Meet the Board of Directors

On this page you can view the members of our board of directors.

You'll find information below on our

• chair and chief executive
• executive directors
• non-executive directors and associate non-executive directors
• decision-making staff and their declaration of interests

Chair and chief executive

Margaret Schwarz, Chair

Appointed in January 2022 (non-executive director since May 2016).

Experience:

• non-executive director, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust
• governance leader for Cornish Mutual Assurance
• deputy chairman of Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
• deputy chairman of University of Plymouth
• consultant in risk management and regulation
• senior executive in financial services
• chief economist in financial services

Qualifications include:

• BA in economics and political science
• MSc in economics
• financial programme LBS
• strategy programme INSEAD

Debbie Richards, Chief Executive Officer

Appointed in October 2021

Experience:

• executive managing director mental health and learning disabilities, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, July 2019 to October 2021
• variety of director and senior leadership roles in clinical commissioning groups covering Buckinghamshire, Chiltern and Aylesbury Vale, July 2014 to July 2019
• deputy chief operating officer and director of integrated medicine, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, March 2013 to July 2014
• director and senior manager roles at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, December 2008 to March 2013
• service director of women’s secure services, West London Mental Health Trust, August 2003 to August 2008
• associate director of human resources, West London Mental Health Trust, July 2001 to August 2003
• various roles at Broadmoor Hospital Special Hospital Authority, June 1995 to July 2001
• student social worker, October 1993 to June 1995
• probation service officer, Cornwall Probation Service, September 1992 to October 1993

Qualifications include:

• Postgraduate diploma in social research methods, University of Surrey, 2000
• MSc in applied social sciences, Dip SW, University of Oxford, 1993 to 1995
• BA in social sciences and social policy, Open University, 1988 to 1993
• registered social worker

Executive directors

Tamsyn Anderson, Chief Operating Officer

Appointed December 2021.

Experience:

• joint medical director, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, December 2019 to December 2020
• director of primary care, October 2016 to November 2019
• GP partner at Newquay Health Centre, 2003 to 2019
• practice based commissioning and Newquay locality lead, 2011 to 2019
• NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group, Governing Body GP for Newquay and north Cornwall, 2013 to 2016
• NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group medical director, 2015 to 2016

Qualifications include:

• MBBS, 1996
• MRCGP, 2001

Adrian Flynn, Chief Medical Officer

Appointed in July 2022 (interim medical director from December 2019).

Experience:

• consultant, general adult and liaison psychiatrist, 2006 to 2019
• chair of the Angela Harrison Charitable Trust

Qualifications include:

• MBBS, 1991
• PGCE, 2002
• MRCPsych, 2001

Kim O'Keeffe, Chief Nursing Officer

Appointed in December 2019.

Experience:

• director of nursing, midwifery and allied health professionals at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, May 2017 to date
• associate professor, Plymouth University School of Nursing
• modern matron (surgery), surgical specialties and trust capacity manager, Dudley Group of Hospitals, West Midlands, August 2004 to September 2008
• hospital nurse manager and hospital matron including theatres, Empangeni Garden Clinic (hospital, Empangeni, South Africa, April 1997 to January 1999

Qualifications include:

• registered general nurse, 1983
• registered psychiatric nurse, 1984
• post graduate diploma in health care sciences, University of Birmingham, 2004
• MSc professional health care studies, Wolverhampton University, 2006
• British Empire Medal (BEM) Queen’s New Year’s Honour List, December 2020

Alison Thorne-Henderson, dual Chief People Officer

Appointed in January 2023.

Alison is dual people officer for the Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust.  After her Interim role over the last year as Chief People Officer at Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust and supporting us with some project work in recent months, Alison took on the role substantively for both Trusts in January 2023.

She has extensive private and public sector experience across a range of specialties including education, palliative care,  residential, domiciliary, acute and community services. Alison is passionate about inclusion and customer service.

Adie Perry, Executive Director of Finance

Appointed in February 2022.

Experience:

• finance director, clinical commissioning group and integrated care system commissioning, NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, 2019 to January 2022
• head of finance, NHS England (south and south east), 2016 to 2019
• deputy chief finance officer, Crawley Clinical Commissioning Group and Horsham and Mid-Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group, 2012 to 2016
• various finance roles across Sussex NHS commissioners, 2004 to 2012

Qualifications include:

• BSc Mathematics, University of Sussex, 2004
• Fellow, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Kelvyn Hipperson, Chief Information Officer

Appointed in August 2019.

Experience:

• chief information officer for Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, 2019
• senior civil servant, 2012 to 2018
• civil servant, 2002 to 2012

Qualifications include:

• BSc honours in physics and computer science
• MPhil
• CEng
• fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
• corporate member of the British Computer Society

Non-executive directors

Senior Independent Director

Adrian Davis was appointed in May 2016.

