Who's Moving: British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, HfT and more

11 Jan 2021 News

Kirsty Matthews, new chief executive at Hft.

Comic Relief appoints digital expert Samir Patel as new CEO

Samir Patel, a leading expert in digital and creative innovation, has been appointed as the new chief executive of Comic Relief.

Hft appoints new chief executive

Kirsty Matthews has been appointed as the new chief executive at Hft, a national charity supporting adults with learning disabilities.

Matthews has held a variety of senior leadership roles in both public and private organisations within the health and care sector over the last 30 years.

She joins from Virgin Care’s Bath and North East Somerset Community Health and Social Care Services, where she was managing director.

Matthews is keen to increase brand awareness of the work carried out by the charity.

She takes over from interim chief executive, Steve White, who was appointed to steer the charity through a transition period and will become part of Hft’s board of trustees in the spring of 2021.

New CEO starts at the Co-op Foundation 

Co-op's charity, the Co-op Foundation, has appointed Nick Crofts as its new chief executive. 

He joins from his role as founder and executive director of Aspire Liverpool, a charity that helps young people from the city gain entry into Oxbridge. 

Crofts is also a Liverpool City councillor and president of the Co-op's National Members’ Council. In April 2017, he was named as one of the UK's Top-Ten Inspirational Leaders in the NatWest LGBT Awards. 

Crofts replaces former head of the foundation, Jim Cooke, who led the Foundation for the past five years.

Bev Fitzsimons appointed as chief executive of Point of Care Foundation

The board of the Point of Care Foundation has appointed Bev Fitzsimons as the chief executive of the Foundation.

Fitzsimons has been acting chief executive since the departure of Jocelyn Cornwell, the founder of the Foundation, earlier this year. 

During 2020 she has led the Point of Care team to find new ways to continue the existing programmes of the Foundation, such as the Schwartz Rounds, but also to develop new programmes for health and care staff, including Team Time. 

Wellcome appoints Cheryl Moore to director, research programmes role

Cheryl Moore, currently president and chief operating officer of the New York Genome Center, is to take up the role of director, research programmes at Wellcome.

She will lead Wellcome’s broad programme of scientific discovery research, as well as its research on three key urgent health challenge areas: mental health, infectious diseases, and the health effects of global heating. 

The London-based charitable foundation now spends over £1bn a year funding health-related research.

Prior to the New York Genome Center, she spent 12 years in leadership positions at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, including both as executive vice president and as founding COO of the Janelia Research Campus. Her early career focused on finance and strategy for healthcare organisations.

She will take up the post in May 2021.

The British Heart Foundation appoints Claire Sadler

The British Heart Foundation has appointed Claire Sadler, marketing director at Direct Line, as its executive director of marketing, fundraising and engagement.

She was formerly group brand director at BT. She has a wealth of experience in generating income through innovation, along with digital and marketing transformation. Sadler is also an active member of Women in Advertising and Communications London. 

She will join the BHF on 25 January, replacing Carolan Davidge, who is leaving the charity at the end of February to pursue a portfolio career. 

Scouts appoint volunteer duo to lead the movement beyond the pandemic

The Scouts has announced that Jennie Price will be chair of the trustees and Carl Hankinson becomes UK chief commissioner from September 2021.

They will lead the movement’s recovery with a particular focus on helping communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic.  

Price was chief executive of Sport England between 2007 until 2018 and is currently the independent chair of trustees for the Youth United Foundation, the network of the UK’s leading uniformed youth organisations. 

Hankinson is to become UK chief commissioner, a voluntary role that leads the 163,000 adult volunteers in the UK. He has volunteered with the Scouts for more than a decade, both in his home county of Lancashire and nationally. 

He has been a national trustee, he led West Lancashire Scouts for ten years and continues to chair the West Lancashire trustee team.

Cancer Research UK appoints new trustee

Professor Pamela Kearns has been appointed as a trustee at Cancer Research UK

Kearns is chair of clinical paediatric oncology at the University of Birmingham and an honorary consultant paediatric oncologist at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital.  

She is also director of the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences and director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). 

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