We are governed by a board of trustees, which consists of nine elected trustees and up to eight co-opted trustees. The elected trustees are elected from the British Red Cross' volunteers by a National Electoral College made up of two senior volunteers from each Territory.
Our co-opted trustees come from various backgrounds, such as business, the diplomatic service and the health sector, to lend their skills to the board.
Elected trustees
Sue Brown
©InfoSue trained in ballet, then continued to Farnham School of Art and became a sculptor. Having married and had two daughters, she then spent the following years working with exhibitions, costume and graphic design and various marketing projects.
As a councillor for the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Sue was chair of the main grant-giving committee. She joined the local Red Cross in 1998 on moving to Milborne Port, where she volunteered as a centre organiser. She has since taken on various roles, culminating in her election to the board of trustees in 2007.
Stella Cummings (vice-chair)
©InfoStella joined the Red Cross in 1988. In her local area, she has delivered meals on wheels across the barricades for more than 40 years and held a number of posts ranging from welfare advisor, deputy president, Branch president and council member. She was previously the volunteer council chair for Northern Ireland and has some experience of our care in the home services. Stella is currently a non-executive director with the Western Health and Social Care Trust.
Stan Fitches
©InfoStan joined the Red Cross as a first aider in 1964 while working in the NHS as an internal auditor. He joined the staff of the Red Cross as regional liaison officer, acting as the link between national headquarters and the Northern Branches. He went on to become regional director and then UK director for the North. When he retired from that post in 2003, he was appointed volunteer representation and governance adviser to help steer through changes in the constitution.He retired in October 2006 and was elected as one of the two trustees for Northern Territory. Stan is the first Red Cross member to have been a volunteer, a member of the senior management team and then a trustee.
Amy Foan
©InfoAmy is currently a trainee barrister and has a master's in international humanitarian law and human rights. She currently volunteers for the British Red Cross in humanitarian education, refugee services, fundraising and emergency response. Amy also completed an internship for the British Red Cross in Devon, where she authored and co-designed the Red Cross handbook for young volunteers, which was published in August 2008. Amy joined the board of trustees in 2010.
Paul Taylor
©InfoPaul started his career in industrial engineering then gained extensive experience in human resource management in the UK and internationally. For 14 years he worked with a Hong Kong non-profit organisation, and was most recently director of personnel at the Elizabeth Finn Trust.
Paul joined the British Red Cross as an emergency response volunteer in 2004. He has had various roles including fire and emergency services support (FESS) duty officer, undertaking numerous projects in the south-east and beyond, and served in his local coastguard’s search and rescue and first responder teams.
Paul is an active magistrate; a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Essex Advisory Committee, and a school governor. Paul is married to Marrolin and they have one son, Philip.
Lady Lamport
©InfoFollowing a career in the Foreign Office, including overseas postings in the US, Middle East and Italy, Angela worked for various organisations in London and was also a school governor.
She later became a teacher of English as a foreign language, working with Bosnian refugees and a wide range of international students. She joined the Red Cross in 2003 as President for Surrey. She has been a successful fundraiser and organiser of high profile events and has been instrumental in establishing the British Red Cross Tiffany Circle.
She is a member of the Red Cross Psychosocial Support Team which works with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to support British nationals in crisis overseas, and was deployed recently in Libya. She is due to retire from the board at the end of December 2013.
Gordon Low
©InfoGordon has a broad management background, including experience as a managing director of a manufacturing company. He has also spent considerable time supporting his local community as a founder of the Rossendale Community First Responder scheme and providing them with training and support for over six years.
Gordon has held many roles with the Red Cross, starting out over 23 years ago running a youth group and being a child protection officer for Burnley and Pendle before taking on emergency response roles, earning him the Red Cross Badge of Honour for Devoted Service. Gordon jointed the Red Cross' board in January 2011 so will finish his first term in 2014.
Vicky Peterkin (vice-chair)
©InfoVicky Peterkin is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has worked in both the public and voluntary sector. Much of her work has been with homeless people and vulnerable clients. She has been on the management committee of a number of housing associations and a governor of two schools.
She originally volunteered for the Red Cross in 1973. She joined the Tayside Branch Council in 2001 and was elected chair of the first Tayside volunteers council in 2003. She is both a fundraiser and a retail volunteer. Since 2004, she has worked in her local Red Cross shop in Kirriemuir, Angus. She became a trustee in 2007.
