Our Charity Executive Committee

Katie joined St Andrew’s Healthcare as Chief Executive Officer in June 2018.

Her role prior was Chief Executive for West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, where she successfully led a transition programme to steer the organisation out of areas deemed to be inadequate by the CQC.

Originally trained as a nurse, Katie has a long and distinguished record in improving the quality of care and enhancing patient experience. She established her career within the NHS, where she held a number of senior leadership and board level positions.

Appointed as a Trustee: 25 June 2018.

Jess joined St Andrew's in April 2019 from Hertfordshire Partnership NHS University Foundation Trust, where he was Executive Director of Delivery and Service User Experience.

He has more than 25 years’ experience in the healthcare sector, having started out in nursing and specialising in mental healthcare nursing. He has since held senior positions in both public sector and NHS organisations, with a strong emphasis on building collaborations and successful partnerships.

Jess is responsible for overseeing the development of strategic partnerships and the creation of new community services.

Dr Sanjith Kamath has been a Consultant Psychiatrist since 2007, working in both the NHS and the private sector before joining St Andrew's Healthcare in 2012. He has an interest in service development and is also a Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. He also has a MBA.

Sanjith became Clinical Director for the Women’s Mental Health Pathway in 2015 and has been involved in developing new services, including establishing our Women’s Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). He was heavily involved in implementing outcomes driven, value-based healthcare across the charity, leading to his appointment as Executive Medical Director in 2018.

Appointed as a Trustee: 1 May 2018

Martin Kersey joined St Andrew's Healthcare in November 2014 from Rentokil Initial, where he had been Divisional Human Resources Director, responsible for business transformation, since 2011.

Prior to that, Martin held senior HR positions at Mediabrands, Mayborn Group, Burger King and Hertz.

Appointed as a Trustee: 17 November 2014.

Alex joined St Andrew’s Healthcare in September 2018 as Director of Finance and was appointed CFO in April 2019.

Her prior role was as Finance Director and Company Secretary for the MAXIMUS UK Human Services Division (incorporating both Remploy Ltd and MAXIMUS People Services Limited), leading in Remploy’s successful exit from DWP and transformation into a commercially focussed, employee-owned organisation.

Alex qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2002 and has worked as an Auditor in Private practice as well as holding leading finance roles in the not for profit, education and welfare to work markets.

Appointed as a Trustee: 1 April 2019.

Alastair has been at St Andrew’s since March 2017, having previously worked as a Hospital Director for two of the Huntercombe Group’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) units.

As Service Director, Alastair was responsible for our Men’s Mental Health Services in Northampton, our Psychiatric Intensive Care Units in Northampton, and our Birmingham Hospital. Prior to moving to healthcare, Alastair’s background was in performance improvement and change leadership. He has held a variety of senior leadership roles in the public sector, including as Director of the Royal Courts of Justice, in social housing and in the charity sector, including a spell as CEO of one of the Prince’s Charities, working for HRH the Prince of Wales.

Alastair became Chief Operating Officer in June 2019.

Lisa joined St Andrew’s in 2000 as a Healthcare Assistant before deciding to undertake nurse training. After qualifying as a registered Mental Health Nurse, she held roles at our Northampton, Essex and Birmingham hospitals.

During her time at St Andrew’s, Lisa has progressed through the ranks. Lisa’s main focus was historically on women’s forensics and medium secure, but in 2012 she also moved into Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS). She then became Service Director for the CAMHS, Women’s and Essex IPUs.

Lisa became Chief Nurse in June 2019.

Appointed as a Trustee: 1 June 2019.

John joined St Andrew's in March 2019 from University Hospitals of Leicester, where he held the role of CIO for seven years.

He was previously Deputy CIO at NHS East Midlands, enabling him to bring valuable insights as he develops and evolves our IT strategy - with a keen focus on both value and security.

The role of CIO is new to St Andrew's and recognises the importance of data and technology in achieving our strategic goals.

Claire Carless joined the Executive Team at St Andrew's Healthcare in 2016 as General Counsel and Company Secretary. An accomplished lawyer and General Counsel, Claire has substantial experience in managing complex corporate and commercial projects, and ensuring effective corporate governance, for major global corporates.

Having started her career in private practice, Claire went on to hold senior roles in RWE and Vodafone. Her most recent position was General Counsel for Siemens plc in the UK.

Claire spent four years as a non-executive director for South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, and is currently a member of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee for the University of Oxford.

Appointed as a Trustee: 3 October 2016.

