Officers of the Foundation
The Officers and Trustees, along with the team, represent the Florence Nightingale Foundation and work together in a charitable context to develop and advance the practice of nursing and midwifery for the benefit of all those who need healthcare.
Royal Patron
HRH Princess Alexandra,
The Honourable Lady Ogilvy KG GCVO
Patron
Sir Robert Francis QC
President
The Baroness Mary Watkins of Tavistock
President
The Baroness Mary Watkins of Tavistock
Professor Mary Watkins, a former PhD graduate from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery was appointed to the cross benches of the House of Lords as one of four new non-party political peers recommended by the Independent House of Lords Appointment Commission, in May 2016.
Professor Watkins qualified as a general nurse from the Wolfson School of Nursing at Westminster Hospital in 1976, a mental health nurse from the South London and Maudsley Nursing School in 1979, and was a Nightingale Scholar in 1985. She has worked in community, in-patient mental health and acute settings providing non-emergency and emergency healthcare. She was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Health and Social Work at Plymouth in 2003, Pro Vice-Chancellor Health in 2005 and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in January 2007.
Professor Watkins has published widely in the field of nursing education and leadership, and was inaugural editor of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. She has consistently been invited to represent the views of the nursing profession on a range of Department of Health working parties and is Nurse Adviser to the BUPA Medical Advisory Panel. Her interests and activities in the South West of England extend beyond nursing and higher education to include involvement in secondary education, mental health charities, social enterprise and housing.
Vice President
The Rt. Hon Lord Remnant CVO FCA
Vice President
The Rt. Hon Lord Remnant CVO FCA
Lord Remnant trained as a Chartered Accountant with the founding firm of what is now Deloittes, subsequently being a partner for twelve years. On the investment management division being split from the firm as Touche Remnant, he was its Chief Executive and Chairman until it was purchased by Societe Generale and subsequently moved in to Hendersons/AMP of Australia.
He has had a number of directorships including the Bank of Scotland, Chairman of the London Board Australia and New Zealand Bank, Mutual Life Assurance: National Provident Institution (Chairman). Chairman of the Association of Investment Companies and of the Institutional Shareholders’ Committee. London Merchant Securities. Ultramar (Deputy Chairman).
Lord Remnant is currently an Emeritus Trustee of the Anglican Investment Agency.
His main charitable commitments have been a Great Officer of the Order of St John-Bailiff of Egle. The Royal Jubilee Trusts with which is associated the Prince’s Trust – Treasurer (appointed CVO) and then Chairman. A Commissioner of the Church of England – served on the Assets Committee. President of YMCA England. Master of the Salters’ Company.
Vice President
Miss Theo Noel Smith
Vice President
Miss Theo Noel Smith
Miss Theo Noel Smith was a Nursing Officer for the Foundation for fourteen years. Formerly Matron at St Giles Hospital, Ladbroke Grove, Deputy Matron at St Mary’s Hospital, London and whilst at St Mary’s Hospital, Matron at Ibander Hospital in Nigeria for 2 years. As well as, Matron at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
Vice President
Mr Bryan Wilson
Vice President
Mr Bryan Wilson
An experienced senior nurse manager with over 50 years’ experience since initial registration with the GNC in 1960 and 25 years’ experience of top nurse management posts since first appointed to such a post as Chief Nursing Officer for a group of Psychiatric hospitals in 1971. He has been heavily involved in the various NHS reorganisations in England, Scotland and Wales and the movement of nurse education into University settings as well as representing England, Scotland and Wales, separately, on a variety of UK wide bodies and committees. Since retirement from the NHS in April 1996, has worked as an Independent Nursing Consultant and has undertaken many surveys of health services establishments for the Health Quality Service in the NHS and the Private sector as well as voluntary work and continued involvement with the Royal College of Nursing having been Chairman of RADNO. and currently Honorary President of Gwent Branch.
Honorary Vice President
Mrs Mary Spinks CBE
Honorary Vice President
Mrs Mary Spinks CBE
Mary Spinks was the Director of the Florence Nightingale Foundation from 1996 to 2010. She was instrumental in introducing an annual Students’ Day to raise the profile of Florence Nightingale and her legacy for student nurses in the UK. In 2005, she introduced a new initiative of Leadership Development Scholarships for senior nurses who aspire to the top posts in the nursing profession.
