Jacqueline has a wealth of experience in senior public health management and executive roles within the NHS and local government, spanning across London, Birmingham, and Staffordshire. Prior to joining the Board, she served as a Non-Executive Director at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust since 2017, bringing with her extensive leadership skills in areas such as commissioning, partnership working, community-based health improvement, and wellbeing. Initially qualifying as a Registered Nurse and Midwife, Jacqueline holds a BA in Social Policy and Administration studies, and an MSc in Health Promotion. Serving as interim Chair for 12 months before assuming the role of Chair in January 2024, she is deeply committed to integrated models of care that prioritise the needs of patients, service users and their caregivers. Jacqueline strongly advocates for partnership working. Currently, she serves as the Chair of the Trust Board and Council of Governors, as well as the non-executive lead for population health management and the executive sponsor of the Equality Data Improvement Project.

Neil is a seasoned Chief Executive dedicated to enhancing patient outcomes. He spearheaded South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Trust’s transition to Foundation Trust status in 2006 before assuming the Chief Executive role the following year. In 2018, he facilitated the merger that created Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust. With a nursing background, Neil’s expertise lies in mental health services, notably in areas like eating disorders, perinatal mental health and psychiatric intensive care. His leadership has propelled the Trust into a prominent position in education and research, earning it full university trust status from Keele University in April 2023. Neil chairs the West Midlands Clinical Research Network and oversees initiatives in end-of-life care, long-term conditions and frailty. Honoured with an OBE in 2005, Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2010, and two Honorary Doctorates from the University of Staffordshire and Keele University, Neil’s contributions to healthcare are widely acknowledged.

Simmy is an experienced Chief Executive of various non-profit organisations. She is currently a trustee at Support Staffordshire which provides county-wide support for the voluntary community and social enterprise sector, and in a previous trustee role at the Patients Association sat on the Finance Committee. Previous to this, Simmy has worked for several years at Healthwatch and is a qualified solicitor. She is currently Chair of the Quality Safety Committee and the Mental Health Act Managers Meeting. She also sits on the People Committee and is the Non-Executive Director sponsor for the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Network. Simmy is experienced in motivational leadership, strategy, digital, stakeholder engagement and influencing, equity, diversity, and inclusion as well as business development.

Claire has been the Managing Director of Children and Families Care Group since October 2018 and has worked for the NHS for 29 years. Claire is a qualified Adult Nurse by background and has nursed in both acute hospital and community settings before operationally managing community services across health and social care. Claire brings a wealth of experience in leading and transforming community services and working collaboratively with commissioners and partners across the systems. Claire is motivated by opportunities for continuous improvement, population health and addressing inequalities. Claire is passionate to improve integrated place-based care that incorporates the voice of young people, their families, and adult service users, and the delivery of high quality and effective community services that complement local community assets.

Mel joined MPFT in 2023, she was previously the Head of Lived Experience Workforce at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. She started her career as a peer worker in a therapeutic community. Since then, she has worked in a diverse range of settings across a number of voluntary, community and NHS organisations. Mel has worked in services across CAMHS, adult inpatient and community mental health, high secure services, and in a prison. Mel is a public speaker, trainer, researcher and supervisor. She has taught at a number of universities and has published regularly throughout her career on the topic of lived experience working.

Alex worked at the former South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust from 2009 as Head of Organisational Development and then as Deputy Director of Workforce and Development. She left briefly in 2016 before returning to MPFT in 2018, successfully stepping into the Director of Workforce and Development role in June 2019; now known as the Chief People Officer. As well as her role at MPFT, Alex was Chief People Officer for the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS from 2022 and supported the Chief People Officer responsibilities within Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICS for a short time in 2023; before returning back to her post full time at MPFT at the end of 2023. Alex started her career originally as a nurse and was professional lead for district nursing across North Staffordshire in conjunction with a lecturer in nursing role at Keele University. She went on to pursue a career in organisational and workforce development which led to her leading the full range of people services for many years as a Deputy Director, before she became a Board level Director.

Jennie holds a professional qualification in human resource management and has worked in a range of HR roles across the private and public sectors, both in the UK and overseas. The early part of Jennie’s NHS career was spent working across mental health services, community services and commissioning within Birmingham. Jennie transferred from human resources into operational leadership in 2011, initially managing child and adolescent mental health services and latterly the Trust’s specialist and family services directorate. Jennie has successfully led a range of service transformation programmes across both children and adult services, been a Governor Member for the ambulance service and worked for a short period in the acute sector. Jennie holds a Masters in Leadership for Health Service Improvement and is passionate about high quality health and social care leadership, supporting staff to deliver care that achieves the best possible health outcomes. Jennie’s Managing Director portfolio spans adult community services, adult social care and adult mental health services.

Jo began her career as a social worker in a generic adult team before moving to a mental health team and remains a registered social worker to this day. Jo has taken a number of leadership roles which have been focused both on adult social care and integrated health and social care. Jo has specific interests in mental health and older people and the impact that physical health has upon this, safeguarding and driving forward the quality of social work and social care practice. She is committed to keeping social care high on the agenda of the organisation. Jo’s current joint role with Staffordshire County Council gives her responsibility across all adult social care in Staffordshire.

Jane joined MPFT at its formation, having previously served on the Board of a former NHS Trust. At MPFT, Jane chairs the Remuneration and Nominations Committee and is a member of the Integrated Business and Performance Committee, People Committee and Audit and Risk Committee as well as the Governor-led Strategic Direction and Community Engagement Groups. She is the Board lead for Freedom to Speak up, committed to engendering a culture where confidence in raising concerns is valued for quality, safety and organisational improvement. Jane is the Non-Executive Director lead for the Staffordshire Care Group and a Board sponsor for staff networks. Jane spent much of her career as a global commercial leader at AstraZeneca Plc developing valued future medicines. Alongside her MPFT role, Jane holds Director and Non-Executive Director positions in the textiles and pharma sectors.