Keith Shipman
©InfoKeith has spent most of his career in the police service. As chief superintendent, he taught Strategic Management at the Police Staff College and chaired a United Nations Conference in Mozambique, giving the keynote speech on policing elections after the civil war.
After retiring, Keith ran a hotel, became East Knoyle Parish Council’s parish clerk, and managed its community shop. He was independent chairman of Wiltshire Council Standards Committee, and chairman of trustees for a classical music festival.
Keith joined the British Red Cross in 2010 as an event first aid volunteer, and has gone on to become group leader; training volunteers, running schools first aid courses, and community drug and alcohol rehabilitation groups. Keith volunteers with Helensburgh RNLI, and is on its management team. He is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Co-opted trustees
James Cochrane (chairman)
©InfoJames has spent his professional career in the pharmaceutical industry. Having been a member of the main board of Wellcome PLC, he joined the board of Glaxo Wellcome PLC in 1995. After retiring in 2001, James became chair of the South West London Strategic Health Authority, a post he held until mid-2006. James's experience in the voluntary sector is extensive. He is currently a trustee of the youth development charity Raleigh International and a board member of the Medicines for Malaria Venture and of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. James joined the British Red Cross as chairman in 2007. He is married to a GP and has four daughters.
Michael Herriot MBE
©InfoMike is currently the general manager (chief ambulance officer) for the Scottish Ambulance Service, Specialist Operational Services Division, where he has overall responsibility for policy development and strategic direction of specialised operations, corporate risk, resilience, business continuity, control centres and security. Previously he has been a course director for the Home Office Emergency Planning College, leading developments on NHS and crowd safety matters. He has been instrumental in the development of policy aimed at saving life, improving access to emergency treatment, patient care and health outcomes across the UK. One of the earliest UK paramedics, Mike is a CBRN and Multi-Agency Gold Commander. Mike joined the board of trustees in 2010. His first term of office will end in December 2012.
David Howell
©InfoDavid joined the British Red Cross as treasurer in late 2011. He chairs our finance and audit committee as well as the investment sub-committee. David had a long and successful career of over 35 years in senior financial management in the travel, communications and technology sectors. Notably he was executive chairman of Western & Oriental PLC from 2005 to 2010, prior to this he was chief financial officer of lastminute.com and group finance director of First Choice Holidays. Since retiring David is currently non-executive director of The Berkeley Group and chairman of their audit and a member of their nominations committee.
David Fall CMG (vice-chair)
©InfoDavid has served in the diplomatic service for more than 30 years. He is a former HM Ambassador to Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. He retired from the diplomatic service in October 2007. David's operational experience includes development and poverty reduction (working with DfID, NGOs and international development agencies in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand); disaster management (he led an embassy team for immediate response to the December 2004 Asian tsunami in Thailand, working closely with British Red Cross); and disaster recovery (working with Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum and British charities).
Steve John
©InfoSteve John is group director of corporate affairs for Bupa, the international healthcare group. He has extensive experience managing the reputations of multi-national companies, foreign governments, public bodies and trade associations. Previously, Steve was a partner at DLA Piper, the global law firm, and managing director of what is now global government relations, the firm’s government affairs and media relations practice. He provided counsel to a large number of blue chip companies including Tesco, BAA, Pfizer, Amazon and Orange. Steve has also worked as a political and current affairs journalist for ITN, and as a political and parliamentary analyst for a major infrastructure project. His first term of office will end in January 2014.
Dr Lise Llewellyn
©InfoLise is currently the chief executive of Berkshire Primary Care Trust. She entered the NHS through general practice before taking a master's in healthcare management and moving into senior management roles in the NHS. Previously, she has been chief executive of Brent Primary Care Trust and South Peterborough Primary Care Trust, as well as being involved in a number of specialist panels and government thinking groups. Lise joined the board of trustees in 2010, bringing her expertise in health and social care work to the Red Cross.
Graham Stegmann CBE
©InfoGraham is currently the special adviser to the president of the African Development Bank. He spent most of his career in London and overseas with the Department for International Development (DfID), most recently as Director for Africa 2000-2004 and then covering the UK Presidency of the G8 up to Gleneagles, Commission for Africa and the Millennium Summit. He joined the board of the British Red Cross in 2007 as an international trustee. He has a particular interest in the Red Cross’ work overseas and its relationships with international organisations.
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