Board of Directors’ Profiles
Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, and the James Paget University Hospital have come together in a group model called the Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group, however, each of the hospitals will continue to operate under its own name.
Interim Group Chair
Mark Friend: Appointed May 2025
Mark Friend took up the role of Interim Group Chair for the newly formed Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group (NWUHG) on 7 April. He has been Chair of the James Paget University Hospital for the past 18 months.
Mark spent many years as a senior executive in media, digital and the third sector and brings extensive experience in transformation, strategy and digital leadership. He has been Chair of the JPUH since October 2023 and is also a Non-Executive Director at Provide CiC and Senior Independent Director at IC24. He was previously Senior Independent Director at North East London Foundation Trust. He chairs the Artis Foundation and has been a Trustee of the National Centre for Circus Arts since 2022.
Group Chief Executive
Professor Lesley Dwyer: Appointed May 2025
Professor Lesley Dwyer was the Chief Executive of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust from March 2024 until she was appointed to the Group CEO role. With 30 years healthcare management experience, Prof Dwyer has been the CEO of Central Adelaide Local Health Network over the last five years, the biggest health authority in South Australia with more than 18,000 staff.
She was Chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust in Kent between 2015 and 2018, where she helped lift the organisation out of quality Special Measures and into a well led “Good” rating from the Care Quality Commission.
Group Executive Directors
Jo Segasby – Group Delivery Officer: Appointed May 2025
Jo Segasby has been appointed as the Group Delivery Officer and Deputy Group Chief Executive of the newly formed Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group. The Group Delivery Officer will perform a key role in developing the structures for the new Group, managing performance and driving clinical transformation, as well as overseeing the two new hospital programmes at both the James Paget University Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn. Jo will take up her position from 12 May 2025.
Marcus Thorman – Chief Finance Officer: Appointed May 2025
Marcus Thorman was appointed as Group Chief Financial Officer in March 2025. Having started in the NHS on the graduate scheme, Marcus has subsequently been a CFO in several trusts including a District General Hospital, a Specialist Trust, a Teaching Hospital and most recently within the group model at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Tracey Bleakley – Interim Executive Managing Director of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital: Appointed May 2025
Tracey Bleakley is appointed Interim Executive Managing Director of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on a six-month secondment. Tracey brings with her a unique set of skills, having previously been CEO of NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB) since January 2022. Tracey is also the Co-Chair of the National Palliative Care Programme Board and the East of England SRO for Learning Disabilities and Autism.
Prior to joining the NHS, she was CEO of Hospice UK and Dying Matters for six years, a collaboration of all 220 UK hospices supporting people at end-of-life care, including their families, friends and communities. Tracey’s career has spanned engineering, management consultancy, public health, policing and education. She was CEO of the Personal Finance Education Group that successfully led the campaign to include financial education within the National Curriculum. Tracey is also Chair of Primadonna, a Suffolk-based literary organisation celebrating brilliant writing, music and ideas from under-represented artists and voices.
Shane Gordon – Interim Executive Managing Director of James Paget University Hospitals Trust: Appointed May 2025
Dr Shane Gordon is appointed Interim Executive Managing Director of the James Paget University Hospitals Trust on a six-month secondment. He is currently Director of Strategy, Research & Innovation at East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) and has 18 years of senior NHS management experience in transformational change, strategic and local commissioning and acute hospital leadership. He’s also Vice Chairman of the East of England Clinical Senate and a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Surgeons.
Chris Bown – Interim Executive Managing Director for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn: Appointed June 2025
Chris Bown is the Interim Executive Managing Director for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn. He has held several Chief Executive roles across high-profile and complex healthcare organisations, including leading organisations through financial recovery, cultural change, and major system transformation. His recent positions include serving as Interim Chief Officer for Health and Community Services in Jersey, where he led work to address challenges in clinical governance and organisational culture. Chris has also held interim leadership roles at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, including during critical periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Hospital management team
Dr Bernard Brett – Medical Director: Appointed October 2024
Dr Bernard Brett was appointed as Medical Director in October 2024. Bernard is a gastroenterologist and an experienced Medical Manager, currently holding the position of Chair of the East of England Clinical Senate and previously having held a variety of posts including Medical Director at the James Paget University Hospital, Responsible Officer, Appraisal Lead and Divisional Director.
Rachael Cocker – Chief Nurse: Appointed September 2024
Rachael Cocker has worked at NNUH for over 30 years, commencing with her registered general nurse training in 1991 with Broadland school of nursing and she later undertook training with the University of East Anglia as a registered midwife.
Throughout her career she has held various nursing leadership roles, gaining experience across all areas of healthcare delivery within the organisation. She is committed to upholding high standards of patient care, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and ensuring smooth operation of the nursing, midwifery and AHP services during this transitional period.
Chris Cobb – Chief Operating Officer: Appointed 2019.
Chris Cobb was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in 2019 after three years as Divisional Director of Operations for Medicine. Chris joined us in 2005 as an Admin Manager and has developed his career here in a number of management roles after serving for 20 years in the Royal Air Force.
Non-Executive Directors
Tom Spink: Appointed 2023.
Tom Spink has worked at Aviva in several key senior roles since 2007 and began his current role as Group Procurement Director in 2013. Prior to joining NNUH, Tom was a non-executive director at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust where he was chair of the finance and performance committee, vice-chair of the Trust and a member of the Norfolk and Waveney Health and Care Partnership Oversight Group.
