Who’s who

Trust Board

Non-Executive Directors and places of residence:

Sir Richard Ibbotson

Sir Richard Ibbotson, South Hams

Sir Richard Ibbotson was appointed the trust’s chair in June 2014 after retiring from a career in the Royal Navy. This included periods in command of Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, Commander British Forces Falkland Islands and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet (effectively Chief Operating Officer of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines). He has considerable experience in operating at board level and dealing with operational pressures and challenging budgets.

As well as being knighted for his services, Richard is a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath and holds the Distinguished Service Cross and the NATO meritorious service medal. He has a degree in chemistry, a master’s degree in defence technology, and an honorary doctorate in technology. He also holds other public roles, notably as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Devon.

Richard has been a Governor of Plymouth University and Chairman of the Royal Navy Royal Marines Charity, and was a Member of the Armed Forces’ pay review body. Richard is chair of the Executive Nominations and Remuneration Committee and the Governor Nominations and Remuneration Committee.

Chris Balch

Chris Balch, South Hams

Chris Balch joined the board as non-executive director in April 2019.

Chris is Emeritus Professor of Planning at Plymouth University and is a Chartered town planner and surveyor. He has held senior executive positions with an international property advisory company, latterly as managing director of DTZ UK and Ireland, and has extensive experience of providing consultancy advice to public and private sector clients specialising in the planning and delivery of major regeneration projects and programmes.

He was chair of Basildon Renaissance Partnership, a member of the Council of Essex University, a director of Torbay Development Agency and a non-executive chairman of Hilson Moran, a consultancy specialising in the energy performance of complex buildings. He is a member of the supervisory board of Ecorys BV, a European policy and research consultancy, and is a trustee and vice-chair of South West Lakes Trust.

His interest lies in tackling the under-performance of places and managing positive change within professional organisations and communities.

Chris is chair of the Building a Brighter Future committee, and is a board member and chair of the trust’s subsidiary SDH Innovations Partnership LLP.

Martin Beaman

Martin Beaman

Martin joined the board as non-executive director in November 2023.

Martin graduated in Medicine from King’s College Hospital in London in 1979. He undertook his postgraduate training in London, the Midlands and Manchester before moving to Exeter as a Consultant Physician and Nephrologist. He was Clinical Director of Medicine (1995-2000) during which time he graduated with an MBA in Health Executive Management.

Throughout his time in Exeter he provided care to patients with kidney disease living in Torbay and South Devon visiting both Torbay and Newton Abbot Hospital on a weekly basis for over 20 years.

In 2000 he became an Associate Postgraduate Dean for Medical Education in the South West before being appointed in 2005 as the Inaugural Postgraduate Dean to the South West Peninsula Deanery. He subsequently became Dean for Postgraduate Medical Education in Bristol (Severn Deanery) in 2013. He retired in 2019 having been appointed as a Non-Executive Director to Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) a few months earlier. He chaired the Quality Assurance Committee at DPT for just over four years. His NHS interests include quality of care, workforce development and clinical education.

Richard Crompton

Richard Crompton, Teignbridge

Richard joined the board as a non-executive director in August 2022.

Richard was a police officer for 32 years beginning his career in the Metropolitan Police. He served for 19 years in Devon and Cornwall holding various ranks in Plymouth, Torbay and Exeter. He transferred to Cumbria Constabulary in 2001 before moving to Lincolnshire Police as Deputy Chief Constable and later as Chief Constable. Richard held national responsibility for policy in relation to vulnerable adults, vulnerable and intimidated witnesses, wildlife and environmental crime, and for neighbourhood policing and partnerships. He chaired the East Midlands Association of Chief Police Officers leading a major programme of collaboration across the five forces.

In August 2012, on retiring from policing, Richard was appointed chairman of University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and served until July 2022. He has also chaired the Adult Safeguarding Boards of Somerset and Wiltshire, and was the independent chairman of the safeguarding panel for Dimensions, a national provider of personalised social care services for people with learning disabilities and autism. Partnership working, addressing inequalities and improving services to the most vulnerable have been constant themes throughout his career.

Barbara Gregory

Barbara Gregory, Torquay

Barbara joined the board as a non-executive director in November 2023.

Barbara is a Chartered Accountant who trained as an auditor with KPMG before moving to business consultancy, including helping NHS Hospitals become NHS Trusts.

Following this, Barbara took up a post as chief accountant at what was then the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospitals NHS Trust (now Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust). Barbara worked for the NHS in the south west in senior finance roles for the next 24 years before retiring in 2017 working for acute hospitals, community services, mental health services, primary care services as well as ambulance and specialist services. Since 2017, Barbara has been a Non-Executive Director with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (and its predecessor organisations). She is the chair of the Health Service Managers’ Association CNL Faculty (chairs, non-executive and lay members) She is involved in local organisations in the village where she lives near Torbay Hospital.

