Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors, which includes our Chair, Non-Executive Directors, the Chief Executive and Executive Directors make decisions about the management of the Trust.
David Walker
Chairman
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David Walker was appointed Chair of Oxford Health in April 2019. Prior to this, he served as deputy chair of Central and North-West London NHS FT since 2011. Previously, he has been a Trustee of the Nuffield Trust, the National Centre for Social Research, a Board member of Places for People, and a council member of the Economic and Social Research Council.
Until 2010 David was Managing Director for Communications and Public Reporting at the Audit Commission. He is a member of council at Royal Holloway University of London and impact assessor for Research Excellence Framework 2022 and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
As a journalist he was a Leader Writer for The Times, Chief Leader Writer for The Independent, Founding Editor of the Guardian’s Public Magazine and he has worked as a local government and social policy correspondent. He is the author of several books.
Grant Macdonald
Chief Executive Officer
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Grant Macdonald has been CEO at Oxford Health since July 2023.
Grant has over 20 years experience as an executive director in provider organisations and his broader NHS career spans 36 years from starting out in the NHS as a student nurse in 1988; and he remains a registered mental health nurse.
Over the last 20 years he has held board roles including Chief Nurse, Chief Operating Officer, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Executive. He has worked in community, acute and mental health sectors in and around London during this time. Including time at Berkshire Healthcare FT, Central & North-West London FT, West London NHS Trust, Southern Health FT and he supported the acquisition of Heathwood and Wexham Park FT by Frimley Health FT.
Amélie Bages*
Executive Director of Strategy
*non voting member
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Amélie Bages joined Oxford Health as Director of Strategy and Partnerships on April 25, 2022
She was previously Head of Mental Health for NHS England, a position held for more than three years in which she oversaw the finance, planning, strategy, performance, delivery, and equalities work for the National Mental Health Programme. This covered government spending reviews, leading on business cases and negotiations, integrated care systems and operating model development work.
In 2019, she led the development of the NHS Long Term Plan for mental health, securing an additional £2.3bn funding for mental health services across England.
Most recently, as part of the National Mental Health Senior Leadership Team, she worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care to secure an additional £500m of funding for mental health services in 2021/22 to address the immediate impact of Covid-19, as published in the Government’s Covid-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan.
Her work with large acute trusts in London including the Royal Free presented her with opportunities to see first-hand the benefits of embedding research and innovation in the delivery of care and also as part of a wider organisational transformation approach.
Britta Klinck
Chief Nurse
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Britta Klinck was appointed to the role of Chief Nursing Officer for the Trust in November 2023. Britta became Deputy Director of Nursing for Mental Health in 2018, and was promoted to her previous role in 2021 as the sole deputy to the previous Chief Nursing Officer. Britta has worked at Oxford Health for 30 years, joining initially as a Healthcare Assistant before qualifying as a Registered Mental Health Nurse in 1994. From here she progressed through Team Manager and Service Manager roles to Head of Nursing for Mental Health in 2015.
Charmaine De Souza
Chief People Officer
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Charmaine holds the role of Chief People Office. Prior to joining Oxford Health she was the HR Director at the Greater London Authority, the capital’s devolved governance body which supports the Mayor of London and London Assembly.
Charmaine has worked across a range of organisations in the public sector, starting her career as a graduate trainee at the BBC where she qualified as an HR professional. She has held senior HR Director posts in central government in HM Revenue and Customs and Cabinet Office. Charmaine is also a Board member and Chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee at Hightown Housing Association. Hightown is a charitable housing body that works across the home counties to provide homes and supported housing to the local community.
Charmaine holds a MSc in Organisational Behaviour from Birkbeck College and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).
Dr Karl Marlowe
Chief Medical Officer
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Dr Marlowe joined Oxford Health as the new Chief Medical Officer in 2021. Karl was previously the CMO at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust where, since 2018, he was responsible for the clinical leadership of 6,000 staff across more than 300 sites – including five community hospitals – and a £320m budget. During this time, he saw Southern Health experience a shift in culture, transforming it from a trust requiring improvement to one rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission.
A consultant psychiatrist, Karl’s extensive training has taken in Liverpool Medical School, Barts and The Royal London, Maudsley Hospital and Guys and St Thomas Hospitals. He holds post-graduate qualifications from UCL, the Institute of Psychiatry and Oxford’s Said Business School. He has previously been clinical director of adult mental health at East London NHS Foundation Trust and continues to chair the Social Interest Group, a non-profit organisation set up to enrich and extend opportunities for people facing social and health exclusion.
He is also passionate about climate change and the need to reduce air pollution. He also led on embedding a quality improvement methodology across the Trust.
Heather Smith
Chief Finance Officer
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Heather Smith joined Oxford Health in 2022 from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where she had also been Chief Finance Officer.
Before joining DEFRA – a £6 billion public sector group – in 2018, Heather had worked in senior civil service Finance and Policy roles in HM Revenue & Customs and in the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. Before that Heather worked at HM Treasury, the World Bank and for Arthur Andersen and Deloitte & Touche.
At Oxford Health, Heather is responsible for the financial and commercial leadership of the Trust. This means contributing to the development of Integrated Care System financial strategies, enabling transformation of clinical services and models of care to use resources more efficiently and effectively.