Mary was formerly Director of Nursing and Consumer Affairs at the North East Thames Regional Health Authority and previous to that, she was Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Consumer Affairs for Brighton Health Authority. Her career in the NHS spanned a period of 44 years during which time she specialised in Operating Theatre Nursing and Management and held honorary appointments as the Nurse Member of Maidstone Health Authority, a member of the NHS Training Authority and a member of the English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.
In 1998, she was appointed Chairman of the East Berkshire Community NHS Trust and served for a period of four years during which she oversaw the reorganisation of the Community Trust into three Primary Care Trusts. In 1973, she was awarded a scholarship and spent three months in the USA studying the training and integration of operating theatre staff at centres of excellence.
During her career, she has had and continues to have many publications in the nursing and health care press. She was an Arena columnist for the Nursing Times during 1995. In August 2007, she was appointed a Visiting Professor at the University of Ulster. In 2010, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, she was awarded a CBE for services to nursing.
Honorary Vice President
Mr Geoffrey Walker OBE JP RGN
Honorary Vice President
Mr Geoffrey Walker OBE JP RGN
Geoffrey first joined the Foundation as a Trustee representing the British Red Cross in the late 1990s. He then became a board member in his own right. He served as an executive member of the Foundation and then as Vice-Chairman for several years completing his tenure of office in 2011 when he became an honorary vice-president.
He is Matron for Medicine, Specialist Medicine Emergency and Ambulatory care at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Nursing, vice president of Poole Heart Support Group, a member of the board of Lewis Manning Hospice and a Justice of the Peace for East Dorset. He received the OBE for services to nursing in 2009 and in 2013 he was awarded Nurse of the Year at the British Journal of Nursing Awards. He is passionate about equality and diversity and started the Poole Hospital LGBT staff group which now has over 200 members.
Acting Chairman
Andrew Andrews MBE MA
Acting Chairman
Andrew Andrews MBE MA
Mr Andrews is a lawyer by profession and a respected legal advisor, whose practice is and has been in the public service (predominantly in health). Andrew is an established and recognised medico-legal trainer. His present responsibilities comprise: Director Health and Social Care at Bond Solon and Subject Matter Expert, Medico-Legal Advisor for St John Ambulance, Visiting Lecturer Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Vice Chairman Trustee Florence Nightingale Foundation.
Andrew has a wide knowledge of the Health Service and is well known as an expert in health care issues. As a result, he is in considerable demand as a specialist lecturer and speaker to groups locally and at national and international events. He is increasingly called upon to serve and chair Inquiries both at a local and national level into all aspects of health care.
Treasurer
Dr Colin L Reeves CBE
Treasurer
Dr Colin L Reeves CBE
Dr Reeves is a self-employed healthcare consultant. He has previously held positions including national Director of Finance and Performance for the NHS in England and Director of Finance for North West Thames Regional Health Authority. His first degree was in Economics at Cambridge University, followed by an MSc in Finance and a PhD in Monetary Economics from the University College of North Wales. He is a fully qualified accountant. He was awarded a CBE in 1999 for services to the NHS.
Dr Reeves was Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals 2005‑09, and a member of the Finance and Audit Committee, Oxfam International 2009-10. He is currently Honorary Treasurer of the brain injury charity Headway as well as fulfilling that role for The Foundation.
Trustee
Professor Ann Lloyd Keen
Trustee
Professor Ann Lloyd Keen
Professor Ann Keen is the first nurse ever to have become a British Government Minister. She began her successful nursing career in the 1970’s and specialised in acute and emergency areas of practice before moving into the Community as a District Nursing Sister. Her experience in Community Nursing during the 1980’s served to reinforce her strong feelings about social justice and inequality in the UK. She became more politically engaged and was eventually persuaded to stand for Parliament, being elected as Labour MP in 1997. A rebel with a cause, and the first nurse to be elected to the British Parliament, Ann went on to spend seven years as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Rt Hon Gordon Brown, upon whose election as Prime Minister, she was appointed Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Health Service. As a legislator, Professor Keen moved ground breaking legislation on the age of consent, minimum wage and equal treatment for ovarian cancer.
She is now a Professor of Innovation Health for Older Care London South Bank University, Senior Scholar at the Hartford Institute, New York University and Fellow of Queens Nursing Institute Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Trustee
Mr Peter Siddall
Trustee
Mr Peter Siddall
Peter Siddall founded and led the international management consultancy, Siddall & Company Limited, for 30 years until he retired in 2009. High-level consulting assignments included: strategy reviews and implementation, organisational development and leading change.
