Board of Directors

Rob returned to CHFT in November 2022 following almost four years at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Operating Officer / Deputy Chief Executive.

His role at Airedale involved being responsible for the day-to-day operational running of the hospital and community services.  During this time he also led the Bradford District & Craven Ageing Well Programme.

Rob previously joined CHFT in 2009 and during his 10 years at the Trust held several positions including Director of Operations. 

In his Deputy Chief Executive role, Rob has a broad range of responsibilities within the executive team and across the organisation including being the executive lead for Community services, Health Inequalities and Trust’s operational reconfiguration activities.

Rob holds a Masters in Health Management and is a graduate of the NHS General Management Training Scheme.

Initially appointed on an interim basis in June 2014. Permanent appointment from July 2015.

David has been working in the Trust as a Consultant Microbiologist since 2000. He has held a number of senior clinical leadership roles in the Trust and was appointed to the post of Medical Director in July 2015, he continues in his role as a Consultant Microbiologist on a part time basis. 

As Medical Director, David shapes and leads the clinical services delivered by the Trust in order to drive the best health outcomes. Current large scale projects include reviewing how the Trust delivers care across the community and the hospitals, the development of 7 day services, and the implementation of an electronic patient record.

The Medical Director provides a professional lead for allied health professionals and medical staff and as the Trust’s Responsible Officer makes recommendations to the General Medical Council around medical revalidation. David also takes the lead on education and training, research and development and infection control.

Gary has been Finance Director since November 2016. Previously he was the Deputy Director of Finance from March 2016.  Gary joined the Trust from the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust where he had been the Deputy Director of Finance. Gary has over 25 years experience and is both a Chartered Management Accountant and a Chartared Public Finance Accountant. 

Gary joined the NHS as a finance trainee following his graduation from the University of Humberside where he studied Accounting and Finance, and then went on to become a Chartered Management Accountant in 1996 whilst at Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust.  

A large part of his career has been in senior divisional finance roles at both Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and at Pennine Acute Hospitals where there was a strong track record of working closely with Divisions to deliver both patient improvements and financial efficiencies.

In addition to his role as Finance and Contracting lead, Gary also has responsibility for the Huddersfield Pharmaceuticals Service (HPS) and client relationships with Estates and Facilies partners across the Trust. 

Suzanne joined the Trust in February 2018 with experience across both the private and public sector in strategic HR roles. Beginning her career at Pinderfields Hospital, Suzanne spent 8 years leading a dotcom before moving into Local Authority and Transport Sectors.

She believes that the role of HR is to spot talent and help it grow, that a great employee experience leads to a great patient experience, and that organisations that work together can achieve the impossible.

Jonny is our Acting Chief Operating Officer, having previously been the Director of Operations in Medicine since October 2020.

Jonny has been in the NHS since 2002 having qualified as a Physiotherapist where he gained experience predominantly in Leeds across a number of clinical areas. He then worked as a Physiotherapist at CHFT leading the trauma orthopaedic team before moving in to management of therapy teams.

Following a role focusing on quality and safety in the Medical Division, he moved to Harrogate Foundation Trust where over the next three years he held General Manager roles across the entirety of Surgery before holding the post of Director of Operations in Surgery for four years. Jonny then ‘came back home’ to CHFT for the Director of Operations role in medicine.

Throughout his career Jonny has focused on continual improvement of clinical services both when working clinically and in management roles. He has a strong focus on people and team development in order to support our staff so that they can provide the best possible clinical services for the patients they serve.

Vicky re-joined the Trust in June 2022 following three years as Director of Corporate Affairs and Deputy Chief Executive at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

She was previously Company Secretary at CHFT for five years, following two years as Director of Corporate Affairs at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Vicky also has nine years’ experience in primary care in roles covering communications, media relations, complaints, patient and public involvement and corporate governance.

An Affiliate Member of ICSA: The Governance Institute and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Vicky is also the Vice Chair of Overgate Hospice in Calderdale, and a Trustee of Mountain Rescue England and Wales.

Lindsay’s journey with CHFT started in 1993 following completion of her Registered Nurse training, and she has worked for the trust throughout her career. She has extensive experience within senior nursing and leadership roles across all our services.

She is an energetic leader with an inclusive approach who puts patients and people first. Lindsay is passionate and committed to engaging with colleagues to be ambitious in improving patient outcomes, promoting equality and diversity to enhance patient, service user, family and carer and colleague experience.

She is a strong advocate for compassionate leadership, health and wellbeing and in empowering colleagues to be able to lead improvements in patient safety and quality.

Lindsay holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and an Executive Diploma in Strategic Management.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2025

Nigel is a chartered accountant with 40 years' experience of working in the public sector. Most of this has been in local government including as the Chief Finance Officer for Calderdale Council. His experience is primarily in finance but also covers transformation, performance management and large capital projects and increasingly working over recent years with colleagues in the health sector. 

His role at the Trust will include chairing the Audit and Risk Committee (from September 2022) and will be a member of the Finance and Performance Committee, the Charitable Funds Committee and the Huddersfield Pharmacy Specials Board. He will also be representing the Trust at Audit Yorkshire meetings.

