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Board members' biographies
Russell Hardy, chair
Russell Hardy became chair of Wye Valley NHS Trust in November 2016. He is also the Chair of South Warwickshire NHS FT’s Board and Council of Governors, having taken on the roles in 2015. Russell has a wealth of experience from working in both NHS trusts and private companies, with a firm understanding of working in large organisations and overseeing strategic developments. Russell also chairs the Remuneration and terms of service committee.
Glen Burley, chief executive
Glen became chief executive of Wye Valley NHS Trust in November 2016 leading to the creation of the Foundation Group in 2017, which now includes Wye Valley NHS Trust, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust and George Eliot NHS Trust. Through this model, Glen is CEO of all three Trusts supported by Managing Directors in each organisation.
Glen began his NHS career in 1983 as a finance trainee, qualifying as a Chartered Public Finance Accountant in 1990. After reaching the position of Director of Finance for South Warwickshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust, he moved into an acute operational role when he became Director of Operations for the Surgical Division of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. In 2003 he was appointed as Deputy Chief Executive to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and joined South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust in 2006, initially as interim Chief Executive and then substantively in 2008. South Warwickshire became a Foundation Trust in 2010 and took over the running of Warwickshire’s Community Services in 2011.
Jane Ives, managing director
Jane became managing director of Wye Valley NHS Trust in November 2016. Jane started her NHS career in 1980 as a student nurse at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. After qualifying, her clinical career was in Renal and Intensive Care nursing and she was the ITU nurse manager in Worcester before moving into a management role. Jane worked as the professional head of nursing in Worcester before moving to City Hospital in Birmingham as interim Director of Nursing in 1999. This led to opportunities to work at the Commission for Health Improvement (the precursor to the CQC). In 2003, she was appointed as Director of Nursing and then Director of Operations for South Warwickshire Hospitals Trust which became a Foundation Trust and then integrated acute and community Trust in 2011.
Chizo Agwu, chief medical officer
Dr Juliana Chizo Agwu (aka Chizo Agwu) joined the Trust in October 2023 as Chief Medical Officer. She was previously Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust and has extensive experience in medical management roles. She is passionate about raising standards and improving care for patients. She is a Consultant Paediatrician in Paediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology and a member of panel of expert advisers for National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and Vice Chair for NICE Diabetes Update Committee. She was previously the National Chair for Association of Children’s Diabetes Clinicians. Chizo is a Fellow of Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, a Senior Examiner for the MRCPCH Exams and was Honorary Associate Clinical Professor and MBChB Deputy Admissions Tutor at University of Birmingham Medical School. Chizo has authored several peer reviewed publications and National/International clinical guidelines. Her research interests include clinical care of children with diabetes, diabetes technology and Medical Education.
Jon Barnes, chief transformation and delivery officer (Herefordshire)
Jon Barnes joined the Trust at the end of March 2015 to take up the post of chief operating officer and in March 2022 moved into the role of chief transformation and delivery officer for Herefordshire. Prior to this he was deputy chief operating officer at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. Jon joined the NHS in 1986 as a student nurse, qualifying in 1989 and worked in a number of clinical nursing roles at the George Eliot Hospital and Walsgrave Hospital before moving to operational management at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire in 2003 where he has operationally managed a wide range of clinical and clinical support services; he has held a corporate role for the last five years.
Alan Dawson, chief strategy and planning officer
Alan became chief strategy and planning officer in April 2018 having been in a variety of planning and programme roles in the Trust for the last eight years, including a key role in the creation of the Wye Valley NHS Trust. He has worked for the Trust since 2005 in operational roles and was director of operations for three years. Alan is a Registered Nurse, having joined the NHS as a student nurse in 1989 and holding senior nursing positions in national cardiac centres before moving to Herefordshire to focus on strategy, planning and service improvement.
Geoffrey Etule, chief people officer
Geoffrey Etule was appointed as chief people officer at Wye Valley NHS Trust on 1 July 2020. Geoffrey started my NHS Career as a human resources officer at City Hospital Birmingham in 2000 and over the past 12 years he has worked as a director of HR and OD in the NHS, Higher Education and Hospice sector. As a qualified coach, Geoffrey truly believes that everyone can fulfil their potential with the right support and culture that facilitates a continuous learning environment. Geoffrey is passionate about staff health and wellbeing, employee development and employee engagement as these are essential in knowledge based NHS organisations.
Lucy Flanagan, chief nursing officer
Lucy Flanagan joined the Trust as chief nursing officer in August 2016, moving to Herefordshire from central London where she had worked as deputy director of nursing at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and interim executive director of nursing at West Middlesex University Hospital Trust. Lucy qualified as an adult general nurse in October 1995 and held a number of clinical roles at Birmingham, Selly Oak and Good Hope Hospitals. Lucy has held a number of senior nursing roles since 2009 working in North Yorkshire as part of York NHS Foundation Trust at the time it acquired Scarborough NHS Trust.
Katie Osmond, chief finance officer
Katie joined the Trust as chief finance officer in June 2021. After graduating from the University of Wales: Aberystwyth, Katie began her NHS finance career in 2001 on the National Financial Management Training Scheme. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
Katie joined Wye Valley NHS Trust from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, where she was the deputy director of finance, and has significant experience in senior finance roles. Katie has lived in and around Herefordshire for almost 20 years, and is personally and professionally delighted to join the Trust and remain within the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care System. Katie is committed to continuous improvement and system collaboration as drivers for sustainable use of resources, and is passionate about developing people and teams.
