Introducing the Executive and Non-Executive team

The Trust Board is made up of Executive and Non-Executive directors. The Board is responsible and accountable for everything that happens within the Trust, while the Non-Executive team has the power to challenge decisions made by the Executive team and the performance of the Trust. Most, but not all, of our Executive team are voting members of the Board, details below.

Organisation structure

You can find organisation charts for our divisions on the who we are pages >>

Non-executive directors

Richard Shaw – Chair  

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: September 2012

Professional Qualifications: Ph.d, BA Hons

Experience: Richard Shaw has held the role of Chief Executive at both Surrey and Oxfordshire County Councils.

Richard has worked in several senior Civil Service roles, and was responsible for establishing the new National Park Authority in the South Downs for three years from 2009.

Richard has held non-executive roles with the University of Surrey, on its Council and Audit Committee.

Richard is a keen hill walker recently reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro and trekking above 5000 meters in Nepal. He enjoys scuba diving and is qualified divemaster level. He is a keen photographer and a regular tennis player.

Pauline Lambert – Senior Independent Director
& Deputy Chair

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: August 2014

Professional Qualifications: RGN, RHV(P), Nurse Tutor

Experience: Pauline is a registered nurse and health visitor. She has worked in the NHS for over 44 years. She retired in 2013 but continues to work part time in clinical practice. She has worked in both hospital and community services.

She has been a Board Trustee for a charity and was also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Brighton whilst a Nurse Consultant.

Pauline is particularly interested in health care safety, plus patient expectations and experiences of care. In her part time clinical role in another trust she supports staff with all aspects of safeguarding (children, adults, PREVENT, Mental Capacity Act and looked after children).

Pauline was appointed as the Board’s clinical NED. Working to provide independent supportive challenge. Helping to maintain Board focus on quality and safety along with hearing about the views and experiences of patients and staff.

Pauline is the Board’s Senior Independent Director (SID). The specific duties of the SID include:
Being available to the Council of Governors for any concerns which could not be resolved via contact with the Chair or Company Secretary; attending members and governors meetings to gain insight into the issues which are important them, sharing any concerns raised with them with fellow NEDS and/or the Board as appropriate. The SID also oversees the performance evaluation of the chair in line with NHS requirements.

Pauline alongside Executive Directors supports the Freedom To Speak Up Guardian (FTSUG) and has oversight of medical performance issues in relation to Maintaining High Professional Standards.

She is the Chair of the Organ Donation Committee working closely with Trust clinical staff, the specialist nurse for organ donation (SNOD), the clinical lead for organ donation(CLOD) and the council of Governors representatives to maintain an overview of Trust activity regarding this.

Pauline has been married for 44 years has two children and three grandchildren, loves dog walking and gardening.

Paul Biddle – Chair of Audit and Assurance Committee

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: July 2014

Professional Qualifications: FCA

Experience: Paul qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Deloittes in the city. He moved into industry, gaining commercial experience with Unilever before joining Xerox, initially in their European HQ in financial management roles before being appointed Finance Director of Rank Xerox UK. This was followed by positions as Finance Director of Digital Equipment Co and then CFO of NatWest retail and commercial Bank. In 2003 a very different role, as Finance Director of Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS FT. After retiring from the Trust in 2013 Paul joined SASH as a Non-Exec Director and chairs the Audit and Assurance Committee. He is also a NED at Linney Group, a privately owned print and marketing services company. In 2019 he became a Trustee of King Edward VII Hospital in London. His four children and now eight grandchildren keep him busy, but he find time for golf, bridge and walking and sailing holidays.

David Sadler – Chair of Finance and Workforce Committee

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: March 2017

Professional Qualifications: MIoD, CChem, CChemEng, MBA

Experience: David was appointed as a non-executive director (NED) from 1 March 2017. Previously he worked for over 30 years in the oil industry. He has experience in operations, business development, strategy and joint ventures (JV) and has led and managed a variety of teams, both local and international.  He has worked in Europe, Asia, North America and South Africa, in oil refining, supply chain and customer facing roles.

His last role was restructuring Shell’s JV in South Africa. Previously he was a strategy manager based in London, and his last operating role was running Shell’s supply chain for Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.

David has been a NED in JVs in South Africa, Taiwan and Thailand, of two PLCs in Pakistan, and managing director of Shell in Gibraltar. David has also held a secondary governance role with Network Rail and holds the Institute of Directors Diploma in Directorship.

David has an MBA, a Masters degree in Chemistry and is a Chartered Chemist and a Chartered Chemical Engineer.

He is married with two children in their twenties. He enjoys playing golf, cycling and maintaining the garden.

Caroline Warner – Chair of  Safety & Quality Committee

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: October 2016

Professional Qualifications: BA, MA

Experience: Caroline Warner has worked as a Brand Director for international FMCG and luxury goods companies, including Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) and L’Oreal. She ran the business units for portfolios of brands that included Moet & Chandon, Dom Perignon, Drambuie and L’Oreal Paris. During Caroline’s time in business she worked at the vanguard of consumer engagement as well as future trend research, creative thinking and influencer strategy.

