Our Board

Dame Jo joined the board in November 2016 as a Non-Executive Director and was appointed as Chair, succeeding Sir David Henshaw, in February 2019 and was reappointed by the Governors for a second three-year term to February 2025.

She has enjoyed a successful 30-year career in social services in the North West, including ten years at a director level, before becoming Chief Executive of the Royal Mencap Society for five years. Dame Jo joined the Care Quality Commission as a Non-Executive Director in 2008 and held the position of Chair between 2010 and 2013. In addition, Dame Jo has had considerable experience as a trustee in the voluntary sector, including with the NSPCC.

Over the last decade, she has been involved in shaping public policy on a number of issues including in her role as chair of the National Advisory Council on Children’s Psychological Wellbeing and Mental Health and as part of the team that developed the National Service Framework for Children. She was also co-chair of the national working group that led to standards in hospital care for children following the enquiry at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Dame Jo has received a number of honours in recognition of her achievements, including a CBE for services to Social Services in Cheshire and as President of the Association of Directors of Social Services and a DBE for her work with people with a learning disability.

Louise joined Alder Hey as Chief Executive in March 2008 and successfully led the Trust through a major transformation into Europe’s only Children’s Health Park, designed by and for children and young people and opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 2016. The Park aims to provide a world-leading holistic health and well-being environment for all children and young people and comprises a state-of-the-art specialist children’s hospital and mental health facilities, a dedicated Children’s Research Institute and Academy, incorporating four University partners, an Innovation Centre working with industry partners to create leading-edge technologies, an NIHR Clinical Research Facility and a family support and bereavement centre.

Previously CEO of Liverpool Women’s Hospital, Louise first joined the NHS as Director of Business Development at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital in 1993 from KPMG, where she spent four years as a financial and management consultant to the public sector.

In addition to her role at Alder Hey, Louise has led a number of National and Regional programmes, including Co-Chair of the National Children’s Hospital Alliance (since 2020), Senior Responsible Officer for the Cheshire and Mersey Children’s Transformation Programme “Beyond” and the establishment of the initial Sustainability and Transformation Programme for Cheshire and Merseyside in 2016/17. She was appointed Chair of the National Children’s Transformation Programme by NHSE in March 2023.

A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Louise has a strong interest in the Arts and was appointed Chair of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Board in November 2022 and plays the violin for the Liverpool Mozart Orchestra. Louise was awarded a CBE for services to healthcare in 2017.

Adam was appointed Chief Operating Officer in April 2018. Since joining the NHS in 2005 through the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme, Adam has held senior operational manager positions with responsibility for surgical, medical, emergency and community services.

Adam holds the following healthcare leadership qualifications: an MSc degree in Healthcare Leadership, and an Executive Healthcare Leadership Award with distinction from the Nye Bevan NHS Leadership Academy Programme. He has also completed a Healthcare Information Fellowship at GlaxoSmithKline.

Regionally, Adam was Chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside paediatric gold command that oversaw paediatric bed capacity and mutual aid during the Covid-19 pandemic and RSV outbreak. Nationally, Adam co-led the deployment of new healthcare innovation solutions across the Children’s Hospital Alliance.

Adam is the Executive lead for performance; this includes leading the recovery of paediatric services in order to address the waiting list backlog that has built up during Covid-19. He is the senior responsible officer for the deployment of a new Electronic Patient Record (Alder C@re) and the programme to open a new world-leading Neonatal Intensive Care Unit facility in 2024.

Alfie joined the Alder Hey Board in December 2021 and has worked as a Consultant Children’s Orthopaedic Surgeon for 22 years having completed specialist training in the UK, Switzerland and Australia. 

He was awarded the WellChild Doctor award in 2018 for the service he provides to children. He was the Clinical Director for Orthopaedic, Spine and Gait at Alder Hey for three years and then was the Divisional Director for Surgery where his focus was on enhancing patient safety. 

He now looks forward to the challenge as Chief Medical Officer where he will focus on facilitating the greatest access to care provided in the safest way for our patients and the staff.

Erica joined the Alder Hey Board in September 2010 as Director of Corporate Affairs. She began her NHS career in 1991 through its national Graduate Management Training Scheme. Erica spent over ten years working in primary care and commissioning roles at regional level and within Liverpool and North Cheshire, before moving to the acute sector in 2003.

Prior to coming to Alder Hey, Erica was Director of Corporate Affairs at the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust where she directed the successful application to become the first foundation trust in Merseyside. Part of her job includes the role of Trust Secretary, advising and supporting the Chair, Board of Directors and Council of Governors on all aspects of assurance, regulation, compliance and corporate governance. Erica also has Executive responsibility for legal matters.  Erica holds an MBA as well as a BA (Hons) degree from the University of Liverpool.

Melissa is our Chief People Officer and joined Alder Hey in 2009. Following her graduation from the University of Liverpool, Melissa started her HR & OD career in the airline industry before joining the NHS, working in HR and OD roles in London and the Northwest before joining Alder Hey.

A Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Melissa leads the people agenda at Alder Hey and is passionate about making Alder Hey a great place to work for everyone, with significant focus on leadership and talent development, equality, diversity and inclusion, staff engagement and health and wellbeing. Melissa has championed the development of the award winning Alder Hey Staff Advice and Liaison Service (SALS), winner of both the national HSJ Staff Engagement Award in 2020, and the HPMA award for Excellence in Staff Engagement in 2021.

David joined Alder Hey as Development Director in December 2012 and has over 30 years of experience working in the NHS. Prior to his role at Alder Hey, David held Development Director posts in Bristol and London overseeing new hospital programmes. David has a history degree from Manchester University and is a qualified accountant.