Vikki Matthews

Vikki Matthews, South Hams

Vikki Matthews joined the board as non-executive director in December 2017.

She is the director for People and Culture at Health Education England, prior to which she was the executive director for people for South Western Ambulance Service. She ran her own coaching and consulting business for many years, and was also the chief talent officer at Plymouth University. She held several global and EMEA-wide director-level roles for Nike based in Holland and the USA.

Vikki chaired a multi-academy trust based in Plymouth from 2012-2017 and is the company secretary for a small education charity in Brighton.

Vikki chairs the people committee.

Paul Richards

Paul Richards, Teignbridge

Paul Richards joined the board as a non-executive director in November 2017.

He spent many years working in the NHS at senior manager and board level leading on resource management, informatics, computing, and the digital transformation agenda. He has significant experience of clinical systems and electronic patient records (EPR) programmes across all care settings.

Paul has gone on to enjoy a long career in the health tech and IT industry and has led a variety of successful, well-known, international consulting, product, and services businesses at board level. He has led large teams, with business and people across several continents, giving him extensive experience of a range of health and care systems. He has successfully turned around and grown several businesses in health and care and has been involved in a wide range of merger, acquisition, and divestment work.

Paul has a passion for improving and connecting health and social care to improve the patient and service user experience. He continues to have a variety of business interests.

Paul chairs the finance, performance and digital committee and a member of the Torbay Pharmaceuticals Board and the Building a Brighter Future and audit committees.

Robin Sutton

Robin Sutton, Teignbridge

Robin Sutton joined the board as non-executive director in May 2016.

Robin is a chartered accountant with more than 30 years’ of financial experience gained at a senior level for both private and public enterprises in both executive and non-executive director roles, including at several multi-national organisations including Sifam, JDS Uniphase, CompAir Holman, Rolls-Royce PLC and Deloittes.

Robin’s interest in healthcare stems from a variety of different factors, ranging from consulting for Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts to working with Novartis in developing ultrafast fibre laser technology for eye surgery. He has also been heavily involved with care services and social care covering a spectrum of services from meals on wheels, day care, supported living and residential care. Robin has local business interests in the care home industry and is the chair of Devon Care Homes Collaborative.

Robin has also enjoyed completing an Innovating in Healthcare program with Harvard University with a team of like-minded people looking at smart phone applications in the field of dementia. Robin is chair of Torbay Pharmaceuticals and a director of the Trust’s subsidiary SDH Developments Limited.

Siân Walker-McAllister

Siân Walker-McAllister, South Hams

Siân Walker-McAllister joined the board as a non-executive director in September 2022.

Siân is an independent social care consultant, a registered social worker, and an associate of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. A former local authority director of health and social care, Siân has more than 40 years’ experience of working in social care in London, the South West and in Wales. As a former housing association director Siân was responsible for the delivery of a wide range of commissioned social care services as well as supported housing in London and the south east, as well as in Devon.

Alongside her role as a non-executive director with us, Siân chairs two Safeguarding Boards in the South West and co-chairs the National Safeguarding Adult Board Chairs’ Network. Siân is concluding two terms of office as a Commissioner for the Jersey Care Commission in 2023. Siân has a wealth of experience of non-executive director roles across a local authority, the NHS, housing associations, and the voluntary sector.

Siân is driven by a passion for excellence, ensuring all services to vulnerable people are person-centred, easy to access and importantly promote independence, while ensuring people are safe.

Robert Williams

Robert Williams

Robert joined the board as non-executive director in November 2023.

Robert provides management consulting and advisory services to private and public sector organisations across the globe, specialising in business transformation and organisation change. He works with companies developing innovative, digitally-enabled capabilities that are transforming the way strategic change and transformation are delivered. He is a Trustee on the Board for Step One, a South West charity supporting people with mental health and other challenges to live more independently; and he provides mentoring and coaching to developing executives.

Robert is most proud of his work as former Chair of Governors for a large school for children with complex learning needs in Berkshire, during which time he led the funding, development and opening of a new, state-of-the-art school complex. He continues to support his son, a young adult with special needs.

Robert has previously held a senior consulting role with Accenture leading major change for UK and global and organisations. A graduate in Occupational Psychology, Robert’s early career was in HR management in the technology sector.


