Non-Executive Directors

Eileen joined the Trust in November 2018 and was appointed as the Joint Chair across East London NHS Foundation Trust and North East London NHS Foundation Trust with effect from 1 January 2023.  She was reappointed as Joint Chair for three years from October 1, 2024.
Eileen was Acting Chair of ELFT from 4 April 2022 and prior to this was appointed Vice-Chair of London in March 2019 and subsequently of the Trust from October 2020.

Eileen is a veteran investment banker with 38 years’ experience within global leadership roles based in Asia, US and the UK.  She has held a range of senior roles in Deutsche Bank over 30 years including Global Head of Regulatory Management and CEO of DB UK Bank Ltd.  Eileen has held Chief Operating Officer roles at Global Markets Europe, Global Foreign Exchange and the Institutional Client Group. She was also Chair of the Catalyst Europe Advisory Board and was the Co-Chair of the Task Force of Talent Innovation.

Eileen Taylor is currently a Non-Executive Director of MUFG Securities EMEA, Ltd and is the Chair of the Joint Remuneration Committee and member of the Audit Committee of MUFG Bank London Branch. She has also served as a Trustee on the Board of the East London Alliance (ELBA) Charity as well as on the Advisory Council of Heart of the City Charity and is formerly a Board member of the British Bankers Association (2013–2016).

Aamir joined the Trust in November 2018 as a Non-Executive Director and was appointed as Vice-Chair (London) of the Trust with effect from 1 January 2023, having acted up in this role since July 2022.

Aamir is a well-versed entrepreneur, having founded a number of businesses in retail and hospitality including founder and CEO of furniture retailer Dwell. He was Lloyds TSB Asian Retail Entrepreneur Jewel award winner in 2008.

Aamir is a Trustee and Director at children’s mental health charity Place2Be. He is currently in training to be a psychotherapist and working with diverse clients including asylum seekers and survivors of abuse.

Other previous positions include Strategy Consultant with Boston Consulting Group and Senior Group Strategy positions at Laura Ashley and Diageo. He is also a former foster carer with Lambeth and Albert Kennedy Trust, working closely with disadvantaged LGBT teenagers.

Alison joined the Trust in April 2024 as a Non-Executive Director.

Alison was the founding CEO of the Financial Services Culture Board (FSCB), a not-for-profit body established in the wake of the global financial crisis to help banks and other firms manage their organisational cultures and share learning and good practice across the sector.

Alison began her career as an economist, working in investment banking. She then joined HM Treasury where she held a number of policy roles including, over the six years to 2015, Director of Financial Services. As a member of the Department’s senior leadership team, she also had specific responsibility for its people strategy and related functions.

Alison was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2015. She is a Trustee of Phoenix Futures, a charity that helps individuals, families and communities recover from drug and alcohol problems. She is a member of the Education and Charity Committee of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers, and a Fellow of the Society of Professional Economists.

Richard joined the Trust in December 2020 as a Non-Executive Director after almost 26 years as a local authority chief executive, and was appointed as the Trust’s Senior Independent Director from 1 November 2023.

Richard was the first Chief Executive of Central Bedfordshire Council, a unitary authority created from the merger of a County Council and two District Councils in 2009. In his 11 years at the helm, the Council delivered significant improvements in key areas such as Children’s Services, Adult Social Care and Regeneration, against the background of a challenging financial climate. 

Richard has worked for seven councils throughout his career. He became Chief Executive of East Cambridgeshire District Council in 1995 and then Aylesbury Vale District Council in 2000.  He then took the helm at Wolverhampton City Council in 2006.

Between May 2017 and October 2020, Richard was the Senior Responsible Officer for the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care System (ICS) serving a population of a million people and comprising fifteen organisations straddling the NHS and local government. Richard has also been a university governor and a governor of two colleges of further education. 

Richard now runs a small management consultancy whose assignments have included working with the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also Managing Director for the East Midlands Development Company and Interim Managing Director of Colchester Amphora Holdings Ltd.

Anit joined the Trust in November 2018 as a Non-Executive Director and is also the Trust’s Audit Committee Chair.

Anit is a qualified Finance Director with blue-chip experience and a track record of business partnership and commercial finance leadership.