In recent years, Caroline has redirected her energies towards public service and now specialises in non-executive work that blends business skills and citizen advocacy. She has a number of Chair and Non-Executive roles in the NHS and utilities sectors and has previously completed terms as a School Governor, Academy Board Member and Local Councillor.

Caroline lives in the Surrey countryside with her husband, daughter and cocker spaniel where they spend a lot of time walking.

Paula Swann – Chair of the Charitable Funds Committee

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: April 2019

Professional Qualifications: FCCA, MBA

Experience: Paula has over 30 years’ experience working for the health service in provider (hospital and community services) and commissioner organisations.

Paula held the role of Chief Officer at NHS Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group for six years where she championed integrated health and social care to improve outcomes for older people. Paula also served as a stakeholder governor for almost three years at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.  Previously, she was Director of Finance for NHS Wandsworth Primary Care Trust for five years and has held several senior finance roles.

Paula is passionate about improving healthcare whilst delivering improved financial performance and has led several health improvement programmes in South West London and across London.

Paula qualified as a certified accountant (ACCA) with Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority and completed her MBA at NHS Wandsworth.

Paula is married with three children, two teenagers and one in their early twenties.  Paula also volunteers with Citizens Advice as an advisor and Homestart as a parent advocate (child protection) and family support worker.  Paula also enjoys travelling and fair-weather gardening.

Dr Yasmin Khan – Associate non-executive director
& Deputy Senior Independent Director

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: July 2019

Professional Qualifications: MBBCh, BAO, FRCPCH, MD

Experience: Yasmin is a paediatrician and senior clinical manager and has worked in the NHS for over 30 years. Previous to that she lived and worked in Ireland for many years and a short period in California.  She has worked as Medical Director for The Childrens Trust, Tadworth and Young Epilepsy, Surrey. She has been a Senior Lecturer at Brighton & Sussex Medical School and supported the development of  undergraduate and postgraduate paediatric training programmes. She was Director of Research and has an interest in furthering research and post graduate educational initiatives. She is a Trustee of several charities. Yasmin retired from the NHS in 2019 but continues part time clinical practice.

Yasmin joined SASH as Associate Non Executive Director in July 2019 and is a member of the Childrens Board, Safety & Quality Committee, Clinical Ethics Committee, End of Life care and is Deputy SID.

She lives in Sussex and enjoys walking, cycling, holidays ‘off the beaten track’ and all cultural pursuits. She has two grown up children living in London and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Executive directors

Michael Wilson CBE – Chief executive

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: October 2010

Professional Qualifications: MA BSc (Hons) RMN RN

Experience: Michael Wilson has been chief executive of the Trust since October 2010. Prior to this he was Deputy CEO at Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH). Before joining BSUH in 2007, Michael worked at the Department of Health where he was Director for Commercial Solutions. He worked across a range of national projects and spent a short time in the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit.

In 2009, he completed an International Leadership programme at Harvard University and became an NHS IMAS Partner.

Michael is Honorary President for the National Health Retirement Fellowship in Surrey. In 2016 Michael was awarded a CBE in Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours for services to the NHS.

Jane Dickson – Chief nurse

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: April 2018

Professional Qualifications: RN, MSc, PG dip

Experience: Jane is a registered nurse who qualified in 1987.Jane has been chief nurse at SASH since April 2018. Jane previously worked at SASH as deputy chief operating officer and associate director for cancer and diagnostics.

During her career, Jane specialised in critical care nursing before moving into organ donation and transplantation and more recently in the highly regulated field of blood donation. Jane has led and reconfigured specialist nursing services across geographical boundaries with a constant focus on patient care, experience and outcomes.

Whilst working in the complex field of deceased donation and transplantation Jane completed a postgraduate diploma in Health Care Ethics from Kings College London and then went onto to complete an MSc in Care, Policy and Management from London Guildhall.

For Jane it is all about people, striving for excellent patient experience, engaging with and supporting all those she works with and demonstrating the SASH values in all of her decisions and interactions.

Ed Cetti – Medical director

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: January 2019

Professional Qualifications: MA FRCP

Experience: Ed qualified in 1998 and completed postgraduate medical training in Surrey and Sussex and at St George’s. He was a Respiratory SpR at SASH in 2009 and was appointed as a Consultant Respiratory Physician in Nov 2009.

During his Respiratory Medicine Career his special interests have been Lung Cancer, Asthma and COPD, including time spent researching COPD treatments at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

At SASH Ed has led the Lung Cancer team then the Respiratory Medicine Department and then became the Clinical Lead for Medical Specialties. In 2014 he became Chief of the newly created Cancer and Diagnostics Division. He is committed to acting as the patient advocate and striving for safe, high quality care.

