Appointment of 2 new Trustees
The NHS Retirement Fellowship is pleased to announce the addition of two new trustees to its Board.
Julia Hickey and Mark Graham bring a wealth of experience and NHS expertise to the Fellowship as it embarks on an ambitious five-year strategy development programme.
Julia is an accountant by background and lives in Gateshead. She has 15 years experience serving on the Board at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust where she was chair for seven years until September 2019. She was also a trustee at the NHS Confederation for five years and has undertaken a number of other non-executive roles in the education, housing and probation sectors.
She said: “The enthusiasm and dedication of the people I met in the NHS in Gateshead is the thing that I remember the most and because the Fellowship is all about supporting NHS people as they move from work into retirement, that really appealed to me to get involved.
“I hope to be able to help the organisation grow and meet some of the challenges it is having to face at the moment and I’m hoping that the experience I can bring will help it to become even more successful.”
Mark is currently director of communications at South Tees NHS Foundation Trust in Middlesbrough, having joined the Trust in 2019. He has over 25 years’ experience as a senior communications professional in the NHS, local government and parliament. This includes close working with clinicians and other professionals to deliver improvements from Cumbria to Northern Ireland, and Liverpool to Teesside.
He said: “I work with so many brilliant NHS colleagues who strive every day to provide care and support for the patients and communities we have the privilege to serve.”
Mark, who lives in North Yorkshire, added: “I’m very pleased to be joining the NHS Retirement Fellowship as a trustee, and supporting its mission to act as a bridge between life in employment and new opportunities in retirement.”
George Kempton, chair of the Fellowship, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Julia and Mark to the Fellowship and am very much looking forward to working alongside them.
“The Fellowship does face some significant challenges at the moment and that’s why it is particularly good to have two trustees with such significant senior level NHS experience and perspective as part of our wider community. I know that Mike and the team will also value the input both Julia and Mark will bring in helping to shape the future of the Fellowship as we start to implement our five year strategy.”