Tom graduated from the University of Dundee with a first class honours degree in Civil Engineering in 1983, and gained his MBA from Warwick University in 1988. He worked in a number of engineering and aerospace companies before joining Norwich Union (now Aviva) in 2002. During his time with Aviva he held various roles including CEO of the General Insurance business in Turkey. For the last seven years Tom has been the Group Procurement Director.
Julian Foster – Non-Executive Director: Appointed 2019.
Julian is a chartered accountant and corporate treasurer. He was Executive Finance Director of Broadland Housing Association until 2019 and has held four senior finance director roles in growing housing association groups in the Eastern region over the last 20 years.
After graduating from Trinity College, Oxford, Julian worked in investment banking until moving to the social housing sector. Julian is Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee.
Sandra Dinneen – Non-Executive Director: Appointed in 2020.
Sandra Dinneen is an experienced Chief Executive with roles spanning the public, private and third sector. She has a background in partnership working in many areas including economic growth, public health, and community development and has led and advised on a number of projects. Sandra has a keen interest in organisational development, cultural change and commercialisation and continues to deliver leadership development programmes and executive coaching. Other roles include being a Commissioner for Historic England, a founder Trustee and Member of the Sapientia Multi Academy Education Trust and leading the Priscilla Bacon Charity to deliver a new Hospice for Norfolk.
Sandra Chairs the NNUH People and Culture Committee and is a member of the Finance, Investment and Performance Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee.
Joanna Hannam – Non-Executive Director: Appointed in 2020.
Joanna Hannam has lived in Norfolk with her family for 30 years, was Head of Customer Services and Communications at Norfolk County Council, Executive Director of the Health Improvement Programme at Norfolk Health Authority and has been a lay member at Norwich Clinical Commissioning Group for one year.
Dr Ujjal Sarkar – Non Executive Director: Appointed in 2022
Dr Ujjal Sarkar is a lead GP partner at one of the largest GP partnerships in the country.
Ujjal has been a GP for more than 14 years with extensive board experience in Clinical Commissioning Groups, GP Federations, hospitals and as a Medical Director in NHS 111. He also works as a Team leader for the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice Directorate. He has a track record of service improvement, innovation and improving patient experience.
Ujjal is a member of the People and Culture Committee and the Nominations and Remuneration Committee, and is the Non-Executive Staff Wellbeing Guardian.
Nikki Gray – Non Executive Director Appointed: January 2024
Having graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BSc in Medical Microbiology, Nikki qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young, before pursuing a career across the financial services and energy sectors. Her corporate finance role at TXU Energy (formerly Eastern Electricity) saw her leading asset acquisitions across Europe and more latterly, working in Executive roles at Aviva and Zurich Insurance, Nikki has, delivering various significant transformation programmes.
Nikki is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Pikl Insurance Services Ltd, a local Insurtech. She has been a Governor at City College Norwich since 2018, where she currently sits on the Business Committee with previous roles on both the Curriculum & Standards Committee and the Audit Committee.
Professor Philip Baker – Non-Executive Director Appointed: February 2025
Prof Baker is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Prof Baker joined UEA in November 2024 from the University of Leicester where he was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise.
Dr Claire Fernandez – Non-Executive Director appointed: March 2025
Dr Fernandez, who is also a non-executive director on the board of The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, joins the Trust with significant experience in project delivery and strategy working across universities, research organisations, industry and the NHS.
She has a background in academic science and carried out research at Cambridge and Oxford research institutes for 10 years in the fields of immunology, haematology and oncology. She was awarded a DPhil from the University of Oxford University for stem cell research in 2007. Following her academic research career, Claire moved into clinical trial delivery and progressed into research management and strategy roles. Her career has involved creating and coordinating programmes of work to maximise research knowledge, widen access to clinical treatments, and improve patient outcomes.
Claire was born in Norwich and grew up in a small village in North Norfolk. She returned to Norfolk in 2017 and now lives in Norwich with her three children.
We have a number of directors who are not members of the Trust Board, but who may attend Board meetings.
- Alex Berry, Director of Transformation
- Dr Ed Prosser-Snelling, Chief Digital Information Officer/Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
The Chairman and Chief Executive share the Trust’s leadership:
The Chairman’s role is to lead the Board of Directors; making sure it effectively governs the Trust.
The Chief Executive’s role is to lead the executive in delivering the strategy and managing operational delivery.
The Chief Executive is also the Officer accountable to Parliament.
The role of the non executive directors is to:
Bring a range of varied perspectives and experiences to strategy development and decision-making.
Ensure effective management arrangements and an effective management team is in place.
Operational responsibility is delegated to the executive and non executives have the role of holding the executive to account for performance.
The role of executive directors is to:
Share collective responsibility with the non executive directors as part of a unified board.
Shape and deliver the strategy and operational performance in line with the Trust’s strategic aims.
Declaration of Interests for Exec and Non-Exec Directors (Register of Interests)
All Board of Directors members are required to declare any business interests or positions of authority in any charity or voluntary body in the field of health or social care and any connection with a voluntary or other body contracting for NHS services.
Register of Interests Declared by the Chairman, non-executive directors and executive directors of this Trust.