Associate Non-Executive Director Recruitment

Our Board

The Trust Board is responsible for the running of our Trust, setting its strategy and overseeing the way it operates. The Board has a Chairman and five Non-Executive Directors. It also has five Executive Directors, who are full time employees of the Trust. A number of other Directors also sit with the Board but do not have voting rights.

David Wakefield, Chairman

David Wakefield was appointed as chair for a four-year term of office on April 3rd 2018. David is a qualified accountant and has held several senior executive posts, including Commercial Finance Director for Royal Mail. He has also held a number of non-executive directorships, including the Chair at other NHS trusts

Tracy Bullock, Chief Executive

Tracy qualified as a Nurse in 1987 at Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust and throughout her 18 years there she progressed through roles of increasing responsibility; Ward Manager, Clinical Risk Manager, Governance Manager and Directorate Business Manager. During this time and until 2019 Tracy held a seconded role undertaking investigations and reviews for the Commission for Health Improvement, the Health Care Commission and more latterly the Care Quality Commission

In 2002 Tracy started working as an Associate Director, with a newly formed national team of healthcare professionals who were instrumental in providing support to some of the most challenged NHS Trusts in the country to achieve turnaround and latterly Foundation Trust status. During this time Tracy gained experience working in Acute, Primary Care, Ambulance and Mental Health Trusts.

In 2006, Tracy joined Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as Director of Nursing and Quality and was subsequently given the responsibilities of Chief Operating and then Deputy Chief Executive until becoming the Chief Executive in October 2010.

Tracy joined UHNM as the Chief Executive in April 2019 and is a highly regarded leader who has served the NHS for the entirety of her 36-year career.

Paul Bytheway - Chief Operating Officer

Paul  joined UHNM in 2019 from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trusts where he held the position of Chief Operating Officer. Paul came to the NHS after qualifying as a nurse in 1995 and qualifying in Wolverhampton. He moved to London and specialised in emergency department nursing before moving into general management in 2002. Paul remains registered as a nurse and enjoys spending time on 'shadow shifts' with teams across the organisation. Paul has a wide variety experience, built up from general management roles.

Ann-Marie Riley, Chief Nurse

Ann Marie became a registered nurse in the early 1990's and has a clinical background in critical care nursing. She has held a number of nursing leadership roles, including Deputy Chief Nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals where she supported the organisation to attain both internationally accredited Pathway to Excellence and Magnet Designations, and Director of Nursing at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

Ann Marie is passionate about creating positive practice environments, supported by collective leadership approaches and patient co-design, to positively impact on patient outcomes, patient experience and staff experience.


Helen Ashley - Director of Strategy and Performance

Helen Ashley joined the Trust in 2016 following nearly seven years as Chief Executive at neighbouring Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Helen has a strong finance background and is leading on the transformational aspects of finances at UHNM.

Ro Vaughan - Director of Human Resources

Ro Vaughan became the substantive Director of Human Resources in December 2014, and had been Acting Director of Human Resources since May 2013.  She has a masters in Human Resources leadership and extensive experience of human resources gained in roles within the acute hospital setting and strategic health authority.
Ro is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development with over 20 years experience of complex organisational change management, workforce planning and leadership development and organisational development


Dr Matthew Lewis - Medical Director

Dr Lewis has worked as a gastroenterologist in the out-patient and endoscopy departments. He was a consultant in general medicine and gastroenterology at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals from 2002 to 2018, where he also worked as Group Director for Medicine and Emergency Care. 

Matthew carried out his clinical training in Manchester and north-west England. He has a Masters in medical leadership from Warwick University, which has given him an insight into the opportunities afforded by understanding different approaches to health care across the United Kingdom and overseas. He is also a part-time Visiting Fellow at the King’s Fund.


Lorraine Whitehead - Director of Estate, Facilities and PFI

Lorraine has worked for the Trust for many years commencing as an admin trainee in Trust Headquarters in 1987.  Exposure to the executive agenda gave her an appetite to pursue senior management in the NHS as a career path.  Lorraine subsequently worked in various managerial roles at all levels before becoming a Deputy Director.   

