Executive Directors at ESNEFT
Voting Members of the Trust Board
Nick Hulme, Chief Executive
Trust Accounting Officer. Responsible for corporate strategy, external relations, transformation plan, regulation and compliance, leadership.
Nick has worked in the NHS and social care for more than 35 years. He was appointed Chief Executive of Ipswich Hospital in January 2013, and became Chief Executive of Colchester Hospital in May 2016 prior to the merger to form ESNEFT in 2018.
Nick’s first management role was in sexual health services before being appointed to senior leadership roles in operational and general management across large and complex trusts.
Tim Leary, Interim Chief Medical Officer
Tim has extensive experience in medical leadership and has joined us on secondment from a senior leadership role at the Norfolk and Norwich University NHS Foundation Trust. Tim is a consultant anaesthetist.
Catherine Morgan, Chief Nurse
Catherine is a senior nurse leader with more than 30 years’ experience. She has an established and strong clinical leadership reputation from a significant acute trust career, as well as a regional portfolio at NHS East of England. Catherine’s successful record of accomplishment throughout the eastern region and London, include time in NHS trusts in Colchester, King’s Lynn, Chelmsford and Ipswich, predominantly in nursing leadership roles supporting trusts with clinical improvement. She also specialised for nine years as a consultant nurse in renal medicine. The Queen’s New Year’s Honours list for 2021 recognised Catherine’s services to nursing when she was appointed as an OBE.
Adrian Marr, Director of Finance
Adrian has worked in the NHS for over 30 years and was appointed to the ESNEFT Board in 2019. He has undertaken finance director roles in provider and commissioning organisations, and was previously director of finance for NHS England in the east of England
Shane Gordon, Director of Strategy, Research and Innovation
Dr Gordon is a clinician with over a decade of senior NHS management experience in transformational change, strategic and local commissioning and acute hospital leadership.
He is passionate about improving services through innovation, evidence based practice and the use of information to drive positive change. Dr Gordon is also vice chairman of the East of England Clinical Senate.
Shane was previously clinical chief officer of North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group. He was associate medical director of the East of England Strategic Health Authority and is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Surgeons.
Kate Read, Director of People and Organisational Development
Kate previously worked at Health Education England, East of England, as Deputy Postgraduate Dean but also spent time at West Suffolk Hospital prior to being appointed to the role of Director of People and Organisational Development at ESNEFT.
Mike Meers, Director of Digital and Logistics
Mike has worked within local NHS services for more than 28 years managing information technology services and their transformation.
During this time he has led the delivery of major infrastructure, corporate and clinical IT systems from procurement through to implementation.
Mike has responsibility for development of the Trust’s ICT strategy and supporting ICT programme delivery and support functions including the digitisation of records management.
Prior to taking up the Director of Information Communications and Technology post for the Trust (in 2018) he was Chief Information Officer at The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and led the integration of ICT services for acute and community services.
Mike has responsibility on the Trust Board as the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO). The role was created to provide board-level accountability and greater assurance that information risks are addressed.
Non-Voting Members of the Trust Board
We have a number of directors who are not voting members of the Trust Board, but who may attend Board meetings.
George Chalkias, Director of Governance
George joined the Trust as Director of Governance in May 2023. George was previously the Trust Secretary at the West London NHS Trust where he led the Trust’s Corporate Governance function for four years.
Prior to this, he worked as Corporate Governance Manager at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and has also worked in public policy for elected representatives in Westminster.
Alison Stace, Director of Operations
Alison was the Director of Operations at Colchester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from January 2017. Prior to that, she was at The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust for 21 years where her last role was Deputy Chief Operating Officer.
Alison began her career as a newly qualified nurse over 30 years ago and has extensive expertise and experience in both Cancer Care and Medicine and Emergency Care. She has worked in both clinical and operational senior leadership roles and is currently the SRO for System Resilience as part of the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance.
Karen Lough, Director of Elective Care
Karen is a highly experienced director of operations and has worked in the NHS for 20 years. Karen began her career in the NHS at Ipswich Hospital. She has worked in a large teaching hospital and also in commissioning across the East of England. Karen’s focus is on elective and diagnostic services across the Trust.
Nick Sammons, Director of Estates and Facilities
Nick is a chartered civil engineer and chartered procurement professional, and most recently has been working for the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in central government.
Executive Directors who do not sit on the Trust Board
Angela Tillett, Chief Medical Officer
Please note Angela has temporarily stepped out of the Chief Medical Officer role and is currently medical director and deputy chief medical officer at Colchester Hospital.
Angela trained at University College London and started as a paediatric consultant in Colchester in 2001, and was appointed Colchester Hospital’s Medical Director in 2015. Her roles included lead clinician for Paediatric Services, Divisional director for Women’s and Children’s Services and subsequently divisional director for Surgery before she was appointed to the Chief Medical Officer role.
Paul Little, Director for Integrated Health and Care
Paul was area director of adult and community services in Ipswich and east Suffolk for Suffolk County Council before being appointed to this innovative, new role for ESNEFT and Suffolk County Council.
Working to develop our Alliance approach in Suffolk, he will be seconded for 12 months and will report to Neill Moloney, Deputy Chief Executive for ESNEFT and to Sue Cook, Executive Director People Services, at Suffolk County Council.