Board of Directors

Rob returned to CHFT in November 2022 following almost four years at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Operating Officer / Deputy Chief Executive.

His role at Airedale involved being responsible for the day-to-day operational running of the hospital and community services.  During this time he also led the Bradford District & Craven Ageing Well Programme.

Rob previously joined CHFT in 2009 and during his 10 years at the Trust held several positions including Director of Operations for the Families and Specialist Services Division. 

As Deputy Chief Executive, Rob has a broad range of responsibilities within the executive team and across the organisation including being the executive lead for Community services, Health Inequalities and development of the future operating model for reconfiguration.

Rob holds a Masters in Health Management and is a graduate of the NHS General Management Training Scheme.

Having completed a period of work experience at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary whilst at school, Neeraj undertook his medical degree at the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guys and St Thomas’s Hospitals, London, and then returned to West Yorkshire to complete his surgical training, with further time as a resident doctor at CHFT. Neeraj also completed a Doctorate of Medicine through the University of Leeds, and a Diploma in Leadership and Management.

This culminated in him taking up a role as a Consultant Vascular Surgeon at CHFT in 2011. Neeraj became Associate Medical Director, and then moved to a regional, system-based role, leading the large-scale transformation of vascular services across five trusts covering a population of 2.4 million people.

He returned to CHFT as Deputy Medical Director and is now Executive Medical Director, also continuing his clinical practice looking after, and operating on, patients with vascular disease.

As Executive Medical Director, Neeraj provides professional leadership for the medical staff across the Trust in several areas and is committed to ensure we deliver the most compassionate care we can to the community he grew up in and continues to be a part of.

Gary has been Finance Director since November 2016. Previously he was the Deputy Director of Finance from March 2016.  Gary joined the Trust from the Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust where he had been the Deputy Director of Finance. Gary has over 30 years NHS experience and is both a Chartered Management Accountant and a Chartared Public Finance Accountant. 

Gary joined the NHS as a finance trainee following his graduation from the University of Humberside where he studied Accounting and Finance, and then went on to become a Chartered Management Accountant in 1996 whilst at Burnley Healthcare NHS Trust.  

A large part of his career has been in senior divisional finance roles at both Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and at Pennine Acute Hospitals where there was a strong track record of working closely with Divisions to deliver both patient improvements and financial efficiencies.

In addition to his role as Finance and Contracting lead, Gary also has responsibility for the Huddersfield Pharmaceuticals Service (HPS) and client relationships with Estates and Facilies partners across the Trust. 

Gary is also the Finance lead for Kirklees and works closely with Kirklees ICB but also with other partners providing healthcare across Kirklees.

Suzanne joined the Trust in February 2018 with experience across both the private and public sector in strategic HR roles. Beginning her career at Pinderfields Hospital, Suzanne spent 8 years leading a dotcom before moving into Local Authority and Transport Sectors prior to joining the NHS.

She believes that the role of HR is to spot talent and help it grow, that a great employee experience leads to a great patient experience, and that organisations that work together can achieve the impossible.

Suzanne is also a Governor and Trustee of Calderdale College.

Jonny is our Acting Chief Operating Officer, having previously been the Director of Operations in Medicine since October 2020.

Jonny has been in the NHS since 2002 having qualified as a Physiotherapist where he gained experience predominantly in Leeds across a number of clinical areas. He then worked as a Physiotherapist at CHFT leading the trauma orthopaedic team before moving in to management of therapy teams.

Following a role focusing on quality and safety in the Medical Division, he moved to Harrogate Foundation Trust where over the next three years he held General Manager roles across the entirety of Surgery before holding the post of Director of Operations in Surgery for four years. Jonny then ‘came back home’ to CHFT for the Director of Operations role in medicine.

Throughout his career Jonny has focused on continual improvement of clinical services both when working clinically and in management roles. He has a strong focus on people and team development in order to support our staff so that they can provide the best possible clinical services for the patients they serve.

Vicky re-joined the Trust in June 2022 following three years as Director of Corporate Affairs and Deputy Chief Executive at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

She was previously Company Secretary at CHFT for five years, following two years as Director of Corporate Affairs at Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust.

Vicky also has nine years’ experience in primary care in roles covering communications, media relations, complaints, patient and public involvement and corporate governance.

An Affiliate Member of ICSA: The Governance Institute and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, Vicky is also the Vice Chair of Overgate Hospice in Calderdale, and a Trustee of Mountain Rescue England and Wales.

Lindsay became Chief Nurse of the Trust in January 2023. Lindsay’s journey with CHFT started in 1993 following completion of her Registered Nurse training, and she has worked for the Trust throughout her career. She has extensive experience within senior nursing and leadership roles across all our services.

She is an energetic leader with an inclusive approach who puts patients and people first. Lindsay is passionate and committed to engaging with colleagues to be ambitious in improving patient outcomes, promoting equality and diversity to enhance patient, service user, family and carer and colleague experience.

She is a strong advocate for compassionate leadership, health and wellbeing and in empowering colleagues to be able to lead improvements in patient safety and quality.

Lindsay holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and an Executive Diploma in Strategic Management.

Lindsay is the Board Safety Champion for Maternity Services. 

