Meet our board

Peter brings a wide breadth of skills and experience to the board having held a range of senior posts in the private, public and voluntary sectors. He was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP until 2010 and President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales from 2002 to 2003. In the health sector, he served as Chair of the Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2011 to 2016, and Chair of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) from 2016 to 2022.

Rachel brings a breadth of skills and experience to the board, having held strategy; digital; transformation; data and technology executive posts in the private, public and charity sectors. Taking a commercial and customer focus – specialising in innovating operating models and continuous improvement. Previously an IBM and Deloitte management consultant, Rachel shaped and led global technical transformation programmes of scale in Financial Services, Sporting Events and Retail.

Charles is Professor of Haemato-oncology at the University of Birmingham and Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Programme at University Hospitals Birmingham. As well as extensive research interests, he has significant Board experience, including the UK Stem Cell Strategic Oversight Committee and Anthony Nolan. He was awarded the CBE for services to medicine and medical research in 2016.

Caroline brings significant business, technology and transformational leadership experience gained across a range of industries including pharmaceutical, medical devices, consumer electronics and IT services. She has been a non executive board member at NNIT since 2018.

Lorna is a Professor of Transplantation and Head of Deanery of Clinical Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She is also an Honorary Consultant Transplant Surgeon at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.

Until very recently, Penny was HR Director for Fibre Network Delivery at Openreach and held a previous role as HR Director of Infrastructure Projects at Network Rail.

Ian was a Trading Director at Travis Perkins and previous roles have included Chief Financial Officer at Copart and Jessops.

Caroline is a highly experienced NHS leader. Most recently Caroline has been interim Chief Executive for the Trust group including Walsall Healthcare and the Royal Wolverhampton, whilst a permanent Chief Executive was being appointed. She was previously Chief Executive of North West Anglia Foundation Trust which she retired from in 2023, and prior to that has worked for the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital Foundation Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust. Caroline has also been Chief Operating Officer at Loughborough University. Caroline has operated at board level for 25 years and has a track record of improving patient care and developing high performing teams.

Wendy is an experienced Strategy, Transformation and Technology leader who has worked across the private and public sectors and multiple industries. Wendy joined NHSBT from NHS Digital where she was the Executive Director of Product Development and before that Executive Director roles in National Security. The initial part of Wendy’s career was in the private sector leading technology change for organisations such as BP, Thomson Reuters and Astra Zeneca. Wendy has experience working as a trustee in the charity sector including as Chair of The Board of Trustees at Breast Cancer UK.

A Registered Nurse with over 30 years' NHS experience, Anthony is a transformational leader who has held leadership roles within Blood Donation, Tissue and Eye Services and Organ Donation and Transplantation. In Organ Donation and Transplantation, Anthony led the implementation of the Organ Donation Taskforce report, setting the foundations to double the number of organ donors. In 2018, Anthony was the first Nurse to be awarded HSJ Clinical Leader of the Year and in 2020 he was made a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, for Nurse leadership and his exceptional contribution to Nursing.

Carl joined our organisation in October 2022 from NHS Digital where he was Chief Financial Officer from 2013-2022, leading their finance and estates functions. Before this Carl worked at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for 17 years, where he worked as an economic adviser before training as a Chartered Global Management Accountant and transitioning to finance and commercial roles. Prior to his career in the DHSC Carl studied for a MSc in Health Economics, and before becoming a student he trained and worked as a Registered General Nurse.

Denise has extensive experience in the fields of nursing, quality, risk, safeguarding and public health. Since 2019 she has been Chief Nurse, Director of Quality, Director of Infection Prevention and Control (DIPC) for CSH Surrey (Social Enterprise), as well as being Executive Lead for Quality and Assurance for North West Surrey Alliance for the past two years. Prior to this she worked nationally with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) team and public health within NHS commissioning and local authority.

Nicola is an experienced leader, mentor and coach with a proven successful track record of ambitious and visionary leadership. Nicola received an OBE for services to Women in Business and Workplace Equality. She is the Senior Vice President; Mid-size and Cluster Markets – Europe at GSK.

Gerry is an experienced Supply Chain leader with 25 years’ experience within NHSBT (and previously the National Blood Service). Most recently he has been the Director of Plasma and he has also been covering the role of Interim Director of Blood Supply. Prior to joining NHSBT, Gerry led the commercialisation of several Local Government functions.

Helen is an experienced leader within NHSBT and was General Manager of Tissue and Eye Services for 12 years. She has a track record of delivering innovation and modernising services. She was previously an auditor for the British Standards Institute, assessing quality management systems across both the public and private sector.

Rebecca joined as a Director in 2020, having previously spent her career working in strategy and transformation leadership roles for global brands in retail and leisure industries - specialising in digital and commercial change.

Mark has been a director in government bodies and government-funded organisations, and successfully ran his own marketing agency. He has delivered high profile, multi-million pound campaigns, is a Chartered Marketer, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds a master’s in marketing. Mark is also a non-executive director for a leisure company and has held a similar role for a charity.

Antony is an award-winning Director of Communications who served over 20 years in the NHS, including at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and London Ambulance Service. Antony also served as a Director of Communications at NHS England, leading on a range of major initiatives, including the NHS’s 70th and 75th anniversaries in 2018 and 2023 respectively. He most recently lead communications for the London Fire Brigade and is a Trustee of the national charity, NHS Charities Together.

Julie is an experienced HR leader who has worked across the private and public sector, most recently as the Chief People Officer for NHS Digital. Prior to this, Julie was HR Director for the Department of Work and Pensions, where she spent 15 years working across a range of HR roles, with a focus on transformation programmes and driving employee engagement and cultural change.