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Trustees & Committee Members

Meet #ClanCHSS

At Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, we couldn’t do what we do without the support of our amazing #ClanCHSS members who give their time and expertise to make sure there’s No Life Half Lived in Scotland.

Patron – formerly the late Queen Elizabeth, Her Majesty the Queen

Interim Chair – Theresa Douglas

Interim Vice-Chair – Neil Francis

Chief Executive – Jane-Claire Judson

Find out more about our Trustees and committee members below.

Members of the Board of Trustees

Theresa Douglas
Theresa Douglas has more than forty years’ experience of working for and with the NHS in Scotland as a nurse and leadership consultant. Theresa is currently employed by NHS Education for Scotland as a Senior Educator, specialising for ten years in developing staff working with people with dementia, more recently moving to focus particularly on postgraduate education for community nurses. Theresa was previously a Non-Executive Director of NHS Lothian for six years and during that time chaired the West Lothian Community Health & Care Partnership for over three years. Theresa became a trustee in 2016, her interest in volunteering with CHSS coming from personal experience of supporting family members with heart conditions and suddenly losing her mother to a stroke at the age of 64. Vice-Chair of the Board, Theresa currently sits on the Audit & Risk Committee.

Paul Denton
Paul Denton has wide-ranging experience in the private and financial sector, latterly as the CEO of the Scottish Building Society. Bringing a huge amount of financial knowledge to the charity, Paul is also a Chartered Banker. Paul’s connection to CHSS stems from lived experience of supporting family members with our conditions. Paul became a Trustee in 2021 and currently sits on the Finance Committee.

Neil Francis
Neil Francis is currently the chairman of a digital agency and director of a software company. Neil became a trustee in 2019 and currently sits on the Audit & Risk Committee. In 2006, at the age of 41, Neil suffered a stroke; to help with his recovery he became a golf caddie. Based on that experience Neil wrote his first book in 2013, ‘Changing Course’. Since then Neil has written three other books, ‘The Entrepreneur’s Book’, ‘Positive Thinking’ and ‘Inspired Thinking’.

Lisa Kidd
Lisa Kidd has a national and international profile in stroke research, latterly as the Reader in Supported Self-Management (Nursing) at the University of Glasgow. Amongst other things, Lisa sits on the Steering Committee and Scientific Committee for the United Kingdom Stroke Forum and is Chair Elect 2023/24, as well as being a committee member of the Scottish Stroke Nurse Forum. Lisa became a Trustee in 2021 and currently sits on the Impact Advisory Panel.

John McCroskie
John McCroskie has wide-ranging experience in the Scottish public sector, including as a former Chief Press Officer for Scottish Government and latterly a Director and former interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Authority. John’s late father experienced heart disease and severe strokes in later life and both parents were helped to live through that experience by CHSS’ much-valued services and network of support. John became a Trustee in 2021 and currently sits on the People Governance Committee.

David McIntosh
David McIntosh is a Chartered Accountant working at global advisory firm Teneo. David’s experience includes conducting business reviews, advisory work for corporates and financial stakeholders and contingency planning across a broad range of sectors. David has lived experience of our conditions in the family. David became a Trustee in 2021 and currently sits on the Finance Committee.

Sharon Millar
Sharon Millar has worked in four Scottish Health Boards in her career and has had the privilege of leading many teams and service improvements in nursing, health promotion and human resources. Sharon has considerable experience in corporate governance as her ‘day job’ as Principal Lead for Board development is to support NHS Board members to effectively govern the quality and performance of health services to the people of Scotland. Sharon has also worked in collaboration with voluntary organisations all her days. Sharon became a trustee in 2019 and currently chairs the People Governance Committee. Sharon has first-hand experience of how devastating chest, heart and stroke conditions can be for individuals and their families: her father had three strokes and her mother had several interventions to address her heart failure. CHSS’ vision of ‘No Life Half Lived’ is consistent with Sharon’s own views that everyone should be supported to live full and productive lives. The support provided by CHSS reframes minds and enables people to see beyond their difficulties, cope and then flourish. Outside of CHSS, her interests are her family, walking, music and dancing.

Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris worked in the public sector for over thirty years and has vast experience in the areas of legal & corporate governance. An accredited facilitator, Andrew now teaches corporate governance across the public and private sectors. Andrew became a trustee in 2019 and, as the Senior Independent Non-Executive, provides independent governance advise across the wider functions of the charity. Andrew also currently chairs the Audit & Risk Committee. Andrew’s interest in volunteering with CHSS came from personal and family experience of living with one of the conditions the charity supports.

Douglas Sewell
Douglas Sewell has worked in various local authorities as an IT Centre manager and an Assistant Director of Education. Douglas became a Trustee in 2019 and sits on the People Governance Committee. Douglas’ interest in volunteering with CHSS came from personal experience as a service user, having experienced a TIA and then a stroke. Douglas is also a Rehabilitation Support Volunteer, has raised funds for the charity in various ways over the past five years and is a member of the Physical Activity Strategy Group and the Volunteer Support Group (Volunteer Communications Sub-group). Outside of CHSS Douglas’ interests are sea kayaking, mountain biking, road cycling, hillwalking and Nordic walking.

