Our board

The Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing the work and services of the Foundation Trust and setting our strategic future. The Board consists of both executive directors (employed directly by the Trust) and non-executive directors (appointed by the Council of Governors).

Please click on a Director below to find a personal profile, highlighting some of their accomplishments, qualifications and other background information. To view an organisational chart of our directors click here. *Denotes members of the Board with voting rights.

Crishni Waring - Chair*

Crishni joined NHFT in 2016 from Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust (CWPT), where she was a Non-executive Director (NED) for over five years. Crishni has significant experience of leadership at senior level, both executive and non-executive. During her role as NED, Crishni was also CWPT Senior Independent Director. Her role supported board members and Governors, to ensure effective working and championing of the Trust's Raising Concerns policy. Crishni has more than twenty years of experience in business, change and HR management. She has a very diverse industry background including healthcare, business services, retail, public sector, logistics and distribution. Crishni set up a consultancy business in 2010 providing consulting and interim management services to clients in public and private sectors. In addition, she is also a Trustee of the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust.

Bev Messinger - Deputy Chairman*

Currently Chief Executive of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Bev has over thirty years of public service experience in local government, across seven local authorities, including Northamptonshire County Council. Her diverse roles in the voluntary sector include director at a charity for the long-term unemployed, chair of the Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau and trustee of a national charity for people with learning difficulties and disabilities. Bev is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Moira Ingham - Non Executive Director*

A registered nurse, Moira has worked in several NHS trusts in the south and east of England, specialising in critical, high-dependency care, including the management of a 35-bed respiratory medicine unit. With a Master of Science from Kings College, Moira has held several senior academic roles at the University of Northampton latterly as Dean of the School of Health.  Since leaving in 2016, Moira has worked freelance on curriculum design and is a clinical assessor for the NMC international test of comptetence. She is currently studying for a Doctor of Business Administration in higher education management at the University of Bath.

Alastair Watson - Non Executive Director*

Alastair is currently Investment Director at Innisfree, a leading infrastructure investment group. He has twenty years of project finance and infrastructure experience and has worked in both the public and private sectors for businesses that range from start-ups to large multi-national corporates. He has worked in roles covering audit, financial advisory, equity and debt investment and he currently sits as a magistrate on the Leicestershire and Rutland bench. Alastair is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Scott Adams - Non Executive Director*

Scott is Director of Integrated Health and Social Care within Major and Public Sector of British Telecom and has responsibility for the definition and investment prioritisation of major and public sector growth strategy.  His role is also aligned to the NHS and local government care providers.  Scott has worked for British Telecom for 19 years at senior managerial and director level and has experience in delivering transformational growth programmes.  Scott has a Master’s degree  in Business Administration.

Melanie Hall - Non Executive Director*

Melanie has 15 years’ board experience within the Life Sciences and Healthcare Sector, starting with the NHS Logistics Authority and latterly as Global Special Projects Officer at DHL, Global Life Sciences and Healthcare Division.       Having worked as a partner with the NHS for much of her career, Melanie has a wealth of experience in business and service transformation, and an excellent understanding of the challenges and broad strategic direction of the NHS.   Melanie also brings knowledge and high standards of quality assurance and governance levels in regards to CQC standards and audits.

Angela Hillery - Chief Executive*

With over 27 years of NHS leadership experience within community services and a Master’s degree in development disorders, Angela is also a qualified speech and language therapist. Previously a Director of Operations for the Trust, Angela has served on the National Management Board of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy and held a partner role with the Health Professional Council. Reflecting her commitment to innovation in healthcare, Angela is a board member of the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network (EMAHSN). In 2015 Angela was a finalist for 'Chief Executive of the Year' at the HSJ Awards.

Julie Shepherd - Director of Nursing, AHPs and Quality*

 Julie leads by example and has had a nursing career spanning over 35 years, with many years in senior leadership roles and 5 years as Director of Nursing, AHP’s and Quality.  Julie regularly spends time with clinical services to ensure she understands patient/carer needs and staff challenges.  Julie is on the cutting edge of innovation and quality improvement. Through her approach to quality and patient safety, Julie has been instrumental in improving the CQC’s rating of ‘requires improvement’ in 2015 to ‘outstanding in 2018 by working with staff and colleagues at Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. Julie is passionate about safe, quality care and has ensured that this has remained at the foundation of all her strategic planning. She has a leadership role as one of the joint Nurses in the Northamptonshire STP (Health Care Partnership) and holds a Master’s degree in managing partnerships in health and social care. During her career Julie has spent a period of time working in social care. . 

Sandra Mellors - Chief Operating Officer

Sandra has a wealth of healthcare experience with a 30-year career in the NHS, 22 of those as a physiotherapist before moving into managerial roles. Previously she was an Associate Director of adult, primary and urgent care at Tower Hamlets PCT, General Manager of Borough and Specialist Services at Bart’s and London NHS Trust. Sandra joined the NHFT in 2012 as locality manager for Kettering. In 2014, Sandra was promoted to Deputy Director of adult services for the trust and in February 2016 assumed the role of Acting Director of Operations. In August 2016, after a recruitment and selection process, Sandra began her role as Chief Operating Officer.

Chris Oakes - Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development

Chris brings with him an abundance of experience within healthcare, both in the NHS and the independent sector. He has been involved in developing high quality human resources (HR) services and leading significant culture change and organisational development (OD). Chris was Director of the Workforce and OD at the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and prior to that was the director of HR at St Andrew's Healthcare. Chris is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He has an MBA from Cass Business School (City University) and recently completed an MSc in Leadership at the University of Birmingham.

Richard Wheeler - Finance Director*

Richard is a qualified accountant with 11 years of NHS experience, starting in 2005 as Head of Finance at the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority. He was then appointed Deputy Director of Finance at Oxford University Hospitals and more recently Director of Finance of East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS). Richard has a maths degree and was awarded Healthcare Finance Managers Association (HFMA) Deputy Finance Director of the Year in December 2012.

Alex O'Neill-Kerr - Medical Director*

Alex is a former member of the Board of Examiners and the Senior Course Organisers for the MRCPsych Examination. He has also been a College Tutor for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a lecturer and member of the Board of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He continues to provide clinical and educational supervision to trainees and medical students and has been involved in medical student placements in the Trust since 2014.
Alex has been the Medical Director for the Trust since 2003 and was involved in the merger of two local mental health trusts (Northampton Community Healthcare and Rockingham Forest) in 2004. He also supported our successful foundation trust status application in May 2009 and was involved in the successful transfer of community services from the PCT in 2011.

David Williams - Director of Business Development

David was a Locality Director for NHS England in the West Midlands. David was responsible for commissioning primary care, dentistry and public health services as well as supporting a number of Sustainability TransformationPartnerships. In addition to his role within NHS England, David was also the Accountable Emergency Officer for the West Midlands with the responsibility for ensuring the NHS was prepared and able to respond to major incident situations. David has a wealth of education, voluntary sector and healthcare experience as well as experience in partnership working and developing ways to work differently.