He worked in more than 25 countries in such sectors as: oil, gas and petrochemicals, automotive, telecoms, financial services, engineering and construction. He is a retired Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Institute of Business Consulting.
In addition, he was Chairman of Churchill China plc, Martello Textiles Ltd and Horticulture Research International, until 2004, the UK’s premier institution for horticultural research (part of Defra). During his early career, he lived in South Africa where he was a director of Coopers & Lybrand, management consultants.
Formerly he was chairman of The Barnes Workhouse Trust and a trustee of The Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability.
He is married with two grown up daughters and a granddaughter and lives in South West London. His interests include church, croquet, bridge, theatre and sport.
Trustee
Mr David Hulf
Trustee
Mr David Hulf
David Hulf has previously held senior positions at BP, including responsibilities for strategy, finance, marketing and business development. Since retiring from BP he has had non-executive directorship roles at a number of different organisations. This has included: a renewal energy start-up; the NHS Business Services Authority and the UK Treasury’s retail savings organisation, NS&I. In these roles he Chaired their Audit & Risk Committees and was the Independent Senior Director.
David is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and holds an Economics degree from Manchester University and a Masters in Management from the Sloan School at MIT.
Trustee
Dr Edward Libbey
Trustee
Dr Edward Libbey
Edward was elected as a Trustee in June 2017. Since July 2104 he has been the Chair of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and was reappointed last year for a further term of 3 years. Previously he was a Lay Member on the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CCG and before that a Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair for both Norfolk and Waveney PCT and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough PCT until their demise in 2012. He was the Chair of the Norfolk Learning and Skills Council from 2004 to 2010 and a Board member for the Oil and Pipelines Agency from 2005 to 2012.
In his early career he was a senior executive in BP responsible, inter alia, for oil supply and refining across Europe and for oil product trading and distribution for BP’s downstream operations in the USA. Subsequently he was an early investor and Chair of World Energy Solutions, an on-line electronic gas and electricity sales and procurement company operating across the USA. He is still engaged in the energy industry as Vice Chair of the Energy & Utility Forum and Council Member of the British Institute of Energy Economics.
He is a graduate of Cambridge University with both a First Class Degree in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) and a PhD. He grew up in Norfolk where he now resides.
Trustee
Dame Professor Jill Macleod Clark DBE, PHD, BSC, SRN, FRCN, FQNI
Trustee
Dame Professor Jill Macleod Clark DBE, PHD, BSC, SRN, FRCN, FQNI
Dame Jill qualified as a registered nurse at University College Hospital, London and worked in a range of acute clinical settings and as a practice nurse. She gained a degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics and subsequently completed her doctorate, which focussed on an analysis of communication between patients and nurses on surgical wards.
Jill began her academic career as a clinical lecturer at Chelsea College London, teaching communication skills, health promotion and research methods whilst supporting undergraduate students in their practice placements. She headed up the first research based MSc programme for nursing in the UK and continued to develop her research profile, building up a research team and publishing widely.
Over the years, Jill has held a number of academic leadership posts in the UK, acting as Director of the Nightingale Institute, Kings College London and, more recently, Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton. In Southampton she spearheaded a major inter-professional learning initiative for students across nine health care disciplines and developed a new clinical academic career pathway for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. Jill has also undertaken key national professional policy and advisory roles, including being Chair of the UK Council of Deans for Health, Chair of the NIHR clinical academic awards panel and a member of the last two Research Excellence Framework Panels for Nursing and Allied Health Professions. She holds several honorary professorial positions in nursing faculties around the world
Jill is now Emeritus Professor at Southampton and is lead advisor to the Nursing and Midwifery Council for their major review of education standards for future registered nurses. She continues to contribute to national and international policy agendas linked to the development of clinical academic and research careers in nursing and building leadership capacity in higher education and health for under- represented groups. She is a member of ‘Women on Boards’ and is actively engaged in coaching and mentoring nurses aspiring to executive or strategic leadership roles.
Jill is married to William, has two sons and five grandchildren and is a keen sailor.