Executive Directors and responsibilities

Liz Davenport

Liz Davenport

Chief Executive

Liz is responsible for the overall management of Trust activities delivering high quality services to the standards set within the resources available. As Accountable Officer she is responsible for ensuring that the Trust meets all of its statutory duties.

Liz started work in the Trust in Torbay in September 2014 and was appointed as the Chief Operating Officer for the Integrated Care Organisation in January 2015. She took a key role in leading the implementation of the integrated care model, including the development of community services. Liz was appointed in October 2018 as the Trust’s substantive Chief Executive following a period in the Interim role.

Liz has a clinical background, and has been employed in the NHS since qualifying in 1986 as an Occupational Therapist. She has a passion for service improvement and transformation designed to improve outcomes and experiences for people in our communities making the best use of resources and evidence of what works well. Her career started in mental health services where she was involved in the setting up of community services for people with mental health needs. She has subsequently continued to work in a number of NHS organisations across the country leading on a number of service improvement projects in mental health, learning disabilities and social care services. She has also held a broad portfolio of Executive Director positions including Director of Operations, Director of Workforce and Organisation and Deputy Chief Executive in Devon Partnership Trust before making the transition to Acute and Community services in Torbay.

Adel Jones

Adel Jones

Director of Transformation and Partnerships / Deputy Chief Executive

Adel has the responsibility to develop the Trust Strategy and the delivery of key strategic ambitions, including being the Senior Responsible Officer for the Trust New Hospital Programme (Building a Brighter Future), the delivery of the Trust Digital Transformation Strategy and leading the Improvement and Innovation team to deliver large scale transformation programmes. 

How we work collaboratively, in partnership with local health and care organisations, our local care partnerships, our staff and local people to deliver our new models of care is integral to this transformation. Adel leads the communications, engagement and partnerships portfolio and is responsible for developing strategic partnerships to ensure the Trust meets the needs of local people.

Adel has significant experience of large-scale transformational change across health and social care, developing new models of acute and emergency care, integrating health and care services in the community and driving operational efficiency through new ways of working. With extensive experience in strategic planning, workforce re-design, quality improvement and operational management, Adel has worked across many sectors over the last 25 years, including primary care, strategic health authority, acute and community health and care services. Before joining the Trust in 2019, Adel was the Integration Director at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

In leading the digital portfolio, Adel has a keen interest in Digital innovation and is joint chair of the NHS Providers Digital Boards Programme.

Mark Brice

Mark Brice

Interim Chief Finance Officer

Mark Brice, interim director of operational finance at NHS Devon integrated care board, joined us as our interim chief finance officer in July 2023.

Mark is an incredibly experienced finance professional and has worked for the NHS at both a deputy and chief finance officer level, and brings with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise at both a regional and national level which will help us take control of our finances and our future and deliver our ambitious regain and renew plan while we recruit a permanent replacement.

He has worked for the NHS in Devon and with several acute trusts in and around London including Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, working with them on its system oversight framework (SOF 4).

Arun Chandran

Arun Chandran

Chief Operating Officer

Arun Chandran, our chief operating officer, leads our operational management and performance monitoring. Arun joined us in November 2023, bringing a wealth of experience and dedication from his time at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he served as a director of operations.

Originating from Tamil Nadu, India, Arun’s has worked across the world, including India, Dubai, Sharjah, Al Ain, and Abu Dhabi. His NHS career began as an overseas nurse at Gloucester Royal Hospital, and has held a variety of leadership roles in NHS trusts including London North West University Healthcare NHS Trusts, Royal Surrey County NHS Foundation Trust and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where he significantly contributed to both urgent and emergency care and planned care pathways.

Arun values and focuses on compassionate and authentic leadership, and he is passionate about inspiring healthcare professionals with his dedication, skill, and empathetic approach to management and patient care. He is driven by a passion for fostering change and elevating healthcare standards driven by quality improvement.

Nicola McMinn

Nicola McMinn

Interim Chief Nurse

Nicola was appointed as our interim chief nurse in December 2024 and is responsible for the quality and safety of the care provided by the Trust, including infection prevention.

She joined us in June 2021 as our head of nursing workforce and was later promoted as our deputy chief nurse. She leads on several objectives including quality, professional practice, patient experience, safeguarding, infection prevention and control, and clinical governance.

Nicola is a midwife, and was previously assistant director of nursing medicine at Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust and before that she worked at University Hospitals Plymouth as senior matron for clinical standards and patient experience.

Nicola is committed to ensuring we deliver our vision of safe, patient-centred care. She has ensured that people’s experiences inform our work to improve services and provides compassionate clinical leadership in everything she does.