Nigel lives in Lindley with his wife and has two sons.

Non-Executive Director and Chair of CHS Ltd

Appointment: June 2022 - May 2025

Tim has worked in Board positions as CFO/Finance Director for commercial companies for more than 25 years.

He has worked in different sectors – engineering, consumer goods and more recently pharmaceuticals. He is currently CFO for a pharmaceuticals company in Leeds as well as joining us on the Board of CHFT. In these roles he has acquired a wealth of operational, commercial and change management as well as financial experience.

Tim lives in Ilkley West Yorkshire with his wife Kathie, he has a son Dan who is currently studying at university. He enjoys mountain biking, walking, socialising with friends and is a keen football fan.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: October 2017 - September 2024

Andy is an experienced Technology and Business Transformation executive with a successful 30-year track record in Central Government, Management Consulting, Retail and Finance sectors. Key positions held include being the group executive with global responsibility for Strategy, IT and turnaround programmes at RSA Insurance and several large-scale CIO roles in the private and public sectors including HM Government CIO. He was previously a Non-Executive for the Disclosure and Barring Service and for The Law Society, a guest lecturer at Lancaster University Management School.

With the Trust Andy is Chairs the Audit and Risk Committee and is a member of the Transformation Programme Board. He also Chairs the Green Planning Committee, the Security and Resilience Group and attends the Health Informatics Service Executive Board. He is a volunteer with the Princess Trust providing bsuiness mentoring to young people. He is married with three grown-up sons and has lived in Barkisland since 1996.

Krish is with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust as part of the NED Insight Development Programme

Appointment: October 2023 

Krish holds Management (MBA) and Computer Science (MSc) degrees which sustain his insights with deeper theoretical and practical knowledge. In addition, he is also a Certified Enterprise Architect (TOGAF), ITIL Intermediate in IT Continual Service Improvement and is a Chartered Manager.

In 2018 he moved back to join the University of Huddersfield from Kings College London and had also worked at Falmouth University where he had led major digital transformation programmes.

Krish is an experienced senior technology and operational leader with a passion for digital transformation. He has 18 years track record of successfully leading, facilitating and delivering business and technology change initiatives for Higher Education (HE) and banking along with substantial domain knowledge in HE, trade finance banking, and retailing. He has successfully headed and closed end to end full life cycle projects on enterprise systems, infrastructure, cloud migration, software development and database management.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: January 2020 – December 2025

Denise is an Occupational Therapist by profession with 38 year experience within the NHS and has held a variety of clinical, managerial and professional leadership positions. Most recently until retirement she held the position of Head of Occupational Therapy at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.

Denise led on the delivery of a wide range of quality improvements in clinical practice with positive outcomes for patients. She believes it is essential that people work together for the best interests of patients and truly listen to patients and the communities served to understand what they need.

Denise has worked closely with colleagues across health, social and voluntary sectors to develop and deliver patient centred health and care services.

A member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists she has served as Council Member and Chair of the Equalities Committee.

Denise has a special interest in education and in an advisory capacity supports local universities in the development and accreditation of undergraduate and post graduate programmes. She is also a Trustee and Chair of the Secondaries Committee for Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust. 

Denise is the Chair of the Quality Committee and attends Audit and Risk Committee and Workforce Committee and chaired the Oversight Committee. 

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: March 2024 to February 2027

Jo is Chair of the Workforce Committee at the Trust. She is also a member of the Trust's Quality Committee and Nominations and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors.

Jo is Director of Health Partnerships at the University of Leeds, and was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of the Leeds Academic Health Partnership.

Prior to this, Jo had a long career in the NHS.  She was NHS Chief of Staff at the Department of Health, reporting directly to the NHS Chief Executive, and also the National Director for Human Resources and Organisational Development at NHS England. She has held a number of senior operational and strategic management posts in the NHS, broadly in the areas of human resources management, organisational development, public relations and communications.

She is a graduate of the University of Liverpool and holds a masters degree in Strategic Human Resources Management from Durham University, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from Leeds Metropolitan University. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: January 2020 – December 2025

Peter Wilkinson lives in Holmfirth and is a Chartered Surveyor with significant executive level experience for over 30 years at both a Big4 consulting firm and Real Estate firm, where he was an equity partner. Peter has particular expertise in advising on the delivery of business transformation across property, infrastructure & capital projects, leading on programme and project management incorporating wider business teams and stakeholders for both public and private sector clients.  

His leadership of organisational wide transformation with solid and practical use of Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), PRINCE2 and Portfolio Management will be especially useful as the Trust embarks on its’ large and complex Reconfiguration of Services at both Halifax and Huddersfield in the coming years. 

Peter currently has his own consultancy business, based in Holmfirth, and has a number of other Non-Executive Director roles and Consultancy commissions across the North of England.  

He is married with one son and has lived in Holmfirth for over 20 years. 

Peter is Chair of the Transformation Programme Board, and attends Finance and Performance Committee, Charitable Funds Committee and Pennine Property Partnership Board.