Pauline joined the Board as an experienced Non-Executive Director from Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust. Pauline has a mixed background of public and private sector experience, most recently as Director of Excel Coaching and Consultancy Limited, specialising in strategic leadership and transformational culture change. Pauline is currently a Trustee at a Multi Academy Trust where she is engaged to bring people and culture expertise to the Board. Pauline has also worked within NHS environments in a consultant capacity. Pauline is Chair of the People Committee and Member of Audit and Charitable Funds Committees. She is the Non-Executive Director lead for Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin Care Group and Non-Executive Director sponsor for doctors with concerns alongside being the Trust’s Wellbeing Guardian.

Dr Abid Khan is a Consultant Psychiatrist and the Clinical Lead for the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Stafford. He has been involved in medical management for a number of years. He has past experience of being a Clinical Director of Mental Health Services for 13 years and held the office of Associate Medical Director and Deputy Medical Director before taking up his current role. In addition to being Medical Director, he also oversees the Caldicott Guardian role for the Trust.

Howard trained as a social worker before becoming a probation officer. He then started working with drug and alcohol users in prisons in 1998, initially with an NHS Trust in Surrey and then managing a range of community and prison-based services in the third sector. Howard joined what was SSSFT in 2009 as Head of Operations for Inclusion before becoming Head of Inclusion in 2012. When MPFT was formed in 2018 he became Managing Director of Specialist Services. Howard has always enjoyed working with people and being part of a team, being able to develop new ideas and seeing what we can do to make a difference for people.

Mark Large joined the Board having been a successful healthcare consultant with clients including NHS and private sector clients. Mark has a mixed background of public and private sector experience, including 13 years employment in the NHS with experience across multiple care settings (acute, tertiary specialist, community and mental health). Work in the private sector includes more than eight years at Oracle Corporation (UK) where he held the posts of Senior Practice Manager of Server Technology and Technical Architecture consulting practices. Mark has experience of delivering real transformation to multiple organisations. Mark’s interest and experience lie in helping NHS organisations deliver effective change that improves equality of access to services in collaboration with their service users and staff.

Liz is a Registered Mental Health Nurse and has been qualified for 33 years. She has worked in a number of specialist nursing roles including Eating Disorders Clinical Nurse Specialist, but she started her NHS career as a nursing assistant. Quality improvement, risk and governance has driven her career over the past 18 years and for the last 15 years she has worked for the Trust in senior leadership roles managing the quality agenda. In June 2022 Liz took on the role of Chief Nurse. Her executive portfolio spans sustainability, safety, patient experience, quality improvement, health and safety / fire safety, CQC regulatory performance, professional accountability for nursing and leadership accountability for psychological services and allied health professionals.

Richard has a strong background in communications, engagement and governance across both public and private sectors. Prior to joining MPFT, he spent 15 years within the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland NHS system, most recently as Deputy Director of People and Innovation for the Integrated Care Board. Before this, he was Director of Corporate Affairs and Operations for NHS Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group and was the communications lead across the LLR health economy. Richard’s portfolio includes corporate governance and company secretariat, membership, legal affairs, equality and inclusion and communications.

Debbie Nixon joined the Board from Black Country Health Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2020, where she served as Non-Executive Director. She is Chair of the Integrated Business and Performance Committee and Board sponsor for the MPFT Differently Abled Staff Equality Network. Debbie is a Registered Nurse and District Nurse and has undertaken a variety of local and national roles, including Chief Operating Officer for Blackburn with Darwen Clinical Commissioning Group, Senior Consultant for The National Institute of Mental Health England, Accredited Gateway Reviewer for the Department of Health and Specialist Advisor for The Innovation Agency - North West Coast. Debbie is an innovator and a collaborator, passionate about delivering high quality and integrated services to improve health and social outcomes for service users and local communities.

Simon is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience of governance and financial management, most recently as Company Secretary and Director of Corporate Governance of the Financial Conduct Authority. Prior to this, his career encompassed numerous Company Secretary or Financial Director roles in a wide range of industries. Simon is a Non-Executive Director of the Uttoxeter Learning Trust, a multi-academy trust operating nine schools in Staffordshire. Simon is the Chair of the Trust’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Martyn has more than 15 years’ experience in digital roles, joining the Trust in 2009. During his time at the Trust, Martyn has project managed many key initiatives such as The Redwoods Centre inpatient new build in Shropshire and broadened his scope of responsibilities beyond digital to establish the Trust’s Project Management Office (PMO) in October 2015. In 2018 Martyn programme managed the successful Trust-wide merger process with NHS Improvement before focusing on digital once more as Deputy Director. Martyn led the Trust’s Covid-19 digitisation response in 2020 and authored the Trust’s digital strategy in 2021. He holds many digital and transformation best practice professional qualifications, is a certified CHCIO and BCS CITP member, a local school governor, and a board member of the Digital Poverty Alliance supporting digital inclusion. In 2023 Martyn was ranked second in the UK CIO100 awards.

Cathy is a Registered Pharmacist and has been qualified for 40 years. She has worked in a number of senior pharmacist roles in commissioning, primary and community care, and mental health, before moving into wider senior operational and strategic management roles since 2013. Cathy’s portfolio spans the quality agenda, operational and strategic management, performance and resource management, and focusing externally on effective partnership working in the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin ICS. She has lead responsibility for the Trust in respect to the services delivered in the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin Care Group, ensuring that the Trust achieves its strategic aims and Trust values and behaviours are deployed. She is passionate about improving the lives of everyone living with mental health, learning difficulties and autism and reducing health inequalities.