Michelle Westwood

Michelle Westwood

Chief People Officer

Michelle leads the People Directorate and is responsible for the delivery of our People Promise – to build a culture at work where our people feel safe, healthy and supported, and where there is a consistent, compassionate and inclusive leadership and management approach, that is motivating, empowering and encourages accountability.

Michelle is a strategic HR leader, with significant knowledge of workforce matters, including introducing new ways of working, leading retention campaigns, and in the development of programmes to support leadership development, capability and organisational culture. She joined us in November 2022, following a 20 year career in the Royal Navy where her last appointment was the Programme Director of the Royal Navy’s People Transformation programme.

Michelle is deeply passionate about her role and enjoys building and stimulating teams, disrupting the accepted order or status quo to achieve sustainable success for people and organisations. Michelle is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and holds Non-Executive Director positions as Trustee of two military charities that aim to support those serving, veterans, and their families, for life.

Kate Lissett

Dr Catherine (“Kate”) Lissett

Chief Medical Officer

Kate is responsible for the provision of high-quality, safe and effective care and providing medical input into shaping strategy as well as the Responsible Officer for the Trust.

Kate joined the Trust in 2006 as a Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology, having previously been Registrar in the Manchester region, working at a number of hospitals in Greater Manchester. During this time she also completed a qualification in Medical Education from Cardiff University. Prior to this, Kate completed a research Doctorate at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, and worked in Nottingham and Sheffield, having qualified in Medicine from Sheffield in 1993.

Kate’s leadership is motivated by a passion for equity and compassionate care and driven by this she has held a range of appointments in educational and leadership roles throughout her career.

Joanne Watson

Joanne Watson

Health and Care Strategy Director (non-voting Board member)

Joanne is responsible for delivering our health and care strategy which focuses on making sure our services meet the current and future needs of our people while supporting them to live well. Her unique Board-level position showcases our innovative approach to providing integrated care and ensuring the best use of the monies we will receive from the Government’s New Hospital Programme. We are proud to be one of only 40 recipients of this once in a generation programme which will support us to make a real difference in how we deliver services with, to and for our people. Joanne is also the Director of Infection Prevention & Control. Taking on this role in June 2020, near the start of the COVID 19 Pandemic has required flexibility and the need to make decisions on limited information/ evidence. Our results and outcomes to date compare favourably to the national picture,

Joanne joined us in 2016 as Deputy Medical Director and Consultant Physician in Acute Medicine. She is an accomplished medical leader with extensive strategic and operational experience which she has gained over many years as a senior clinician in a range of organisational and system leadership roles.

Joanne held a twelve months fellowship working at the world leading Institute for Healthcare Improvement using quality improvement skills gained there in her daily work. She has been instrumental in areas of national policy such as the central role of patient experience and improvement in maternity services.

Joanne qualified as a doctor in 1991, graduating from London University. Prior to joining us she was a consultant at Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in endocrinology and diabetes. She has held positions with the King’s Fund, Royal College of Physicians and the South West Academic Health Science Network.

Emily Long

Emily Long

Emily Long, Director of Corporate Governance and Trust Secretary (non-voting Board member)

Emily joined us as Director of Corporate Governance and Trust Secretary in November 2021.

Emily is a qualified Chartered Company Secretary and Chartered Legal Executive, specialising in corporate law, corporate governance, organisational structure, stakeholder engagement and risk management. As an experienced dual qualified corporate services professional, Emily brings a wealth of experience having worked in this capacity since 2010 in a number of different sectors: including professional services, aerospace and defence, housing, marine and events.

Most recently working for Leonardo, a large international aerospace and defence and supporting the review of their corporate governance, implementing a revised Board and Committee framework, supported by a new delegations protocol and adoption of a new Code of Governance, the Wates Principles.

How we are organised

The organisation is split into four care groups supported by the Senior Corporate Leadership Team comprising of the Executive Team, their deputies and the care group directors.

Families and communities

  • Care group director – Shelly Machin

Medicine and urgent care

  • Care group director – Lee Johns

Planned care and surgery

  • Care group director – Kenny Naughton

Children and Family Health Devon

  • Care group director – Beverly Mack

View our organisational charts.

Further information

Information about Board Directors’ expertise and experience, terms and conditions, expenses and remuneration and also the Board of Directors balance and completeness is contained in the Trust’s Annual Report.

Switchboard Tel: 0300 456 8000 (local rate) or 01803 614567

For a statement of the objectives of the Trust, see our Annual Plan.

To contact members of our Council of Governors or our Board of Directors, email the Foundation Trust Office.

For information about the Trust’s Audit Committee, see the Annual Report.

Details of directors’ expenses are available on request through our Freedom of Information Office.