Amy Freeman, Director of Digital Transformation

Amy Freeman joins University Hospitals North Midlands NHS Trust in August 2021. With senior NHS leadership and director experience, Amy has worked in the field of IT support and digital since 1998, joining the NHS in 2002. She has held senior IT leadership roles at NHS Connecting for Health (now NHS Digital) and the NHS Commissioning Board (now NHS England). More recently Amy has moved to work for NHS provider organisations to be closer to both community and acute frontline care. This work has included the delivery of a range of clinical systems most notably an electronic patient record system for 6,500 staff (Rio), patient portal (PKB) and a virtual clinic solution (Bluespier). Amy supports women into IT through the Health and Care Women Leaders Network and the One Health Tech UK network.

Mark Oldham - Chief Finance Officer

Mark is an experienced Director of Finance who  Joined the Trust in June 2019 having moved from Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where he served 10 years as their Finance Director.  Originally joining the NHS from Local Government in 1990 Mark has 30 over years' experience in both the acute and community sector in a wide range of finance roles.

Lisa Thomson - Director of Communications

Lisa is a highly experienced communications, strategy and corporate affairs director, with a diverse background working in both highly regulated private and public sectors. She has worked as an executive director in the NHS for over 17 years in acute trusts, community services and at a national level working with Lord Darzi on High Quality Care for All. Passionate about communications, Lisa has led on a wide range of areas including patient experience, outpatient and community services, and fundraising.

Non-Executive Directors

Gary Crowe- Non-Executive Director

Gary Crowe is a university professor of Innovation Leadership attending at Keele Management School and Loughborough University. He previously held senior commercial positions in strategy, business transformation and risk & financial management as a director and management consultant in the financial services sector. Gary holds a number of external board appointments, He served as an independent Non-Executive Director with another NHS Trust since 2015. He is a qualified Chartered Banker and Fellow of a number of professional organisations and learned societies.

Peter Akid, Non-Executive Director

Peter Akid began his NHS career in 2005 as Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Procurement Hub and over the first five years took the organisation from strength to strength. Prior to joining the NHS, Peter held a number of key positions in strategic and operational procurement, both in the public and private sectors. 

Leigh Griffin - Non-Executive Director

Leigh Griffin has spent 12 years as an NHS Chief Executive and has worked in consultancy practice, specialising in the provision of advice to health systems on transformation, integrated care and population health management.  Leigh has worked in commissioning and commissioning support units during his career and brings a wealth of NHS experience.

Sonia Belfield - Non-Executive Director

Sonia is a commercially focused Human Resources Director who has operated at Board level for over 10 years within a number of differing sectors.   Sonia is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and holds a Master's Degree in Occupational Psychology (Psychology of Work), as well as being a qualified Mediator. 

Andrew Hassell - Non-Executive Director

Professor Andrew Hassell is Head of the School of Medicine at Keele University and is a consultant rheumatologist at the Haywood Hospital in Burslem.  He represents the University as a non-executive director on the Board. As well as his clinical and academic activities, Andrew is chairman of the Haywood Foundation, a local charity committed to improving the lives of people with arthritis and related conditions.

Katie Maddock - Non-Executive Director

Dr Katie Maddock has been Head of School at the School of Pharmacy and Bioengineering, Keele University, since 2018 and a Reader in Clinical Pharmacy since 2016, having previously been the MPharm Course Director and Associate Dean for Education for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Her research interests lie within the field of pharmacy education, particularly technology enhanced learning, augmented reality simulation, and interprofessional education.  Prior to her career in academia, Katie was a hospital pharmacist working extensively across the Black Country.

Tanya Bowen - Non-Executive Director

Tanya Bowen is a data and digital specialist from the retail technology sector, having been on tech corporate boards driving areas of innovation and governance. She has worked in strategy and execution for both retailers and software providers. Her main focus is on new technologies that improve customer experience and employee engagement, and on open systems that allow greater collaboration between partners.

Shaista Gohir OBE - Non-Executive Director

Shaista Gohir OBE has a wealth of experience in the BAME civil society sector, as well as working in complex environments at a very senior level with expertise in governance and scrutiny. Shaista is Commissioner on Child Sexual Abuse / Exploitation Inquiry, Women’s Voices Lead to Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Chair/Trustee of Muslim Women’s Network UK and part of the National Police Chief’s Stakeholder Group on Domestic Abuse.