Experience:

• chief fire officer, Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service
• multi-agency gold incident commander
• chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear gold commander

Qualifications include:

• master of business administration
• member of the Institution of Fire Engineers

David Harland, Vice Chair

Appointed in December 2020 (non-executive director since May 2016).

Experience:

• executive director for the Eden Project
• group finance director of Enara Group (domiciliary care services)
• group finance director of Care Management Group (learning disability services)
• Priory Group (acute health care and mental health hospitals)

Qualifications include:

• FCCA (Association of Certified Chartered Accountants)
• ACA (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)

Amanda Stratford

Appointed in July 2022.

Experience:

• chief executive officer at Healthwatch Cornwall
• development director at Meningitis Now
• chair, board of trustees Young Dementia UK
• trustee of Taunton Women’s Refuge
• founder of Cornwall Women’s Fund

Qualifications include:

• NLP practitioner
• IOF (Chartered Institute of Fundraising)
• ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, the Governance Institute)

Tracie North

Appointed in July 2017.

Experience:

• director of Roseworthy Properties
• director of Fre-est Ltd
• independent consultant in health and social care, 2016 to date
• former university lecturer with Plymouth University
• former director of strategic development at ACC
• former trustee and vice chair of the Duchy Health Charity
• former director of strategic development and operations independent charity

Qualifications include:

• research masters
• Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP)
• lapsed registered general nurse
• lapsed registered midwife
• lapsed infection control nurse specialist

Julie Stone

Non-executive director: appointed in April 2020.

Experience:

• independent consultant in healthcare ethics and law, 1988 to date
• trustee of the Institute of Medical Ethics, 2011 to date
• member of Pharmacy Services Regulation Committee, NHS England, 2013 to date
• former visiting professor in ethics at the Peninsula Medical School, 2007 to 2011
• former deputy director at the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, now the Professional Standards Authority, 2003 to 2006

Qualifications include:

• British Psychological Society, clinical supervision skills certificate, 2019
• post graduate certificate in education, 1999
• MA in healthcare ethics and law, 1988
• Bar vocational course, 1987
• LLB honours, 1986

Jane Abraham

Appointed in June 2017.

Experience:

• policy fellow at joint strategic work and health unit (DWP)
• associate honorary research fellow of the University of Exeter
• medical school lecturer and academic lead, workplace health, University of Exeter Business School
• policy advisor at the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, 2011-13
• south west regional health work and wellbeing lead, Department of Health, 2009-11
• consultant at the Improvement and Development Agency, 2008 to 2009
• health development officer at Caradon District Council and North and East Cornwall Primary Care Trust, 2003-08

Qualifications include:

• BSc honours health and social care

Mark Duddridge

Appointed in April 2022 (associate non-executive director appointed in April 2019).

Experience:

• director of Samworth Brothers
• managing director of Ginsters
• director of Rodda’s
• chair of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership
• trustee of The Prince’s Countryside Fund

Qualifications include:

• first class honours degree in history

Associate non-executive directors

Dean Harvey

Appointed in May 2022.

Experience:

• lead community development worker for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) mental health and emotional wellbeing, Pentreath Ltd, to date
• independent advisor to the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, to date
• former chair at Cornwall Race Equality Council
• co-designer of the third party support and reporting centres for hate crime in Cornwall
• former trustee for the children’s charity, CLEAR
• former board member, trustee and presenter for Source FM
• organiser of Cornwall’s Respect Festival
• community based research certificate, University of Central Lancashire
• counselling diploma, University of Plymouth
• preparing to teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector Award
• trained in modern slavery, female genital mutilation, child sexual exploitation, honour-based violence, social media abuse and young people

Justin Olosunde

Appointed August 2022.

Experience:

• vice president and director TD Securities (Toronto Dominion Bank)
• principal of Camborne College, Newquay College, and Falmouth Marine School
• director of Somerset College
• director of South West Business Council
• impact and partnership development manager, University of Exeter
• governor and trustee for academy trusts in Devon and Cornwall

Qualifications include:

• fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society
• MSc natural resource management, University of Leicester
• BSc (Hons) chemistry with physics, King’s College, University of London
• PGCE, qualified teacher learning and skills and member of the Institute for Learning

Decision-making staff and declarations of interest

Read our Declarations of Interest and decision-making for staff (PDF, 204 KB).

Declarations of interest for Kim O'Keeffe, chief nursing officer, Kelvyn Hipperson, chief information officer, and our procurement staff can be found on the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust website. Funds received from sponsored research are received by the Trust, not the individual.