Heather is also responsible for the Information Management & Technology and Estates & Facilities teams who provide the digital and physical environment used by patients, the public and people working at the Trust. Heather is also the senior responsible officer for the Warneford Park programme.
Emma Leaver
Interim Chief Operating Officer for Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care
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Emma Leaver took on the role of interim Chief Operating Officer for Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care, from 1st March 2025.
Emma, who is currently the Trust’s Service Director for Community Health Services, Dentistry & Primary Care has 37 years of experience in the NHS having qualified as a nurse, midwife and then a health visitor. She has held leadership roles for the last 22 years, working in Oxfordshire since 2003. Emma is committed to improving both the experience of staff working for the trust and the quality of care provided to our patients and their families.
Dr Rob Bale
Interim Chief Operating Officer for Mental Health and Learning Disability
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Rob began his NHS career in 1990, becoming a consultant psychiatrist in 1998. He has over 25 years’ experience as a consultant psychiatrist and clinical leader.
The last twenty years have been spent at Oxford Health, most recently as clinical leader for the Oxfordshire, Bath, North East Somerset, Swindon & Wiltshire Mental Health Directorate.
Rob has led core mental health services for people of all ages, alongside specialist services including adult learning disability, specialist forensic services and three mental health provider collaboratives.
He is committed to improving the lives of those experiencing mental ill-health and supporting staff as teams and individuals.
Taff Gidi
Executive Director of Corporate Affairs, Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) & Accountable Emergency Officer
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Taff brings experience as a Board member and Executive Director leading Governance and Corporate Affairs functions, most recently as Director of Governance & Risk at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. He has cross sector experience having previously held roles in other private, public and charity organisations. Taff has held a number of Non-Executive board roles including as Audit Committee Chair. He is currently a Non-Executive Director for Youth United Foundation. Taff has a long history with Scouts, both as a Scout and a Scout Leader.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. He holds a Master of Laws degree specialising in corporate governance. Taff is a qualified Executive Coach, having studied the MSc in Coaching & Behavioural Change at Henley Business School. He is an accredited Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation.
Taff has experience and research interests in group dynamics and team effectiveness, particularly in relation to Boards and Executive Teams.
Geraldine Cumberbatch
Non-Executive Director
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Geraldine joined Oxford Health as a non-executive director in 2022. A solicitor with experience in private practice and in-house, she is a pragmatic, inclusive and people oriented person with broad experience and expertise in advising businesses, individuals and local authorities ,and providing practical guidance to charities. She also has a wealth of experience in strategy, establishing financial governance and managing assets.
She uses her experience and transferable skills gained elsewhere to the benefit of the Oxford Health board.
Chris Hurst
Non-Executive Director
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Chris was appointed in 2017 and is a consultant and executive coach with 25 years board experience, working in both executive and non-executive roles.
He is a chartered accountant and has worked in the banking and technology sectors, in local and national government and as a Deputy CEO in the NHS.
He is a Board Trustee of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) and a non-executive director of a small digital development company.
Mohinder Sawhney
Non-Executive Director
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Mohinder Sawhney, was appointed a Non-Executive Director in 2021. A senior adviser to international companies and non-profit organisations, Mohinder is an economist who has extensive experience advising organisations large and small, including the World Bank, the Department for International Development, Diabetes UK, Hampshire County Council, and the Bank of England.
Mohinder, whose name is sometimes abbreviated to ‘Mindy’, is a speaker of Croatian, and has worked extensively in former Yugoslavia. In 2020 she completed her final third term as Chair of Revitalise, a charity providing respite breaks for disabled people and carers.
Prof Sir Rick Trainor
Non-Executive Director
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Sir Rick joined Oxford Health as a non-executive director in 2022. He has been the rector of Exeter College at the University of Oxford since 2014 and was previous head of two other universities, Greenwich and King’s College London (KCL).
He brings substantial senior leadership expertise, particularly in higher education and extensive experience in fostering academic-clinical links evidenced by his time as a board member of King’s Health Partners, the academic health sciences centre linking KCL with three NHS trusts.
He has wide-ranging boardroom experience having served on governing or advisory boards of the Museum of London, the Royal Academy of Music and the Francis Crick Institute. He is a former president of Universities UK and a former chair of Oxford’s Conference of Colleges and is currently a Pro-ViceChancellor (without portfolio) of Oxford University.
Sir Rick believes he can help Oxford Health deal with the many social, economic, cultural and political factors that an organisation responsible for mental and community services has to take into account.
Lucy Weston
Non-Executive Director
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Lucy was appointed as an Associate Non-executive Director in 2017 and became a Non-executive Director in 2019. She is a chartered accountant who has spent most of her career in the private and charity sectors.
She is a Non-executive Director (Vice Chair) of Soha Housing.
Andrea Young
Non-Executive Director
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Andrea was appointed to the board in 2022. She has had a long and distinguished career in the NHS and was the former chief executive of North Bristol NHS Trust until she retired in 2020. Andrea started her career in 1977 as a student nurse and subsequently trained and practised as a midwife. Before joining North Bristol, she worked nationally and regionally across a wide range of public health and health commissioning roles.
Andrea is a member of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, a DHSC non-departmental body which provides independent advice to the government about reconfigurations and changes to NHS services. She is an accredited coach/mentor working independently. Andrea is also a listening volunteer with the Samaritans. She lives in Oxford with her husband.
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