Anit is currently on secondment to the Department of Transport as Interim Director General for Rail Infrastructure Group from his role as Lead Director at the Great British Railways Transition Team, Anit has worked diligently within various senior financial roles at Network Rail including Chief of Staff (2019-2021), Director of Business Planning and Strategy (2018–2019) and Financial Director of Network Rail Infrastructure Projects (2013–2018).  He has held multiple senior roles at Network Rail Finance Division (2007-2013) including Finance Director in the Asset Management Division, and was previously Financial Controller of Multiple Foods Ltd (2005-2007) and held various financial roles at Shell Oil and J Sainsbury (1993-2013).

Anit has also been Non-Executive Director of Permanent Way Institution (2016-2018) and Chair of Trustees, Network Rail Pension Scheme (CARE and DC).

Anit has been recognised three times in the Financial Times list of The 100 Leading Ethnic Minority Executives.

Peter joined the Trust on 1 April 2023 as a Non-Executive Director.

Peter is an investment and development professional with over 35 years’ experience, with the past decade engaged in private equity real estate.  He is currently a senior adviser at PineBridge Benson Elliott LLP focusing on UK regeneration projects - homes, commercial, leisure, workspace and healthcare developments; and was previously responsible for the strategic performance of multi-location portfolios for mixed commercial and residential properties.t.

Peter holds a number of Non-Executive Director appointments that includes being a Governor of the John Whitgift Foundation; Member of the TfL Properties Investment Advisory Group; Non-Executive Director at Barking Enterprise Centres CIC; and a Trustee of Ormiston Trust.

Sam joined the Trust in January 2020 as a Non-Executive Director.

Sam has been a GP in Tower Hamlets since 1989 in the Bromley-by- Bow Partnership. The centre has over 100 projects under its roof supporting the wider determinants of health. The social prescribing delivered at the centre is now part of a network of two thousand across the country and is in the process of being put in every general practice in the country. He is Vice-Chair of North East London CCG.

Sam is a member of BMA Council and RGCP Council, and Vice President of the BMA. In 1999, he received an OBE for services to inner-city primary care in 2006, the International Award of Excellence in Health Care and in 2015 a knighthood for services to primary care. He is a member of the Ministerial National NHS Infrastructure and NHS Resolution Boards, and is Fellow and Honorary Professor of Queen Mary University of London and Vice President of the Queen's Nursing Institute.

Sam has previously been a member of GMC Council, Cabinet appointed Ambassador for Social Enterprise, Acting Chair of the BMA, adviser to shadow cabinet ministers between 1992 and 1997 and national advisor to NHS England’s New Models of Care project.

Dame Donna joined the Trust in January 2021 as a Non-Executive Director.

Dame Donna was General Secretary and Chief Executive of The Royal College of Nursing (RCN). She was responsible for delivering the RCN's strategic and operational plans and promoting patient and nursing interests on a wide range of issues.

She is a Non-Executive Director at the Royal Free Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; a Board Member of the NHS Race & Observatory and of UCL Partners (health research); and a Trustee at Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Prior to joining the RCN, Dame Donna held various roles including Clinical Director of Emergency Medicine, Executive Director of Nursing and Director of Commissioning. She has specialised in child protection, providing leadership in major hospital Trusts in London, teaching, and advising on legal and governmental committees.

Sue joined the Trust in April 2023 as a Non-Executive Director; she is also currently a Non-Executive Director and chair of the Audit Committee at both Barking, Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and North East London NHS Foundation Trust. 

Sue is a qualified chartered accountant with more than 30 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors including a period working within the NHS and local government.  She has led large capital programmes including the delivery of a number of new healthcare facilities as well as leading a number of back-office services in local government including ICT.

Sue is the former Chief Executive of Elevate East London, a joint not-for-profit adventure between the London Borough of Barking and Agilysis, an innovation and technology consultancy company.  Previously she was Divisional Director of Assets and Commercial Services for London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, and CEO of Barking and Havering LIFTCo, a partnership delivering new build health centres between 2003 and 2008.

Deborah joined the Trust in January 2021 as a Non-Executive Director and was appointed as Vice-Chair (Bedfordshire & Luton) of the Trust with effect from 1 January 2023, having acted up in this role since July 2022.

Deborah trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital, spending her clinical career in orthopaedic nursing before moving into nursing management.  She has been Director of Nursing at several NHS Trusts in London and became Deputy Regional Chief Nurse for NHS England South Region. More recently, Deborah moved back to a Director of Nursing post at the North Middlesex Hospital, before retiring from full-time work at the end of 2019. 

Deborah is a Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholar and received the Chief Nursing Officer’s Gold Award for lifetime achievement in 2019. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at North East London NHS FT and is also a Trustee of two national charities – Epilepsy Society and Revitalise Respite Holidays.