There are seven Executive Directors who form the Trust's senior management group. All Executive Directors are also members of the Trust Board and are responsible for the operational performance of the Trust.
Four of the Executive Directors are able to vote at Trust Board meetings. Two of them are non-voting Board members - this means they attend Trust Board meetings, but do not have a vote.
Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive, Board member
Matthew joined the Trust in 2011 from the strategic health authority NHS London, where he was Deputy Director of Provider Development. Prior to this he was Chief Operating Officer at Barts and The London NHS Trust, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of one of London's largest NHS trusts with 6,300 staff and a budget of £500 million.
Matthew, who trained as a nurse at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and was a Macmillan nurse, has extensive experience in the NHS having also worked for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, St Mary's NHS Trust and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
Chrisha Alagaratnam, Director of Finance and Performance, Board member
Chrisha Alagaratnam, who is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, joined the Trust after 16 years of working in the NHS. Having qualified as an accountant in 1995, Chrisha quickly rose to become senior financial accountant at Bethlem and Maudsley NHS Trust and spent six months as the acting Assistant Director of Finance.
Since then, Chrisha has worked for both South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, and Croydon Health Services NHS Trust where she was Acting Director of Finance in 2010. She is currently the director in charge of helping the organisation progress towards achieving foundation trust status.
Chrisha lives in Surrey.
Karen Breen, Chief Operating Officer, Board member
Karen Breen joined the Trust in June 2009.
Karen is a midwife, neonatal intensive care nurse and general nurse by background. She has predominantly worked in the NHS since 1985 and has held a variety of senior clinical and managerial positions.
Most recently, Karen worked for the strategic health authority for London (NHS London).
Dr Martin Stockwell, Joint Director of Medical Standards and Quality Assurance, Board member
Dr Martin Stockwell has worked for the Trust for 19 years and is a consultant anaesthetist.
Dr Ruth Charlton, Joint Director of Medical Standards and Quality Assurance, Board member
Dr Ruth Charlton is a paediatric consultant with specific interests in renal and respiratory medicine. Having trained in London at hospitals including the Royal Brompton, Great Ormond Street and Guy's, she has been a consultant with the Trust for over 13 years.
In addition to her clinical role she has previously been Service Director for Child Health, Divisional Director for Family Care and for the last three years Deputy Medical Director.
Ruth was a member of the Council of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for five years and has represented acute paediatrics on Healthcare for London strategy groups.
Ruth is married and has two daughters.
Kevin Croft, Director of People and Organisational Development, Board member (non-voting)
Kevin has worked for the NHS for 18 years and joins us from NHS North West London, the organisation responsible for running NHS services in north west London.
Prior to this, Kevin spent four and a half years at North Middlesex University Hospital, where he was Director of Organisational Development and Human Resources (HR).
Kevin is also the President of the Healthcare People Management Association, a national body that represents HR professionals in the NHS. In addition, he has worked with the Department of Health on a number of initiatives to improve HR practice across the NHS.
Pippa Hart, Director of Nursing Standards and Quality Assurance, Board member
Pippa Hart has been Director of Nursing since January 2008.
Pippa trained at St Thomas' Hospital, and commenced a career in intensive care nursing on qualifying. She subsequently worked as a junior sister in intensive care at St Mary's Hospital before being appointed as a senior sister in intensive care at St Helier Hospital in 1988.
She has worked in a variety of senior critical care and general roles across the Trust since they merged in 1999. She completed a Masters in Health Ethics in 2008.
Antony Tiernan, Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, Board member (non-voting)
Antony started at Epsom and St Helier in January 2008. Before that he was Deputy Director of Communications at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust for nearly five years.
Prior to working in the NHS, he worked in press, public relations and public affairs at a number of health-related public sector organisations, including Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Depression Alliance. He also managed communications for the charitable arm of British Waterways, The Waterways Trust.
Whilst at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, he was an advisor to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer, one of the most influential and active All-Party Groups at that time.
