The Burdett Trust For Nursing

Alan Gibbs (Chairman of Trustees)

Alan Gibbs was on the Council of the RNPFN from 1996 until its sale to Liverpool Victoria in 2001 and has been the Chairman of the Burdett Trust for Nursing since its inception. His great-grandfather, Henry Hucks Gibbs, was one of the original sponsors of RNPFN in 1887. He worked for Flemings for 17 years before pursuing his own interests in the Far Eastern investment markets. He has a young family and has been a school governor for the past 10 years.

Dame Christine Beasley

Christine Beasley was appointed Chief Nursing Officer in October 2004 and is the Director General within the Department of Health for Professional Leadership (including Allied Health Professions) and for Children, Families and Maternity. She is also the lead director for Reducing Health Associated Infections and the Cleaner Hospitals Programme. Before taking up the CNO post, Christine was Director of Partnership Development at the Modernisation Agency. She has held a range of senior posts with a broad experience of policy development, leadership and general management including Director of Nursing, Human Resources & Organisational Development with the NHS Executive (London). She established the London Standing Conference, engaging nurses across the capital in leading service improvement and contributing to improvements in clinical practice across the country.

Christine was awarded an Honorary Professorship in Nursing by Thames Valley University in 1997 and is the Pro Chancellor at the University. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Northumbria, Sheffield Hallam, Keele, Plymouth, and City University, London. She is also a Fellow of the Queen’s Nursing Institute and a Trustee of Marie Curie Cancer Care. Christine was awarded a CBE in 2002 and a DBE in June 2008.

Jack Gibbs

Jack Gibbs is a Director of The Prince’s Rainforests Project. After a degree in Land Economics at Cambridge University, Jack worked in Land Use Management in the UK. Jack switched career and spent the next 17 years working in the Debt and Equity Capital Markets business at Merrill Lynch, based in London and New York. He is a branch sponsor of The Microloan Foundation in Malawi.

Bill Gordon

Bill Gordon had a long career with Barclays Bank. He was Chief Executive - UK Banking Services when he retired from the Board of Barclays PLC in 1998. At that time he was Chairman of Barclays Pension Fund Trustees Ltd and he continued in that role until 2004. He was a non executive Director of Britannia Building Society from 1999 -2009 and was Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director for the last four of those years.

Dr Khim Horton PhD, BSc(Hons), RN, RCNT, RNT, PGCEA

Dr. Khim Horton has been a lecturer in the Division of Health and Social Care, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, at the University since February 1997. Khim was born in Singapore and completed her education there before leaving for England to commence her nursing in St. Albans, Hertfordshire in 1976. Since qualification, she took various posts and subsequently completed a degree in nursing and developed a specialism in Gerontological nursing .

During her period at the University of Surrey, Khim was awarded an Economic and Social Research Council studentship which enabled her to complete her PhD. Her PhD focuses on the social meaning of falls among older people and the negotiations between older people and their family members in the prevention of future falls. She was a Post Doctoral Research Fellow during 2005-7 in the Centre for Research in Nursing and Midwifery Education, at the university. Khim has developed a programme of research on care of older people, telecare and nursing and nurse education using both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and has published in peer-reviewed journals and books. She is currently co-Director of Studies on the MSc Advanced Practice. As a member of the British Society of Gerontology Khim was their Honorary Treasurer (2004-06).

Andrew Martin-Smith

Andrew Martin Smith began his career at Hambros Bank in 1975 as a graduate from Oxford University. He has over 30 years experience in the financial services industry and currently works on private equity related matters with Guinness Asset Management. He is Chairman of Parmenion Capital Management and a Director of other investment related companies including Church House Trust PLC, Runciman Investments, and Atlantis Japan Growth and M&G High Income investment trusts.

Andrew has spent the last 15 years specifically involved in the fund management industry firstly as Chief Executive of Hambros Fund Management where the RNPFN was a long established client. He joined Berkshire Capital Securites after Hambros' successor fund management interests were acquired by Investec. His experience at Berkshire has involved him in providing advice and raising capital for several new independent fund management companies and he remains an advisory director.

Andrew is a trustee of several family and charitable organisations and a school governor.

Lady Henrietta St. George

Lady Henrietta St. George was born in London in 1949 to the Duke & Duchess of Grafton, England. She was educated at day and boarding schools and then trained as a kindergarten teacher, taught in various schools and managed a Play Group in a London Children's Hospital. She commenced training as a Children's Nurse and has travelled extensively in the Far East and worked for the leading Children's Charity, Save the Children Fund.

Lady Henrietta is involved in numerous social programmes on Grand Bahama Island and since the death of her husband, Edward St George, Lady Henrietta has assumed the role of Co-Chairman of The Grand Bahama Port Authority.

Eileen Sills CBE

Eileen Sills is the Chief Nurse and Director of Clinical Services at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and has been in post since January 2005. In addition she also holds visiting professorial posts at both King's College London and London South Bank Universities. Eileen started her nursing career in Stockport, qualifying at Stepping Hill Hospital in 1983, and then went on to specialise in Accident & Emergency nursing taking up her first sisters post in London in 1985. In 1990 Eileen took the opportunity to become a ward sister on a medical ward and over the following 3 years developed the ward into a nursing development unit, becoming one of the first units to receive pump priming funds from the King's Fund Centre.

Following this Eileen took up a number of senior nursing/general management posts across London and was appointed to her first Director of Nursing post in 1999 at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. In July 2001 she moved to Whipps Cross University Hospital as their Director of Nursing becoming Deputy Chief executive in 2004, just before she left she had a period of being the Acting Chief Executive.

Eileen received a CBE in the 2003 New Years Honours list and has a Masters degree in Health Service Management from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Jo Webber

Jo Webber is currently Director of the Ambulance Services Network and Deputy Policy Director of the NHS Confederation. Previously Jo worked as a Policy Manager with the NHS Confederation, following her previous role as Director of Clinical Services at Broxtowe and Hucknall PCT with responsibility for provided services; clinical risk and quality assurance; and partnership working and joint commissioning. Jo was previously Director of Operations and Assistant Director of Nursing at Nottingham Community Health NHS Trust and has worked in the NHS for over 20 years.

A community nurse by background, her policy areas at the Confederation include children’s policy, older people and adult social care, public health and partnerships/local strategic partnerships. She is vice chair of the Children’s Interagency Group, a coalition of national statutory and third sector organisations working on children’s policy, and is a member of Sir Roger Singleton’s safeguarding expert panel. She has also been actively involved in the development of the Carers’ Strategy and was a member of the interim Standing Commission on Carers. She is a trustee of the Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Jo is also Director of the Ambulance Services Network of the NHS Confederation, working to influence national urgent and emergency care policy on behalf of the 17 member ambulance services across the UK.