Dr Ankur Agarwal joined St Andrew’s Healthcare in 2014 as Lead Psychiatrist for the Birmingham hospital, having been a Consultant in both the NHS and independent sector. He has a particular interest in innovation and the application of technology to improve patient care and outcomes. Ankur holds an MBA from Imperial College.

Ankur is also the clinical lead for St Andrew’s in Reach Out, an innovative partnership with the NHS which aims to improve service provision and outcomes for patients in the West Midlands.

Dr Katina Anagnostakis joined St Andrew’s from the NHS as a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in 2008. Her clinical focus has been in adult forensic mental health services, especially where there is complex co-morbidity with personality disorder.

She is a qualified Dialectical Behaviour Therapist (DBT), is actively involved in clinical research and has held senior leadership roles in medical education, medical regulation and with the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She has a record of fostering a creative learning culture to drive quality improvement and innovation.

Dr Liz Beber joined St Andrew’s in March 2009.

A Learning Disability Psychiatrist by background, she has held a number of managerial positions since joining St Andrew’s including Strategic Lead for Learning Disability and ASD Services, Lead Psychiatrist and Clinical Director for the Women’s Service, Clinical Director for the Learning Disability Pathway and more recently, Clinical Lead for the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) IPU.

Dr Vishelle Kamath completed her specialist training in old age psychiatry in Cambridge before working in the NHS as a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist in Bedfordshire.

She was then appointed Clinical Director for Liaison and Older Adult Mental Health in Bedfordshire for three years during which she went through the Yale University Global Health Leadership Programme. She led the development and implementation of a commissioned liaison service across Bedfordshire and Luton during this period.

Vishelle joined the Neuropsychiatry team at St Andrew’s in 2014 as a Consultant for dementia and progressive neurological conditions and was appointed as Clinical Director for the Neuropsychiatry service in 2015.

Dr Roychowdhury joined St Andrew’s in August 2003 and is trained in both general adult and forensic psychiatry. His main clinical interest is in quality improvement of in-patient services, and he has published in major peer-reviewed journals and presented at key academic conferences on topics related to recovery, ethics, quality improvement, risk assessment and using technology to improve healthcare outcomes.

Ash has held a number of senior leadership positions including Lead Psychiatrist for Men’s Medium Secure Services and CAMHS secure services.

Catherine joined the St Andrew's Healthcare team in 2016 as Modern Matron at our Birmingham hospital. She became Clinical Lead for the Birmingham Integrated Practice Unit in December 2017, overseeing clinical practice for eight wards.

Catherine began her career as a mental health nurse in 2003.

Dr Paul Wallang joined St Andrew’s Healthcare as a Consultant Psychiatrist in October 2012. He previously worked in the NHS, and since joining the Charity has worked on several wards caring for patients in both low and medium security.

Paul’s specialist areas are neuro-developmental disorders and early trauma. He is also the outcomes lead for the charity and has an interest in value-based healthcare.

Dr Muthu Natarajan is Clinical Director for our Dementia, Huntington's Disease and Acquired Brain Injury Integrated Practice IPUs.

He has been with St Andrew's since 2010, speciaising in forensic psychiatry for older adults and working closely with NHS commissioners to improve clinical services. Muthu has spoken at numerous conferences and written in mental healthcare journals.

Dr Harm Boer joined the team at St Andrew’s in October 2019 as a Clinical Director for Adult Developmental Disorders. Dr Boer joins us from the Huntercombe Group, where he played a major part in the development and expansion of their forensic Intellectual Disability services.

Dr Boer has extensive experience in working with people with learning disabilities, and has been involved in significant research, particularly focussing on Prader-Willi Syndrome.

Tom joined St Andrew’s as Communications Director in February 2015. He joined the charity from the BGL Group - owners of financial services brands including comparethemarket.com.

Tom has been a communications and corporate affairs professional for many years, joining Accenture as a graduate trainee and then working for Diageo both in the UK and the Far East, where his final role was Corporate Relations Director, Asia Key Markets, based in Bangkok.

Tom also has overall responsibility for Workbridge and Voluntary Services.

Alex joined St Andrew’s Healthcare as Director of Estates & Facilities in June 2018. He is responsible for estates and asset strategy, hard and soft facilities management, project delivery and service delivery improvement.

A Chartered Surveyor, Alex has held senior roles within medical organisations including Nuffield Health, Virgin Care and BUPA Care Services. In addition he has worked at infrastructure businesses including Manchester Airports Group where he sat on the Divisional Executive Board of the Estates and Development arm.