Senior management
Read biographies of the Healthcare Commission's senior management.
Who's Who
Anna Walker, Chief Executive
Anna is Chief Executive of the Commission. Previously, she was Director General, Land Use and Rural Affairs at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Her responsibilities included all aspects of rural policy and a review of regulation. Anna was also Director General, for Energy at the Department for Trade and Industry (1998-2001), and Deputy Director General at the Office of Telecommunications (1994-1998). And will be a member of the new National Consumer Council (from 1 October 2008).
Lorraine Foley
Lorraine is Head of Informatics and is also the senior executive responsible for coordinating the Healthcare Commission’s transition to the new regulator in April 2009. Lorraine joined the Healthcare Commission following a career in the corporate banking and finance sector. She held a number of positions at the Royal Bank of Scotland in both London and Edinburgh, including Director of Corporate Electronic Banking and Cash Management. In this executive role, Lorraine was responsible for product development, sales force and call centre based customer service unit and consolidated the customer service businesses following the merger of RBS and Natwest business functions. As Head of IT, Corporate Banking at RBS, Lorraine was responsible for the merger of RBS and Natwest businesses for the Corporate Bank and initiated the Corporate Banking IT integration programme. Prior to joining RBS, Lorraine worked at TSB Bank.
Marcia Fry
Marcia is Head of Operational Development. Previously, Marcia has held a variety of senior positions at the Department of Health. These include Head of Nutrition and Public Health (1992-1996), Head of Sexual Health and Genetics (1996-2001) and Head of Clinical Quality, Ethics and Genetics (2001-2003).
Steve Heminsley
Steve is the Head of Corporate Services, on secondment from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. He has extensive experience of strategic and operational delivery in a variety of corporate services posts, which have included responsibility for finance, strategy, planning and organisational design and development. He has worked previously for the Department of Work and Pensions, the Benefits Agency, the Child Support Agency and Inland Revenue.
He recently held the role of Programme Director during the merger of Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise.
Miranda Kavanagh
Miranda is Head of Communications and Engagement. Miranda joined the Healthcare Commission from the London Business School where she was Executive Director of the Centre for Corporate Governance. Prior to that she held senior communications posts with a number of blue chip companies, and also in consultancy, across a 20 year period. This included healthcare experience, most recently at Pfizer where she was UK Director of Corporate and Public Affairs. A barrister by training, who has also worked in investment banking, Miranda served as a non-executive director on the Management Board of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Kate Lobley
Kate is the Head of Operations. Kate joined the Healthcare Commission from the NHS Modernisation Agency’s Leadership Centre. Prior to this she was Head of Organisational Development & Change at the Open University and for a time held executive responsibility for planning and resources in the Open University Business School. Kate is a registered nurse specialising in occupational health and safety, stress and ergonomics and holds an MBA. She has directed, managed and operated as an independent consultant in primary care and post-graduate medical education delivering service modernisation, executive coaching and change implementation programmes.
Gary Needle
Gary is Head of Assessment and Methods. Gary started his career in 1980, as an NHS Management trainee in Oxford. He gained valuable experience in mental health and learning disability services in Buckinghamshire, before taking up a more senior post in acute hospital services in Surrey. Following a two-year secondment to the National Audit Office in 1994, Gary returned to the NHS as a Director with a Health Authority in Sussex. In 1999 Gary was appointed Chief Executive of Brighton and Hove Primary Care Group and then in 2002, Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust.
Gary joined the Healthcare Commission in late 2005 to lead the delivery of the Annual Health Check, and was appointed to the post of Head of Assessment and Methods in December 2007. Gary is a Fellow of the Institute of Healthcare Management and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. He has a degree in Economics and Geography and qualified in 2003 with a Masters degree in Public Health Management from the Nuffield Institute at Leeds University.
Jamie Rentoul
Jamie is the Head of Strategy. Prior to joining the Healthcare Commission, Jamie held the post of Executive Director of the Prime Minister's Unit. Prior to this he was the Head of the NHS Waiting Lists Policy Team in the Department of Health and also headed the tobacco policy unit in the department. He has a degree in Natural Science and an MBA from Stanford University.
National Clinical Advisors
Professor Ann Close
Professor Close is Nursing Director and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust in the West Midlands. With over 35 years of experience in the NHS, including 14 in her current role as Nursing Director, Professor Close has published extensively and in 2007 was awarded a visiting professorship from the Birmingham City University (formerly University of Central England) for her services to nursing. Ann joins the Healthcare Commission as a national clinical advisor, responsible for providing the Commission with senior strategic advice on issues related to nursing and patient care.
Professor David Haslam, CBE
David Haslam has been a GP in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire since 1976 and is President of the Royal College of General Practitioners, National Clinical Adviser to the Healthcare Commission, Vice Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and visiting Professor in Primary Health Care at de Montfort University, Leicester. He is also co-chair of the MMC Programme Board, a member of the Postgraduate Medical Education Training Board, a Fellow of the Royal College of GPs, a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. David was Chairman of the RCGP from 2001 to 2004. He was awarded the CBE in 2004 for services to Medicine and Health Care.
Mr Daniel Keenan BSc (Hons), MB, BCh, FRCS, FEACTS
Danny Keenan studied medicine and surgery in Belfast where he acquired his basic skills dealing with the aftermath of the IRA terror campaign. He was appointed a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon to the Manchester Heart Centre, part of the Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Trust, in1985. He was one of the first surgeons in the United Kingdom to introduce minimally invasive techniques into cardiothoracic surgery. He is a co-principal investigator within the cardiovascular research group in the University of Manchester.
He is a Fellow of the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery. He was chair of the Manchester Tertiary Services Group, a member of the North West Regional Task Force, and a founder member of the North West Quality Improvement Programme and is currently clinical governance lead for Greater Manchester and Cheshire Cardiac Network. He served as clinical director to the Heart Centre from 1998 until 2002He has placed patients at the heart of these developments. He is a NICE Specialist Advisor and an R&D Technology Assessment Reviewer for the NHS. He was a CHD reviewer for the Commission for Health Improvement and has been appointed as an independent assessor for complaints referred to the Healthcare Commission. He was appointed as National Clinical Advisor to the Healthcare Commission in 2005.
Declaration of Interests
Senior management declaration of interests May 2008 (pdf 46kb) (opens new window)
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