Chief Executive and Executive Directors
The Board of Directors manages the Trust's services and develops plans and strategies for the future. The Board includes full-time executives and part-time non-executive directors.
Chief Executive: Deborah Lee
Deborah Lee joined the Trust as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in June 2016 from the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UHBNHSFT) where she was the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO. As CEO, Deborah is ultimately responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the organisation through her executive team and for ensuring the implementation of the Board’s strategic objectives.
Deborah has been nationally recognised by the Health Service Journal as one of the Top 50 Inspirational Women in Healthcare and has made the Top 50 NHS Chief Executives list for the last two years running. She qualified originally as a registered nurse, before returning to university to read economics and subsequently gained an MBA from Bristol Business School.
Deborah started her NHS management career in 1990 and has worked in acute, primary and community sectors, holding board appointments in five different organisations.
Deputy CEO, Director for Safety and Medical Director: Professor Mark Pietroni
Professor Mark Pietroni was appointed on 1 March 2019.
Mark’s career path has been varied, having spent 15 years in Bangladesh and, more recently, as Director of Public Health for South Gloucestershire; alongside this latter role Mark has worked as an Acute Physician and most recently also as Specialty Director for Unscheduled care at our Trust. Mark continues to practice as an acute physician one day a week while dedicating the rest of his week to his executive role
Director for People & OD: Claire Radley
Claire joined the Trust in February 2022 having previously been the Director for People at the Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Foundation Trust and Assistant Director of OD at Cardiff and Vale Health Board. Prior to that Claire worked in Policing in roles spanning research, performance, culture change, and organisational development. She has worked for a local police force and in national roles, including as the advisor to the Chair of the College of Policing. She has a Ph.D. in organisational culture.
Claire has experience in leading large-scale culture change work that has improved both staff and patient experience.
Director of Quality and Chief Nurse: Matt Holdaway
With a background in Critical Care nursing, Matt has extensive experience in nursing management, having previously held senior positions at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where he was Divisional Director of Nursing before joining our Trust in 2021 as Deputy Director of Quality and Deputy Chief Nurse.
Matt was appointed to the Chief Nurse and Director of Quality position initially as an interim appointment and has held the substantive role since 2022. He continues to make a significant impact on our nursing workforce and the wider Trust.
Chief Operating Officer (Interim): David Coyle
David Coyle is a registered nurse and has been a practitioner in a variety of clinical and operational settings throughout the NHS as both a senior nurse, manager and director. He has worked mainly in the NHS but also brings experience from NHS commissioning, community settings, private healthcare delivery and local authority where he worked in senior integrated health roles.
Most recently David was the Integrated Health Community Director in the East of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board where he led all aspects of operational and commissioning delivery in the acute, community, primary care and mental health services and was latterly the chief operating officer for the whole health board. He believes strongly in creating a basis of patient safety and staff wellbeing as well as providing the best delivery possible for service users.
David is joining the Trust to provide short-term interim support for our greatest operational priorities on a short, fixed-term basis. David will provide targeted operational leadership, bridging the gap while a new substantive COO is appointed and commences.
Director of Strategy and Transformation (Interim): Ian Quinnell
Ian has been with the Trust for 10 years and was previously the Deputy Director for Strategy & Transformation before taking on the interim Director role.
Having previously worked at the University of Birmingham and within the Electricity Distribution sector, Ian has over 25 years of Project and Programme Management experience in the delivery of IT, Organisational Change and the reconfiguration of clinical services as well as capital developments.
Within his Deputy role, Ian has led a team of Project and Programme Managers to deliver several of the Trust's strategic programmes of work that have included the Strategic Site Developments, our Fit for the Future Programme, the Culture Engagement Programme and our Financial Savings Programme.
Ian will be responsible for working with our partners, staff and patients to define the Trust’s Strategy and for leading the Transformation Programme to get us there.
Director of Finance: Karen Johnson
Karen Johnson is responsible for ensuring good stewardship of the public finances. She has worked in the public section for 23 years and prides herself on helping to make a difference to individuals and the community. She is fully committed to ensuring the Trust provides good value for money while maintaining good quality services.
Her key focus is to move the Trust to a financially sustainable position and will work closely with divisions and individuals to achieve this.
Karen joined the Trust in January 2020 from Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, where she was Director of Finance from 2015.