Andy Parker, chief operating officer
Andy Parker join the Trust in 2014 as general manager for theatres and anaesthetics. He also had the opportunity of overseeing responsibility for the surgical division before becoming the associate chief operating officer for the medical division. Andy was appointed as chief operating officer for the Trust in January 2023. Andy joined the NHS in 1992, spending over 20 years working for various Ambulance Service Trusts. He started his career as a 999 emergency medical dispatcher and then through a number of operational roles became general manager of Gloucestershire - Great Western Ambulance Service. At GWAS he managed the county's operational response from the point the public dialled 999 through to planning and delivery of responding paramedics and support staff, through to managing 999 Command, Control and Dispatch across regions within the South West including achieving International Centre of Excellence status for Emergency Medical Dispatch services.
Frances Martin, non executive director and Deputy Chair
Having originally trained as a mental health nurse, Frances has spent the majority of her career working in senior leadership roles in health and social care. With a lifelong commitment to enabling joined up, ‘personalised care’, her professional roles have included working in acute, ambulance, community and primary healthcare in operational, regulatory, commissioning and strategic roles. Two years as sales and operations director in a manufacturing company expanded her knowledge of the risks and freedoms of small businesses and 35 years of public service has given her a deep understanding of the political and financial complexities of the public sector.
Having taken early retirement in 2018, Frances is now delivering independent consultancy with a particular interest in strategy, governance and organisational and personal development. Frances joined the Trust as non executive director and is now also Deputy Chair for the Trust.
Sharon Hill, non executive director
Sharon joined the Trust in 2023. Sharon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with EY, before joining HSBC where she has worked for over 27 years in a variety of roles both nationally and internationally including audit, finance, leveraged finance and most recently in Risk as Head of Credit for HSBC’s UK Private Bank. She brings experience of navigating complex organisations to deliver strategic initiatives through collaborative teamwork, while managing risk and delivering effective governance.
Ian James, non executive director
Ian James has held a number of senior roles in local Government, including director of adult social services and as a regional care and health improvement adviser for the Local Government Association. His best efforts have been creating effective partnerships between the NHS, Councils and care providers to improve the way we deliver services. Ian has worked at local, regional and national level, most recently leading joint national digital programmes with NHSx. He has lived in Herefordshire since 1995 and is a passionate believer that we deliver better for people when we get the public involved in how we design and deliver services. Ian is non executive director at the Trust and Chair of Quality Committee.
Grace Quantock, non executive director
Grace Quantock joined the Trust in September 2019. Grace is a board member across health, social care and human rights. She is a researcher and psychotherapeutic counsellor in private practice with an MA in psychotherapy and digitally mediated healthcare. Grace has undertaken two Arts and Humanities Research Council fellowships into digital service delivery and undertaken research with the BBC and Cardiff University on trauma-informed data delivery. She contributed to the Holmes Review into inclusion in public life in 2019 and is interested in digital delivery, workforce and patient wellbeing.
Nicola Twigg, non executive director
Nicola joined the Trust in September 2019. Nicola became the Designated Chair of the Audit Committee in late 2022. She is also currently a Regional Director for HSBC Bank UK where for the past 33 years she has worked in National and Regional leadership roles across the UK in both Branch and Commercial Banking delivering risk, financial and customer experience strategies. She has a Degree in banking and finance and also a masters in corporate governance. She has been a Trustee for the family liaison and relationship counselling charity Relate, Cymru, worked closely with the social care sector as a foster carer and is a mentor for Chwarae Teg, the Welsh gender equality charity.
Eleanor Bulmer, associate non executive director
Eleanor joined the Trust in July 2023. Eleanor has worked in healthcare for over 11 years primarily with Nuffield Health in a number of operational and senior leadership roles in hospital environments and latterly as the National Trading Manager for the group’s hospital sites. She has just completed an MBA with Ashridge Hult and is now working with Compleo Health Ltd as their UK Market Director. Eleanor is passionate about supporting personalised care delivery whilst embracing digital transformation through stakeholder collaboration.
Kieran Lappin, associate non executive director
Kieran joined the Trust in 2023. Kieran is a qualified accountant (FCMA) and has a healthcare MBA (Keele University). He has 39 years NHS experience including eight successive promotions and eight Executive Board Finance Director posts including two Primary Care Trusts, two Clinical Commissioning Groups, a Mental Health Trust, a Community Trust and an Ambulance Trust. His employment has included working at a Regional Health Authority and at the Department of Health. Kieran was the Director of Finance at Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust for 11 years from 1993 to 2004 and has lived in Hereford for over 30 years.
Jo Rouse, associate non executive director
Jo joined the Trust in April 2023. Jo has worked in higher education at the University of Worcester since 2005 and is committed to high quality educational opportunities and experiences that enable staff, students, and apprentices to achieve their potential. As strategic director of practice learning and interprofessional education Jo works closely with University leadership teams to play a key role in furthering development of teaching and research excellence to support the implementation of University strategy and policy related to practice learning, learning through simulation and interprofessional education across health professions. Jo is a Registered Nurse (Adult and Children) and has practiced in a number of roles for 20 years, working at Heartlands, Birmingham Children’s, and Worcester Acute Hospitals. Jo is also a governor with a Further Education College in the West Midlands.
Erica Hermon, associate director of corporate governance/company secretary
Erica Hermon joined the Trust on 30 July 2018 as the associate director of corporate governance and company secretary on a 6 month secondment from Herefordshire Council. Erica has worked for the local authority for 9 years leading a number of teams as head of law and governance including emergency planning, health and safety, elections, governance, procurement and legal. Prior to that, Erica served for 20 years in the Royal Air Force in strategic planning, policy and logistics appointments, latterly as a Wing Commander at the lead headquarters responsible for the operational planning for all RAF resources and staff committed to operations worldwide. When not at work, she can be found coaching rowing at Ross Rowing Club.