Our leaders and structure

David Farrelly is HEE's Director of Performance and was formerly the organisation's Regional Director across Midlands and East.

Throughout his career, David has held the positions of Executive Director of Workforce and Strategy and Deputy Chief Executive at East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS). Prior to this he was Executive Director of Human Resources at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust and also worked in community services and mental health organisations in the east midlands and London areas.

David has an MA in employment strategy and an MSc in human resource leadership, as well as qualifications in management consultancy, coaching, mentoring and mediation.

Jo has recently returned to HEE as the Director of Strategy, following a secondment to the Strategic Programme Office of the NHS 5YFV where she worked closely with ALB CEOs and the wider NHS system to develop and support delivery of the Five Year Forward View (2014 – 2016).  Prior to this, Jo was Director of Strategy and Planning at Health Education England where she led on England’s first national Workforce Plan and HEE’s strategic framework, Framework 15.   Before joining Health Education England, she spent four years as Chief Advisor to Sir David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS and over eight years as a Director in SHAs across the West Midlands.  This followed two years in the Department of Health in the Strategy Unit where she worked on the NHS Plan.  Before working in the NHS, Jo spent five years at a thinktank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, developing policy on diverse topics such as Patient and Public Involvement, genetics and Citizens’ Juries.

Patrick Mitchell is HEE's Director of Innovation and Transformation. He joined HEE in 2013 moving from joint senior roles as Director of Medical and Dental Education at the Department of Health and Director of the Better Training Better Care programme at Medical Education England. Patrick chairs eIntegrity, a private enterprise jointly governed between HEE and the royal colleges, selling learning materials internationally and reinvesting the profits into NHS e-learning materials. Patrick is also a Board member of a large homeless charity covering the east midlands.

Previously Patrick was Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Chief Executive at St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust in south London, and Director for Operations at the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust. Patrick has also worked for PwC in their California practice.

Former Head of Finance for HEE’s North region, Calum took the position of Interim Director of Finance on 1 January 2018.

Professor Radford is Chief Nursing Officer at HEE and Deputy Chief Nursing Officer for England. Mark has worked in perioperative, emergency and intensive care in the UK and Europe. He has previously been Chief Nurse of a University Teaching Hospital and Consultant Nurse in emergency and trauma care. Mark is Professor of Nursing at Birmingham City and Coventry Universities, and has published research on staffing, advanced practice, perioperative and trauma care.

Professor Reid was appointed as the Director of Education and Quality for HEE in 2014 in addition to her role as HEE’s first Medical Director. Wendy has previously worked as postgraduate dean in London and as the clinical advisor to the Department of Health on the European Working Time Directive. Wendy continues to practice as a consultant gynaecologist at the Royal Free. She is keen to promote multi-professional workforce solutions for high quality patient care and to encourage wide participation across all healthcare roles.

Laura Roberts is HEE's Director of Skills Development and Participation. She has worked for HEE since 2013 and was previously the organisation's Regional Director for the North West.

Previously, she held three Chief Executive roles at two Primary Care Trusts and Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust. Throughout her career, Laura has sought to combine a passion for health improvement with strong partnership working and visible leadership. She has wide range of NHS experience having worked at primary, community and secondary care and in high secure mental health services. She worked at the Department of Health and Social Care as Head of Provider Leadership Development, specialising in provider Board and Foundation Trust governor programmes. 

29 years in the NHS, initially in finance and service commissioning. In 2002 his first foray in the world of NHS workforce development, as Director of Finance, Commissioning, and Planning at NE London WDC.  In 2006 appointed as Director of System Strategy and Development at NHS London, where he led the transformation of their workforce planning and education commissioning system.  He joined HEE’s National Team in October 2012 as Head of Planning and became Interim Director of Strategy and Planning in March 2015.

Since 2017 he has held his present role of  HEE’s Workforce Planning and Intelligence Director

Prior to joining NHS East of England as Director of Communications in 2007, Lee was a Director of Fishburn Hedges, a large corporate communications agency. Since 2011 he has been Director of Communications for NHS Midlands and East.

Regional Director - London

Regional Director - East of England

Regional Director - South west 

Regional Director - Midlands

Regional Director - North west

Regional Director - South east (job share)

Regional Director - South east (job share)

Regional Director - North east and Yorks

Professor David Croisdale-Appleby has worked in the public and voluntary sectors for the past 20 years. He is currently Chairman of Skills for Care, Skills for Care and Development, Hft – the learning disability Trust and Dementia UK.  David is Chair designate of the Standing Commission on Carers. He is a long standing GMC Visitor for Medical Education.

Jacynth Ivey has over 25 years of NHS experience, starting her career as a nurse, midwife, and health visitor. She progressed throughout her career to become an executive director of clinical leadership within a Primary Care Trust and acting Director of Nursing within a Strategic Health Authority. Jacynth has been an active member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) gaining membership to several key policy committees and representing the Region the National Council. Jacynth chairs HEE's Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, working with staff from across the organisation to develop and deliver HEE's EDI Strategy.  Additionally, Jacynth is a Non-Executive Director of the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundaiton Trust and a Special Adviser to the CQC.

Andrew Foster was previously Chief Executive of the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to which he spent five years as NHS Director of HR (Workforce Director General) at the Department of Health and Social Care, with principal responsibility for implementing the workforce expansion and HR systems' modernisation set out in the NHS Plan. 

Professor John Latham is Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of Coventry University Group and has held high-profile roles at a European, national and regional level promoting innovation, technology and economic development. He is an Extraordinary Professor in the area of enterprise and entrepreneurship at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, where in 2019 he additionally received an honorary doctorate for his services to UK higher education.

Professor Andrew George is an immunologist and has held senior roles at both Imperial College London, where he was Director of the Graduate School and the School of Professional Development, and Brunel University London where he was, until 2018, Deputy Vice Chancellor responsible for the education and international strategies of the university. Andrew is currently Chair of Imperial College Health Partners, Non-Executive Director of the Health Research Authority and Trustee of the Epilepsy Society. He was Chair of the UK’s National Research Ethics Advisors’ Panel (2009-2017) and on the Clinical Trials, Biologicals and Vaccines Expert Advisory Group for the Commission of Human Medicines/MHRA (2007-2017). 

Dr Liz Mear is currently the Chief Executive of the Innovation Agency, the Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast. She is currently an external director of the Northern Health Science Alliance and the Liverpool Local Enterprise Partnership, as is also a Trustee of the Stroke Association.

Sir Andrew has over 40 years’ experience in NHS management and has held a range of senior NHS appointments. He was appointed General Manager of Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 1989 and was the Chief Executive from 1991 to February 2018. Andrew is also a Non-Executive Director on the Board for NHS Improvement.

Professor Soraya Dhillon is a former Clinical Academic with over 35 years experience in academia and clinical practice, and retired as Dean of School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire in November 2016. She held several Non-Executive posts in the NHS since 1991 and is the former Chairman of Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (1999-2010), former member of the General Pharmaceutical Council and former Board Director for Eastern Academic Health Science Network.

Dr Harpreet Sood is currently a practicing primary care doctor in London at University College Hospital and is also Co-Founder and strategic advisor to the NHS Digital Academy. Dr Sood was previously the Associate Chief Clinical Information Officer at NHS England and prior to this Senior Fellow to the CEO of NHS England. Dr Sood has a wealth of experience in national and international health policy, strategy and implementation and a demonstrated history of working in the health care industry, in digital health and emerging technologies.