Trustee
Dr Neslyn Watson-Druee
Trustee
Dr Neslyn Watson-Druee
Dr Neslyn Watson-Druée, CBE FCGI FRCN, an inaugural award Winner – 100 Best Global Coaching Leaders by the World HRD Congress. She has had three honours from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11.
Dr Neslyn an executive coach, author, speaker, entrepreneur, business psychologist, qualified adult education teacher, Thought Field Therapist, PSYC-K ® Therapist, One Command® Practitioner and Coach, High Performance Coach, Thinking Environment® Consultant and Coach, accredited international journalist, Radio Works World – Authors’ Award winner.
Dr Neslyn works internationally delivering motivational talks on leadership, living with passion and leaving a legacy. Life for Neslyn means generosity, compassion and philanthropy. A few years ago she gave away her life savings to www.colourfulradio.com to provide media training for people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and to a project working to improve the range of choices available to young black boys who might otherwise we drawn into gang culture.
Dr Neslyn holds fellowships of the Royal Collage of Nursing (UK) and City and Guilds London Institute of which The Princess Royal – Princess Ann is the Patron. Dr Neslyn’s passion is to empower you to master your leadership skills and leave a legacy for others to follow. She has a track record of supporting executives to transform from the ordinary to the extraordinary and from the impossible to the possible.
Dr Neslyn has a very successful background from 25 years on various boards including 10 years as a Chairman for a National Health Service Commissioning Organisation in the UK. She is currently Chairman of the Phoenix Newspaper, the only paper that is focused entirely on good news. Dr Neslyn is a prolific writer, author and is the host of Radio Works World Passion Show.
Trustee
Angela McLernon, OBE, MSC, BSC, RN, RHV
Trustee
Angela McLernon, OBE, MSC, BSC, RN, RHV
As Chief Executive of NIPEC since 2014, Angela works to bring stakeholders together in Northern Ireland to take forward work in support of employers, nurses and midwives to deliver safe and effective person-centred care.
From June 2011 to April 2013, Angela was Interim Chief Nursing Officer for Northern Ireland during which time and to the present, she has worked closely with the NMC in support of the introduction of revalidation for nurses and midwives across the UK.
As Nursing Officer, DoH, 2006-2011, Angela had responsibility for nursing policy and strategy relating to Community and Primary Care, Public Health, Child Health, Safeguarding and Nurse Prescribing and was key to the introduction of the Family Nurse Partnership Programme to Northern Ireland.
Angela is a registered nurse and health visitor and a graduate of the University of Ulster with a B.Sc and M.Sc in Nursing and Professional Development. She has worked in a range of posts since 1981, initially as a Nurse, Health Visitor, Team Leader and as Assistant Director of Nursing with responsibility for School Nursing, District Nursing, Occupational Health, Health Visiting, Community Children’s Nursing and Family Planning Nursing services.
Angela was awarded a Fellowship of the Queens Nursing Institute on 14 November 2016, at a ceremony in London. The event recognised her significant contribution to Community Nursing over many years at operational, strategic, policy and national levels across health systems.
In the 2017 New Year’s Honours, Angela was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen, for her services to Nursing.
Trustee
Colonel Sharon Findlay
Trustee
Colonel Sharon Findlay
Colonel Sharon Findlay joined the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps in December 1989 as a student nurse. After qualifying she worked in secondary care in Aldershot and Northern Ireland. She was later selected as a recruit instructor at Army Training Regiment in Lichfield prior to commissioning in 1996.
Colonel Findlay worked in both Primary and Secondary Care and returned to recruit training as a Platoon Commander at Army Training Regiment in Lichfield before specialising in Primary Care and attaining her Nurse Practitioner qualification in 2006. Following an assignment to Brunei, and on completion of the Intermediate Command and Staff Course in 2010, she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and worked in Army Headquarters as SO1 General Practice, and latterly was the lead SO1 for Director Army Nursing Services prior to moving to the Army Personnel in Glasgow as a SO1 Clinical Cadres.
She was recognised for her contribution to patient care through the award of the Queens Commendation for Valuable Service in the Operation Honours list for Op TELIC 1 and was admitted to the Order of St John in 2015.
Colonel Findlay has recently returned to Lichfield as Defence Nursing Advisor where she will be responsible for central strategy and policy for Defence Nursing. She is a trustee for the Florence Nightingale Foundation and member of the Royal College of Nursing, Nursing Advisory Group.