Our trustees

Heather joined us in September 2024. Since her role as Chief Procurement Officer with Centrica, Heather has held a range of chair and non-executive director roles across private, public and voluntary organisations.

Heather is Independent Non-Executive Director for BlueLight Commercial, collaborating with police and fire forces across England and Wales. She is also Non-Executive Director of Supply Chain Co-ordination Ltd, supporting NHS Trusts; and Vice President of The Leaders Club, which networks with senior leaders. Heather is also chair of ShareSoc, a not-for-profit organisation, created by investors for investors.

Heather has previously been Chair of Walsingham Support, which supports people with learning disabilities, and Air Ambulances UK.

Heather is passionate about supporting mental health organisations, bringing her experience from the NHS and non-profit organisations.

Chris is a digital health leader, bringing over a decade of experience working with national and local NHS organisations to deliver large-scale technology transformation.

Chris is Director of Digital Health & Technology Transformation at KPMG, and he is passionate about the opportunities to transform experiences and deliver inclusive services enabled by technology. He brings his technology experience, along with his commercial and growth strategy acumen, to the board.

Chris is also a Director of the Everyturn Services Board.

A proud LGBTQIA+ woman, wife, and mother to two children, Helen has worked in the corporate world for 25 years, working in the fields of customer services, user assistance design, and product software development.

Over the last four years, Helen’s career has shifted to blend her passion for leadership with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), working with Sage as Global Director for DEI to deliver a robust DEI strategy. Through this, she has built an intentionally inclusive and equitable colleague experience for candidates, partners, and customers.

Helen and her family have personal experience of receiving support from specialist mental health services, and she has a deep respect for the work that we do. She is looking forward to sharing her skills and experience to support our culture over coming years.

Neil is an experienced system and clinical leader with expertise in healthcare transformation, Advanced Therapies, population health, and innovation adoption.

His experience includes roles as Director of Pharmacy at Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Chief Operating Officer of North East and North Cumbria Vaccination Programme, Director of Pharmacy at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Professor of Practice at Newcastle University.

Sam is a passionate finance leader with a track record of developing and transforming cross-functional finance teams and leading them from good to great.

Sam has over 25 years’ experience across healthcare, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and charity roles. She is currently the Finance Director at St John Ambulance and brings a breadth of experience of accounting, commercial, operational, strategic business partnering and transformation.

Sam is a strong believer that the NHS needs the support from the third and private sector to help provide much-needed capacity. With the growing mental health needs across the country, she’s looking forward to sharing her skills and experience to help Everyturn fulfil our mission.

Anila has experience working with children and young people from nurseries to adult education, most recently in Further and Higher Education as a Professional Services lead, Senior Leader for Welfare, Safeguarding and Personal Development.

Anila now works in people wellbeing and development, leading training on anti-racism, mental health, and wellbeing and safeguarding. Anila volunteered to join the People and Wellbeing committee due to a strong belief in the role of people development as a gateway to self-reflection and ongoing development in both self and society.

Brigid has been a GP in Throckley in the Outer West of Newcastle for 30 years, with a long-standing keen interest in improving mental health services.

Among her roles, Brigid was the Mental Health Lead for Newcastle Clinical Commissioning Group from 2011-2014 and Clinical Director of the Outer West Newcastle Primary Care Network from 2019-2023.

Richard joined our board in 2023, bringing over 20 years’ experience in HR, corporate governance, policy, and risk management spanning the financial services, healthcare, contact centre and services sectors. Richard has been involved in leading strategic people planning, transformation, and other governance-related activities in complex operating environments.

Richard is also a Director of the Everyturn Services Board.

Prianka joined us in April 2025. She is an experienced and commercially focused HR leader with a diverse industry background.

Prianka’s passion about people development, organisation culture, and enhancing overall experiences will give valuable insight to our board of trustees and our people, wellbeing and remuneration committee.

Janis was previously the Chair of the Board at Streetwise, joining us in early 2025.

On top of her Trustee role, Janis was also a consultant psychologist working within the NHS and third sector. She was a lead consultant for the children and young people’s inpatient services in the NHS, and has more than 35 years of experience working in mental health services in the NHS. Janis also has over 30 years of experience providing training to the NHS, Teesside University, and Newcastle University.

Janis has actively developed and delivered many projects that focus on driving improvement and access to mental health services, especially focusing on an early intervention model.

Annie is a Registered Nurse who has held significant senior leadership and board-level positions across commissioning and provider organisations in the NHS, private and third sector, most recently with the North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care Board and Chair of Tyne Housing Group.

After a successful career in the NHS, Annie now works in Public Health with a portfolio focused on substance misuse and harm reduction. Annie is passionate about health and racial equity and has contributed to diversity and inclusion priorities at both regional and national levels.

Annie is also committed to using her professional and lived experience to make a positive difference for people from all backgrounds and heritages. She is a mentor with The King’s Trust and a Fellow of the Wolfson Institute of Health and Wellbeing at Durham University.

James is a board chair and trustee with broad cross-sector experience spanning financial services, telecommunications, technology and regulated industries, with a focus on governance, innovation and strategic risk in complex environments.

He is the Founder and CEO of Hudson Grey, advising boards on cyber resilience, AI safety and geopolitical and strategic risk. He was a board member of Webhelp, a global customer experience and financial services business, which he previously served as Chief Risk and Technology Officer.

James spent seven years at Lloyds Banking Group, where he helped shape the bank’s approach to AI and digital innovation and led major cyber and operational resilience programmes. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Three UK and Orange, working across the UK and internationally.

Based in the North East, James is committed to the region and to social impact. He brings a values-led, people-centred approach to governance, informed by both professional experience and lived experience of mental health.

Dr Annie Topping – Independent Director and Chair

Chris Gibbons – Director

Richard Bold – Director

Emily Evans – Director