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2025

Nigel is a chartered accountant with 40 years' experience of working in the public sector. Most of this has been in local government including as the Chief Finance Officer for Calderdale Council. His experience is primarily in finance but also covers transformation, performance management and large capital projects and increasingly working over recent years with colleagues in the health sector. 

Nigel is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and is a member of the Finance and Performance Committee, Workforce Committee and the Charitable Funds Committee. He represents the Trust at Audit Yorkshire meetings and is Vice Chair of the Audit Yorkshire Board.

Nigel lives in Lindley with his wife and has two sons.

Non-Executive Director and Chair of CHS Ltd

Appointment: June 2022 - May 2025

Tim has worked in Board positions as CFO/Finance Director for commercial companies for more than 25 years.

He has worked in different sectors – engineering, consumer goods and more recently pharmaceuticals. He is currently CFO for a pharmaceuticals company in Leeds as well as joining us on the Board of CHFT. In these roles he has acquired a wealth of operational, commercial and change management as well as financial experience.

Tim lives in Ilkley West Yorkshire with his wife Kathie, he has a son Dan who is currently studying at university. He enjoys mountain biking, walking, socialising with friends and is a keen football fan.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: April 2024 - March 2027 

Vanessa is Chair of the Finance and Performance Committee at the Trust. She is also a member of the Quality Committee.

Vanessa is an experienced primary care clinician with additional experience of working as an associate specialist level in secondary care. Her passion is doctor-patient communication (especially cross cultural communication).

Vanessa’s passion for both clinical care and a variety of education-related work has led her to develop a portfolio career where she not only works clinically as a local "jobbing GP" but also works with the RCGP, GMC and NHS England in a number of different roles all focussed on improving patient care through education.

Vanessa’s current role is as an Associate Director for the School of Primary care (northeast and north Cumbria) means that she had an excellent grasp of postgraduate medical education and the current political landscape; and a comprehensive understanding of the NHS. In this senior role Vanessa is used to chairing and running a wide range of internal and stakeholder meetings. Because she has worked in both primary and secondary care, Vanessa has a very good grasp of the interface challenges between primary and secondary care and would be keen to reduce patient risk by particularly considering transitions of care and mitigating risks to patients at these points.

Vanessa lives locally in Wakefield and works in local practices, the importance of local hospitals providing quality care to the population, is very close to her heart and aligns with the Trust's mission statement of delivering "outstanding compassionate care to the communities we serve."

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: January 2020 – December 2025

Denise is an Occupational Therapist by profession with over 40 years experience within the NHS and has held a variety of clinical, managerial and professional leadership positions. Most recently until retirement she held the position of Head of Occupational Therapy at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.

Denise led on the delivery of a wide range of quality improvements in clinical practice with positive outcomes for patients. She believes it is essential that people work together for the best interests of patients and truly listen to patients and the communities served to understand what they need.

Denise has worked closely with colleagues across health, social and voluntary sectors to develop and deliver patient centred health and care services.

A member of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists she has served as Council Member and Chair of the Equalities Committee.

Denise has a special interest in education and in an advisory capacity supports local universities in the development and accreditation of undergraduate and post graduate programmes. She is also a Trustee and Chair of the Secondaries Committee for Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust. 

Denise holds a MA in Leadership, Innovation and Change and is a trustee for Bradford Diocesan where she works to broaden educational opportunities for students of all backgrounds.

Denise is the Chair of the Quality Committee andattends Audit and Risk Committee and Workforce Committee. Denise became the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director (SINED) on 28 February 2024.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: March 2024 to February 2027

Jo is Chair of the Workforce Committee at the Trust. She is also a member of the Trust's Quality Committee and Nominations and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Directors.

Jo is Director of Health Partnerships at the University of Leeds, and was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of the Leeds Academic Health Partnership.

Prior to this, Jo had a long career in the NHS.  She was NHS Chief of Staff at the Department of Health, reporting directly to the NHS Chief Executive, and also the National Director for Human Resources and Organisational Development at NHS England. She has held a number of senior operational and strategic management posts in the NHS, broadly in the areas of human resources management, organisational development, public relations and communications.

She is a graduate of the University of Liverpool and holds a masters degree in Strategic Human Resources Management from Durham University, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from Leeds Metropolitan University. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Non-Executive Director

Appointment: January 2020 – December 2025

Peter Wilkinson lives in Holmfirth and is a Chartered Surveyor with significant executive level experience for over 30 years at both a Big4 consulting firm and Real Estate firm, where he was an equity partner. Peter has particular expertise in advising on the delivery of business transformation across property, infrastructure & capital projects, leading on programme and project management incorporating wider business teams and stakeholders for both public and private sector clients.  

His leadership of organisational wide transformation with solid and practical use of Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), PRINCE2 and Portfolio Management will be especially useful as the Trust embarks on its’ large and complex Reconfiguration of Services at both Halifax and Huddersfield in the coming years. 

Peter currently has his own consultancy business, based in Holmfirth, and has a number of other Non-Executive Director roles and Consultancy commissions across the North of England.  

He is married with one son and has lived in Holmfirth for over 20 years. 

Peter is Chair of the Transformation Programme Board, and attends Finance and Performance Committee, Charitable Funds Committee and Pennine Property Partnership Board.