Ian Turnbull
Ian Turnbull recently retired after nearly forty years in private practice as a solicitor, including twenty years as Managing Partner of a leading Edinburgh law firm. As well as substantial experience in many legal fields including commerce, employment, property and dispute resolution, Ian also has significant managemen t and business development experience. Ian has been involved in advising on charity governance and currently sit on other charity boards, including the Scottish SPCA and National Trust for Scotland. Ian became a trustee in 2019 and currently sits on the Audit & Risk Committee. Outside CHSS his interests include hill walking, travel and golf.

Tim Walsh
Tim Walsh is the Chair of Critical Care, Head of Department (Anesthesia) and Co-Director Acute Care Edinburgh (Centre for Population Health Science, Usher Institute) at the University of Edinburgh. Tim is also an Honorary Consultant Critical Care and Director of Innovation at NHS Lothian. Tim has played a key role in developing our Hospital to Home service in response to the pandemic. Tim became a Trustee in 2021 and currently sits on the Impact Advisory Panel.

Sam McConnachie
Sam has a broad range of experience, having worked in book-keeping, as a newspaper sub-editor and a teacher of English to speakers of other languages. Sam is trained in graphic design and is a qualified Speech & Language Therapist, having worked with an NHS Health Board, where they had experience of service expansion & care sector engagement. Sam has lived experience of the impact of life changing health conditions, and of family and friends with CHSS’ conditions. Sam is an existing CHSS Community Support Services volunteer, supporting people who have had a stroke with their communication. Sam is mentioned in Nancy’s video (on our website) for the support they gave Nancy. In addition, Sam is currently involved with CHSS’ projects concerning Aphasia, the language disorder which affects about 1/3 of people after having a stroke.

Janis Hughes
Janis has broad & wide experience of the public sector. As a former MSP, Janis was the Vice-Convenor of the Health Committee and has also worked in a range of roles in the NHS, including as a nurse, in research & senior management; for the latter, as a planning manager for major service redesign. Janis currently works in university administration and has experience of the Third Sector. Janis has experience of supporting multiple family members with heart & stroke conditions and is an existing volunteer with CHSS, in one of our boutique stores.

Jane Matthews
Jane has broad & wide experience in people, project & customer relationship management for a global organisation working across analytics, technology solutions & clinical research services in the life sciences industry. In Jane’s current role, responsibilities include chair of Executive Governance Biotech account and developing & implementing the strategic account plan. Jane is also a STEM ambassador. Jane has experience of supporting a family member with a heart condition.

Neil Mackay
Neil has broad & wide experience in senior roles in finance & banking, with roles including strategic planning & risk management. Neil is a past member of the Chartered Institute of Banking and the Association of Corporate Treasurers. Neil also has experience with the Third Sector, most recently & currently as a non-executive director for both Redress Scotland and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, sitting on the Audit & Risk Committees of both organisations. Neil has experience of supporting family members with complex health needs.

Finance Committee

  • Paul Denton (Chair)
  • David McIntosh
  • Alan Hartley (external member)

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Directors

  • Office of the Chief Operating Officer: Allan Cowie
  • External Engagement & Service Development: Paul Okroj
  • Finance & ICT: Rachel Ducker
  • Interim Income Generation: Billy Farrell
  • Service Delivery: Joanne Graham

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People Governance Committee

  • Sharon Millar (Chair)
  • John McCroskie
  • Douglas Sewell

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Audit & Risk Committee

  • Andrew Morris (Chair)
  • Neil Francis
  • Ian Turnbull

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Nominations & Remuneration Committee

  • Theresa Douglas
  • Andrew Morris
  • Sharon Millar
  • Paul Denton

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Volunteering Strategy Group

“We aim to double the number of volunteers in CHSS by 2021 in order to reach everybody who needs us and to help us to raise funds.”(No Life Half Lived, 2018)
Volunteering is a fundamental part of the CHSS structure, integral in facilitating the work of CHSS by supporting innovation across the charity, the expansion of retail outlets and service provision. Contributing a net economic benefit of £1.5 million to CHSS in 2017/18, volunteers will form a substantial part of the Charity’s ability to deliver No Live Half Lived (NLHL) for those experiencing the conditions we support. Volunteers are therefore vital to the success of the organisation’s strategic goals. An expansion in the number of people we help can’t happen without a corresponding increase in volunteer numbers.

Vision

  • To support volunteering strategy throughout the organisation to ensure the design, implementation and delivery of No Life Half Lived
  • To embed a volunteering-led mindset across CHSS
  • To be the ‘Voice of our Volunteers’, engaging them in the strategic direction of the organisation and ensuring their part in the innovation of volunteering.
  • With the VSG as a guiding-force, volunteers will remain a lynchpin in the success of CHSS as we begin delivery of NLHL; our volunteering strategy will be increasingly volunteer-led as we move towards being a more people-driven organisation.

The VSG will take into consideration the political, economic, social and cultural contexts which influence volunteering, ensuring constructive benchmarking against the impact of volunteering on: the volunteers; service users; CHSS as an organisation; the wider Scottish community.
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