Dani joined Alder Hey in October 2017 and is executive lead for the Trust’s strategic plan, our range of health and care system partnerships, and the Trust’s transformation and quality improvement team. Dani specialises in development of complex partnerships to improve patient care across systems; examples include her executive leadership of the Cheshire & Merseyside Children and Young People’s ‘Beyond’ Programme which is driving improvements to outcomes for children across the local integrated care system, and of the North West paediatric Operational Delivery Networks.

Dani is experienced in building systems and partnerships to create better outcomes for patients, across Primary and Community care, Mental Health, Acute trusts, Local Authorities and Voluntary sector groups; she has nearly 20 years’ experience working in the majority of these different settings. Dani began her NHS life in technology and innovation, following a BA Hons Economics and an MSc in Health Care Ethics at the University of Liverpool. She achieved her Executive Leadership in Healthcare award through the ‘Nye Bevan’ programme in 2017.

Fiona Marston joined the Alder Hey Board in November 2019. Fiona is a biotechnology entrepreneur and was a business consultant to the Dept. of Clinical Sciences at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) and Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence for LSTM from 2021 – 2023. As Royal Society EiR she worked with LSTM to support training and mentoring in commercial translation of innovative research, to build the entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of staff and students. 

Until late 2020 Fiona was Director of the Centre of Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research focused on commercial translation for the University of Liverpool, LSTM and associated NHS Trusts. Early in her career she founded the investment incubator Healthcare Ventures, for the Rothschild Bioscience Unit and J&J Development Corporation investing in European entrepreneurs.

Currently Fiona is Chair and CEO of Erebagen Limited a synthetic biology company. She has been appointed the Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence to the University of Reading from 2023, advises the seed fund UKI2S and the NC3R’s CRACK IT Challenge. Fiona has a BSc Hons (Biological Sciences; UEA), PhD (Biochemistry; UKC), MBA (London Business School) and was awarded an OBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours. 

Kerry joined the Alder Hey Board in September 2018 and was reappointed by the Governors for a second three-year term to September 2024. She is a Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a finance, risk and internal control leader with over 24 years’ experience in “Big 4” professional services and as a Non-Executive Director covering governance, finance, risk management and internal control Kerry is Chairman of our Audit & Risk Committee and a member of our Safety & Quality Assurance Committee. Kerry is the Trust’s NED lead for Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response and Freedom to Speak Up.

She was a Senior Manager at Deloitte for 11 years where she provided internal audit services to numerous organisations and industries both in the private and public sectors. She then spent 3 years as Head of Internal Audit at Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd followed by 3 years as the Director of Retail Banking, Internal Audit at Ernst & Young. Kerry spent 9 years as a Non-Executive Director at Liverpool John Moores University where she was Chairman of the Finance Committee, and a member of the Nominations and Remuneration Committees and Chairman’s Group and also served on the Audit Committee.

She is currently a Non-Executive Director for South Lakes Housing in Cumbria where she is a member of the Audit & Risk Committee. Since leaving EY she has been managing her own portfolio of 10 rental properties in the Northwest.

Fiona joined the Alder Hey Board in October 2019 and was re-appointed for a second three-year term to October 2025. Fiona is Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Liverpool.

Fiona is a Professor of Law, specialising in international and EU law, in particular foreign investment law and gender equality law and policy. She has a particular expertise in gender mainstreaming (that is, the idea that gender concerns should be addressed systematically in all areas and by all actors), and how this is implemented in international institutions, the EU, and in individual states. In the UK this approach is best exemplified by the public sector equality duty, now contained in the Equality Act 2010. She has completed two studies for the European Parliament FEMM Committee, ‘A New Strategy for Gender Equality Post 2015’ and ‘The EU Budget for Gender Equality’.

Fiona is Chair of the Boards of the University of Liverpool Press and University of Liverpool in Singapore.

Fiona was also a Trustee of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation, the official charity of Liverpool Football Club, from 2012-19.

Garth joined Alder Hey as a Non-Executive Director in November 2021. He is highly respected for his Legal, Business Consulting and Diversity and Inclusion expertise and has a passion for helping businesses develop strategies that focus on making a positive impact on people, places, and the planet, across multiple industries.

For over 28 years he has been involved in the research, strategy, design, implementation and management of innovative and cutting-edge strategic business and diverse community projects based on the relationship between diversity and equality of opportunities legislation, diversity best practice, and importantly, sustainable business practices as a force for good in the 21st century global marketplace.

With extensive experience in business, legal and community support, his prominent expertise is providing innovative methods to manage governance, compliance and business strategies whilst keeping efficient financial management. These projects have been designed and involved the allocation and management of culturally sensitive and diverse resources, stakeholders and challenging outcomes. This is further complimented by qualified, fully practised legal specialisations in Equality and Employment Law.

He is Chair of the Liverpool Commonwealth Association and has recently founded the Good Small Business Awards, the UK’s first Business Sustainability Awards exclusively for small and micro businesses, Recognising Excellence in Small Business Social and Environmental Impact and Business Sustainability.

Overall, he has developed a strong career as a Director, Non-Executive Director, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist, Business Sustainability Consultant and Business Community Engagement Ambassador. He brings his external skills to challenge, support and develop the Trust’s strategy and to ensure that the Board acts in the best interests of children, young people and their families and the wider community.

Jo was appointed to the Board in October 2022. With a career across government affairs and membership bodies in both the medical and scientific sector, Jo brings considerable knowledge of how to transform organisations to be impactful, have a positive culture and deliver their strategy. Jo is passionate about the mission to improve the lives of children and has previously led on projects including the development of the three-year strategy for paediatrics for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, supporting the efforts to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in paediatrics and governance reviews.