Paul Simpson – Chief finance officer and director of estates and facilities/Deputy chief executive

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: December 2007

Professional Qualifications: Fellow of CIMA, CGMA, BSc

Experience: Paul joined the NHS in 2002 when he was appointed as Deputy Director of Finance at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to that Paul worked at South East NHS Regional Office where he was a finance performance manager and at the Department of Health HQ in Leeds and dealt with the financial monitoring of NHS organisations nationally.

Paul enjoyed previous roles which ranged from being an untrained occupational therapist at Broadmoor Special Hospital, through to working in private office at the Department of Health in Whitehall.

Paul joined the board at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust in December 2007 from Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust, where he was Finance and Governance Director. Paul is a chartered management accountant by training and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

From 2017 to 2019 Paul acted as the Chair of the Finance Group for the Sussex and East Surrey Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, and in 2018 he was appointed as a Trustee of the charity GambleAware (which commissions services to deal with gambling harms) Paul achieved accreditation for SaSH+ Lean for Leaders in 2018 (SASH+ is the Trust’s continuous improvement programme).

From April 2021(after the retirement of Ian Mackenzie) Paul has taken on the estates and facilities function, in addition to the rest of his portfolio. Despite following an entirely unrelated career, Paul also has a degree in zoology.

Angela Stevenson – Chief operating officer

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: September 2015

Professional Qualifications: RGN, BSc and MSc

Experience: Angela was appointed chief operating officer in September 2015, having previously served as deputy chief operating Officer for 18 months. She was also the associate director of clinical services –medical division for five years at SASH, a role which included work with the emergency department, where she played a pivotal role in the turnaround of the organisation.

Angela has 26 years’ experience in clinical and general management roles across the NHS and private sector. Angela is highly driven and motivated to deliver excellent care to all patients. She is passionate about empowering staff at all levels to make a difference and improve patient experience.

The following members of the Executive team are non-voting members of the Board

Gillian Francis-Musanu – Chief of staff and corporate governance

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: October 2012

Professional Qualifications: MPA, PG dip, Dip Clinical Risk and Claims Management

Experience: Gillian joined Surrey and Sussex Healthcare in October 2012. She has over 30 years’ experience of working in the NHS in a variety of senior management roles at Acute Trust, Primary Care and at Health Authority level. Her last role was Associate Director of Governance at NHS Richmond for two years. Previous to that she was Director of Corporate Affairs and Company Secretary at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust for four years.

As the Chief of Staff & Corporate Governance, she is also the Trusts Company Secretary and advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive. Gillian has responsibility for corporate governance and corporate affairs, regulation, board assurance, support to non-executive directors, trust headquarters, corporate communications, patient and public engagement, patient information, the Council of Governors, SASH Charity as well as the lead for public and statutory inquiries. Gillian is also the Executive Sponsor for Workforce Race Equality Standards (WRES) and Black Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) issues across Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System. In June 2021 Gillian was appointed to the Department of Health & Social Care’s main advisory committee on clinical excellence awards (ACCEA) and the South East Regional ACCEA. For the past 13 years Gillian has been a Home Office Authorised Marriage Registrar.

Elizabeth Nyawade – Chief of people and culture

Date of Appointment as a Board Member:  August 2021

Professional Qualifications: Fellow CIPD; B.Ed. (Hons); MA HRM and MSc Healthcare Leadership

Experience: Elizabeth was appointed chief of people and culture in August 2021. Prior to this she worked as Director of Workforce at St George’s NHS Foundation Trust. Whilst at St George’s, Elizabeth acted up into the role of Chief People Officer. Before joining St George’s Elizabeth was the Deputy Director of HR and OD at Medway NHS Foundation Trust.

Elizabeth has over 20 years’ experience working as a professional in Human Resources in different sectors – public, private and voluntary. In her role at SASH she has responsibility for people and culture across the organisation and is also the executive lead for health and safety.

As an extremely driven leader Elizabeth is passionate about developing colleagues and creating an inclusive working environment so that patients can get the best possible care and experience.

Elizabeth is a board member of HPMA London Academy and outside of work enjoys watching F1 racing, the Saturday Kitchen cooking show, going for long walks and running outdoors now that her daughter is a young adult.

Ben Emly – Director of information and technology

Date of Appointment as a Board Member: May 2021

Experience: Ben joined the NHS and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare in 2010 following six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers where, as a Chartered Accountant, he worked with organisations across the country who were facing operational and financial challenges.  He brought these experiences to the Trust as Head of Service Improvement and Productivity and later became Associate Director of Insight and Improvement. In his time, he has led the Trust’s information and performance teams and led a number of operational and clinical projects including the Outpatient Kaizen programme, a variety of capital building projects as well as supporting the ongoing operational delivery of national access standards.

Ben was appointed as the Director of Information and Technology in May 2021 and he has responsibility for our IT infrastructure, our electronic patient record system, our information service as well as medical records and clinical coding.