Chair

Professor Dame Joan Higgins DBE

BA (Hons), Diploma in Social Administration, PhD

A social scientist by background; latterly Professor of Health Policy at the University of Manchester; a non-executive director of NHS organisations for over 30 years; formerly chair of Manchester Health Authority, Manchester FHSA and the Christie NHS Trust and Regional Chair of the NHS in the North West; also Chair of the QC appointments panel and a member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission; awarded the DBE in 2007 for services to healthcare.

Chief Executive

Stephen Walker CBE

MA, LLB (Hons), FCII, JP

Formerly UK Claims Manager in the insurance industry; accredited mediator; member of the Chief Medical Officer’s working parties which produced Organisation with a Memory and Making Amends; member of the Clinical Disputes Forum, the Clinical Negligence and Serious Injuries Committee of the Civil Justice Council, and the National Patient Safety Campaign.

Director of Finance

Tom Fothergill

BA (Hons), CPFA

A qualified accountant with previous NHS experience with a London based Mental Health & Community Services Trust and prior to that a wide range of financial experience gained whilst training and working in local government; having joined the Authority as Financial Controller in 1997, has overseen the development of that function and now additionally responsible for IT, Human Resources, our FHSAU function in Harrogate and the day to day management of the claims functions.

Non-Executive Director and Vice-Chair

Nina Wrightson OBE

Dip SH, LLB (Hons), CFIOSH

Latterly Risk Management Director for Northern Foods plc; past President of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health; currently Chairman of the British Safety Council, a non-executive Director of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Chairman of Complywise Ltd and a Public Member of Network Rail.

Non-Executive Director

Keith Ford OBE

CPFA

A qualified accountant with extensive NHS experience as Director of Finance and also Chief Executive; chaired the Healthcare Financial Management Association and served on two Ministerial Advisory Committees; retired September 2006; now Treasurer to King’s College Hospital Charity and an Associate Non-Executive Director of Tower Hamlets PCT until March 2010; chairs the Authority’s audit committee.

Non-Executive Director

Professor Rory Shaw

BSc, MD, MBA, FRCP

Medical Director at North West London Hospitals NHS Trust; previously, Chief Medical Officer and Joint Director of Clinical Standards at Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Medical Director and Clinical Director for Business Development at Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust; major interest in clinical quality and patient safety; the founding Chairman of the National Patient Safety Agency in 2001; clinical and academic area is respiratory medicine in which he has published extensively on tuberculosis, asthma and lung fibrosis.

Non-executive directors are appointed by the Appointments Commission.