Charity Board Of Trustees

Our board of trustees oversee our charity, giving final sign-off on all new projects, charitable bids and expenses. They are all unpaid volunteers and are appointed for a fixed term, up to a maximum of 10 years. 

Amerdeep (Rob) Nagra – Chairman

Rob was appointed a trustee in January 2015 and became Chair in March 2023. Rob is a risk management professional in the Financial Services sector where he has worked for over 20 years, covering global jurisdictions. Born in the Midlands, Rob has deep roots in the area.  He lives in Birmingham with his family.

Keith Jecks – Deputy Chair

Keith is an actuary who has specialised in providing investment advice to institutional investors for over 30 years. Having held senior positions in a number of leading City investment firms, he retired from full time work in 2012 and is currently Chairman of the British Red Cross Pension Fund and the British Red Cross Scottish Pension Scheme. Keith is a non-executive director of UBS Asset Management UK Ltd and was appointed a trustee in January 2015. In March 2023 he was appointed Deputy Chair.

Matthew Boazman

Matthew became CEO of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in April 2023. He joined the NHS in 2002 via the Graduate Management Training Scheme and worked in a variety of roles across Kent and the South East, before moving to the Aids Committee of Toronto in Canada. In 2004 he joined Whittington Health NHS Trust as General Manager, before going on to become Director of Operations in 2011 and Director of Operations for Whittington Health when it merged with the local community NHS Trust. Matthew joined Birmingham Children’s Hospital in 2013 as Director of Strategy and Planning before becoming Chief Officer for Strategy and Innovation in 2015. He is also a Director with BCH Trading.

Emma Bryan

Emma is an experienced certified chartered accountant. Her passion for the not-for-profit sector has seen her hold a number of senior finance roles at Birmingham charities. She is currently Director of Finance and Resources at Queen Alexandra College, a national residential college and charity that supports a diverse range of student abilities and needs based in Birmingham.

Martin English

Martin is an honorary consultant paediatric oncologist at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He retired from clinical practice in 2023 after 25 years as a consultant and 37 years in the NHS. He subspecialised in the care and management of children with brain and spinal tumours and the late effects of treatment for childhood cancer. He was associate Chief Medical Officer for Quality 2010 to 2013, was a member of the Drug and Therapeutics Committee between 2002 and 2016 (Chair 2006 to 2012), chemotherapy lead 2009 to 2022 and clinical lead for oncology 2004 to 2010 and 2018 to 2022.

Rachel Hemmings

Rachel has worked in healthcare for over 20 years, across a wide variety of roles in marketing and commercial operations. An inspiring leader and senior executive manager, Rachel has proven success in leading multi-channel, strategic marketing programmes to deliver commercial excellence.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh KBE

Sir Bruce is chair of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to this he was Medical Director of the NHS in the Department of Health (2007 to 2013) and NHS England (2013 to 2018). For a decade he was the professional lead for doctors in the NHS and responsible for clinical policy and strategy across the service. He has had a distinguished international career as a cardiac surgeon having been a consultant in Birmingham for 10 years before becoming Director of Surgery at the Heart Hospital and Professor of Cardiac Surgery at University College London. He has served on the boards of the Commission for Health Improvement, Healthcare Commission, NICE and the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. He was knighted for services to medicine in 2003.

Andrew Kirton

Andrew is an investment professional and a financial services business leader, with over 35 years of practical experience of helping institutional investors to formulate, execute and oversee investment arrangements. Andrew was the Chief Investment Officer of Mercer Investments for six years until 2019. He is currently the Chair of Aviva Investors Global Services Ltd, is a member of the Wesleyan Assurance Society Investment Committee and provides investment advice to the JP Morgan UK Pension Plan. Andrew was appointed trustee in April 2020 and is chair of the Investment Advisory Committee.

Gurmit Kler

Professionally, I’m the founder of Visual Fuse Ltd, a consultancy that transforms academic research into practical industry solutions through strategic partnerships. We are committed to creating sustainable real-world impacts. My prior role as Director of Business Engagement and Research Impact at The University of Birmingham involved pioneering collaborations with major firms like Procter & Gamble, GSK, and HSBC, enhancing the intersection of academia and industry. Now, as an Associate of PraxisAuril, I uphold global standards for knowledge exchange, ensuring that practitioners can effectively bridge research with commercial needs. I also serve as a Trustee for the Birmingham Women & Children's Hospital Charity Trust, where I help drive initiatives that improve community health outcomes.

Christina Michalos

Christina is a leading media and intellectual property law barrister. She is the author of The Law of Photography and Digital Images (Sweet & Maxwell). In 2011, she was regularly seen on television during the Leveson Inquiry in which she acted as Counsel for one of the core participants. Christina is appointed to the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel authorised to act on behalf of government departments. Since 2010, Christina has been the Chair of Radio Lollipop London. She was appointed a trustee in 2013.

Jeremy Roper

Jeremy studied at the University of Birmingham in the early 1970s and has lived in the West Midlands ever since. Prior to retirement, he was a partner in an international law firm which has one of the largest healthcare practices in the UK. He spent over 20 years advising the NHS locally and nationally on a wide range of commercial and governance issues ranging from capital projects and acquisitions of entire hospitals to procurement of IT systems and medical equipment. Jeremy was appointed a trustee in 2013.

Jonathan Tritter

Jonathan is a Visiting Professor at Aston University and a Professor of Sociology at Nord University in Norway and a Docent at the Sociology Department at Helsinki University in Finland. Before joining Nord in January 2021, he was a Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the School of Languages and Social Sciences at Aston University. Jonathan’s main research interests relate to public participation and lay experience in policy making and service development particularly in relation to health and environmental policy. Jonathan established and led the National NHS Centre for Involvement from 2006 to 2009. He supported the development of Public Health England’s public involvement strategy and chaired the Public Health England Equality Forum.

Sunita Thakur (also known as Suzy Verma)

Suzy is Director and Sustainability Partnerships for HSBC. Prior to this role, she was Head of Business Development for the Midlands. Suzy has over 20 years corporate banking experience across a range of sectors including Education, Housing, Charities, Healthcare and Professional Services. She is a regional ambassador for ED&I and has been instrumental in launching a BAME mentoring scheme within the region as well as contributing fresh ideas to the Birmingham Economic Review around the diversity of the workplace.