Meet the group board

Stacey was previously CEO at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust where she worked from September 2020 to January 2024. Prior to that she worked for Bradford and Airedale Foundation Trusts, and spent some time seconded to the Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stacey commenced her career in 1990 as a nurse at Hull Hospitals and Leeds Teaching Hospital.

Neil was managing director for North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust from 2018 to 2024. Neil joined the trust after holding senior positions, more latterly at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Neil is the accountable officer for the group and holds responsibility for overseeing the strategic direction of the trusts. He is responsible for providing leadership focusing on high quality patient care and effective use of resources. As accountable officer, he has a duty in ensuring the trusts meet statutory and service obligations in line with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards of care.

Chris is a qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience in NHS financial management, including 13 years at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Most recently, Chris served as the executive director of finance at Northumberland County Council.

Hilary was chief nurse at South Tees from 2021 to 2024. Hilary qualified in 1989 and has held a number of nursing posts including acute health care, education and research. Before joining South Tees she served as the director of nursing, midwifery and quality at Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust.

Mike is a consultant cardiologist and was chief medical officer at South Tees from 2021 to 2024. He served as director of cardiovascular services at Auckland District Health Board. Prior to this Mike worked as a cardiologist at South Tees from 1996 to 2018 where he also held medical leadership roles.

Susy has worked across the NHS and academia for over 20 years across a number of roles including biochemist, manager, director, coach, leadership and organisational development lead, improver and academic. Susy has also worked to support Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, North Cumbria Integrated Care Trust and University Hospitals Morecambe Bay and Liverpool University Foundation Trust throughout her career.

Rachael Metcalf is a Chartered CIPD professional with over 25 years’ experience in the field of people services, who joined South Tees in 2004. Rachael has worked at a senior level leading several people functions and services. She became director of human resources in September 2018. Prior to her NHS career, Rachael worked in HR at North Yorkshire Police and started her HR career in an investment bank in Azerbaijan.

Derek has 40 years’ experience in the NHS and previously served as president of the Royal College of Physicians. He was awarded an OBE in 2018 for services to unscheduled care and quality improvement.

Ali has a long history of public service, having begun her NHS career as a nurse in the early 1980s. She has held a variety of clinical, managerial and academic positions, leading and evaluating service improvement, major service and organisational change. Before her retirement from a full-time senior leadership role in 2018, Ali was the chief executive officer for NHS Darlington and NHS Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees Clinical Commissioning Groups and chair of the North East Leadership Academy.
Ali is passionate about leadership development and system working and committed to the delivery of high quality, personalised and effective care both within a hospital and community environment. She has a long-standing interest in harnessing the potential of patient, carer and public involvement, having undertaken a Fulbright Fellowship at the Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota in 2001, which focused on patient and public engagement in the co-design of services.

Liz has spent her career in higher education, working in four universities. She commenced at Teesside University where she was a lecturer in physiology. She also spent a number of years as Deputy Dean of Health and Social Care before becoming Dean of Social Sciences and Law. Liz finished her education career as Vice Chancellor of Staffordshire University. She has served as a trustee and non-executive director with a number of organisations including schools, universities, a housing association, a private training provider. She also chairs a charity protecting children and their families from sexual exploitation.

Ada has had a lengthy career in local government, in regeneration roles in London Councils, and until 2018 as chief executive of Darlington Borough Council. In this role she has worked across the Tees Valley with a particular interest in health inequalities. Ada is a governor and chair designate of Teesside University, and a trustee of a community arts centre.

Ann trained as a social worker and worked in local government for 45 years. Throughout her career she worked in various teams in London, Devon, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Ann joined Stockton Borough Council in 1996, and was the director of services for adults and children until 2008, when she became director in the London Borough of Camden.

Since retiring from a full time role, she has worked as a regional advisor for the Local Government Association across the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside, advised on national reviews and chaired the Teesside Safeguarding Adults Board. Ann currently chairs safeguarding boards in Darlington, and is a Governor at a large comprehensive school.

