualified accountant and spent a number of years working in KPMG’s transaction services department before joining the NHS.

Indiana is joint Chief People and Culture Officer (in partnership with NHS Kent and Medway).

Prior to joining NHS Sussex in April 2023 as Deputy Chief People Officer and Director of People, Indiana worked for Health Education England and NHS England as the National Head of Transition and National Head of Workforce Transformation (respectively), where she worked on the merger of NHS England, Health Education England and NHS Digital and wider workforce transformation. Indiana also previously worked for NHS Surrey Heartlands and Surrey County Council.