Rudy is a retired consultant endocrinologist working at South Tees from 1990 until 2016. He was appointed Professor of clinical medicine at Newcastle University in 2000 and was the sub dean for Medical Education on Teesside for over 15 years. He has held senior positions in Diabetes UK (the national charity for people with Diabetes) and the Royal College of Physicians. He has also served on the Council of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes as well as many research committees in the UK, Europe and the USA. He was dean of clinical affairs for the Newcastle University Medical School in Malaysia (NUMed) from 2016 - 18, and acted as a consultant in medical education at The James Cook University Hospital from 2019 to 2022.

While Miriam is proud of her Australian heritage she has lived and worked happily in the North East for over 35 years. Throughout her career in the NHS (1988 to 2014) and local government (2014 to 2020) she has held senior roles in health improvement and public health. Miriam is a registered specialist in public health and during her post as director of Public Health for Darlington she was also vice chair of the north east branch of the Association of Directors of Public Health. More recently Miriam has supported the North East Public Health Specialty Training Programme (HEE), as head of School of Public Health.
Miriam continues to coach, mentor and appraise specialists in public health. Her focus is on health inequalities and the challenge of why health appears to be for some, not all.

Mark is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and an experienced human resource professional having worked at a senior level in a number of multi-national organisations. Mark's previous roles included EMEA employee relations director for Cummins, HR director for DS Smith and HR business partner at Nuffield Hospitals. A former serving police officer at Cleveland Police and commended for standing up for equality and integrity in policing. He is a self employed consultant providing HR consultancy and mediation services to a range of clients.

Alison grew up on Teesside. After qualifying as a solicitor, she was a partner in a Newcastle law firm, working on commercial projects, including the procurement and construction of new hospitals. Alison then moved into the public sector and worked in regeneration at both Newcastle and Sunderland Councils, before becoming the Group Commercial Director of Tees Valley Combined Authority. At TVCA she held responsibility for a wide range of investment projects across the region. Alison also held a role as Commercial Director of Teesside Airport.

Alyson is a chartered accountant and has extensive experience in procurement, commercial, assurance, governance and finance in the NHS, the Department for Health and the Department for Education (DfE). At one stage she was director of NHS Commercial Development. She is currently the finance director of a property company that is an arm's length body of the DfE.

Chris has worked within finance in the NHS since 1975. He commenced his first director of finance role at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead in 1997. Chris has a wealth of experience working within a provider setting, and within the commissioning side of the NHS. Chris has held the role of Director of Finance within commissioning for Sunderland, Gateshead and South Tyneside. After retiring as a DOF in 2015, he was encouraged to remain in the NHS, taking up his frrst non-executive director post in 2015. Throughout his career as a DOF and a non-executive Director, Chris has sat on and chaired a number of national committees relating to NHS Accounting Standards and Governance / Audit.

Ken is a chartered accountant with considerable experience of the chemical and power generation sectors, both in the UK and abroad.
He was previously audit chair of NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group, has several charitable roles, and is passionate about helping to provide communities with the best possible public services.

With roots firmly in the North East, David has enjoyed over 20 years in technology leadership and advisory roles around the world. His most recent role as a senior executive partner at research and advisory company Gartner sees him act as strategic advisory to multiple public and private companies in the UK. Prior to this David performed several CIO roles in different industries and served as a non-executive director at Newcastle Building Society and the Nation Union of Students. Married with two children and living in County Durham, David joined the board in January 2021.

Fay is a registered nurse by background and has worked in a variety of settings across the North East in a range of senior posts.

Fay has an interest in the disease profile of the North East became involved in the care of cancer patients in general settings. She moved into the voluntary sector and worked in various regional and national development roles, latterly as director of partnerships for Macmillan Cancer Support. This work across the UK involved transforming cancer services with a range of partners, from local organisations, the NHS to National Governments. Since retiring from full time employment, Fay also works as a volunteer governor in a secondary school trust.