Executive Directors
Lorraine was appointed as Chief Executive at the Trust with effect from May 2024 having formally been the Interim Chief Executive from August 2023.
Lorraine graduated from De Montfort University with a mental health nursing qualification. She has over 20 years’ registered nurse experience having started her career working in adult mental health inpatient services.
Lorraine joined the Trust in 2002 as a charge nurse in the forensic directorate; she was appointed as Head of Nursing for Forensic Services and in 2015 was appointed as Deputy Director of Nursing for London Mental Health. She became Interim Chief Nurse in November 2017 and was substantially appointed in June 2018. She was appointed as Deputy CEO at the Trust in June 2021.
Lorraine is a Myers-Briggs Step 2 Administrator, Nye Bevan Health Care Leadership Programme and Race Equality in the work place (WRES Expert).
Lorraine’s qualifications include Registered Nurse (Mental Health).
David was appointed as Chief Medical Officer in May 2023 having previously carried out the interim role from July 2022.
David joined ELFT in 2006 as a specialist registrar. In 2010 he was appointed as consultant in general adult psychiatry, working in a sector general adult Consultant post in Newham where he also served as an Associate Clinical Director for a period of two years.
In 2014 David was appointed as Clinical Director in City and Hackney where he also worked as a consultant in primary care liaison psychiatry. In 2018 he was appointed as the Medical Director for ELFT’s London mental health services and continued in a limited clinical role in primary care liaison.
In 2022 he was appointed as Responsible Person for the Use of Force Act. His role is to ensure that the organisation complies with the requirements of the Use of Force Act. Clinical Directors are nominated leads for the Use of Force Act and carry out the Responsible Person’s functions that are delegated to them.
Barbara was appointed Acting Chief People Officer in May 2025 having served as Deputy Director of People & Culture since August 2022.
Barbara began her NHS career at Lewisham & Greenwich, before moving on to King’s College Hospital and Imperial College Healthcare where she gained a breadth of experience in workforce development and employee engagement.
She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and has led several people-focused initiatives to strengthen teams and enhance staff wellbeing.
Tanya joined the Trust in 2016 as the Associate Director of Human Resources and was appointed as the Trust’s interim Director of Human Resources in May 2018, until her substantive appointment in July 2018.
Tanya has Human Resource management experience spanning over 25 years within a number of public sector organisations; a significant period of which has been spent in middle and senior management positions, managing multi-disciplinary teams.
Tanya has worked in a primary care Trust and three acute care NHS Trusts, as well as working in two London local authorities and further education colleges. Her experience also includes lecturing on undergraduate programmes and working as a management consultant with PriceWaterhouseCooper (PwC).
Tanya is also currently the co-Chair of the London HR Directors network on behalf on NHS Employers. In October 2022, Tanya was recognised in the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Top 50 most influential Black, Asian Minority Ethnic leaders in the NHS in 2022.
Tanya has a Postgraduate diploma in HR Management, an MA in Strategic HR Management, and a certificate in Organisational Development. She is also a Chartered Fellow Member of the Charted Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD).
Kevin joined the Trust in July 2023 as the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) having previously been the Chief Finance Officer and Deputy CEO at the Whittington Health NHS Trust. He is also a Director at Health Care & Space Newham, a joint venture between the Trust and London Borough of Newham.
Having professional trained in the south west and worked in industry and commerce for 10 years, Kevin began his NHS career in 2008 at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.
Since 2011 Kevin has operated at deputy or director level across a variety of NHS organisations whose services covered ambulance, community, mental health and acute provision, allowing him to gain a breath of NHS provider services knowledge.
Kevin is a support of QI initiatives to drive financial improvement and promotes system collaboration to maximise patient outcomes and experience. He also has a passion for staff development and encourages his teams to maximise the potential of learning opportunities.
Kevin is a Fellow Chartered and Certified Accountant.
Philippa joined the Trust in July 2020 as Chief Digital Officer. She was previously the Chief Digital Information Officer for Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and has been an Executive Director of Operations & Transformation in two acute Trusts prior to this. Philippa is also a Director at Health Care & Space Newham, a joint venture between the Trust and London Borough of Newham.
Philippa has worked in a variety of senior strategic and operational roles and in a range of settings including A&E and estates. She has a background in radiology, and has conducted research into neurology, pathology and paediatrics at King’s College Medical School.
Philippa’s passion is digital transformation, to learn what good looks like from all sectors, and she led a team that partnered with a F1 racing company to learn about the value of analytics in the diagnosis of problems, and to share with them the knowledge to manage a fully mobile delivery platform. She has also partnered with a HIMSS level 7 hospital in Cascais in Portugal which is a world leader in digitally informed healthcare.
Philippa’s qualifications include BSc (Hons), MBA and is an NHS Digital Academy Leadership Graduate.
Richard joined the Trust as Director of Integrated Care in June 2015 and joined the Trust Board in 2017. He was appointed as Deputy CEO at the Trust in July 2022 and is a Director at Compass Wellbeing CIC, a Trust subsidiary..
Richard was previously Director of Mental Health & Joint Commissioning at NHS Tower Hamlets CCG where he worked as part of the East London Mental Health Consortium commissioning mental health services across east London. Prior to that, Richard worked in a variety of commissioning and provider leadership roles, including general manager and CMHT manager roles in the Trust.
Richard is a qualified social worker and has worked in acute hospital social work, mental health social work and as an Approved Social Worker.
Richard’s qualifications include BA(Hons) in English Literature, Diploma in Social Work, MA in Social Work, Masters in Public Administration.
Claire was appointed as Chief Nurse in July 2024 having formerly been appointed as the Interim Chief Nurse at the Trust on 21 August 2023. Prior to this, she was Director of Nursing for Bedfordshire and Luton.
Claire trained as a mental health nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital (now Barts Health Trust) and apart from a year of travelling, has developed and honed her skills at the Trust as a staff nurse in City and Hackney. She was a CAMHS service manager and lead nurse in Newham before becoming Director of Nursing where she was responsible for adults and CAMHS services.
Claire a MAPPA trainer specialising in child and adolescent mental health care. She is the Trust lead for safeguarding adults and children, and is active in the ELFT Ability Staff Network, working to reduce barriers for staff and service users with a disability.
Edwin was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in June 2021 having formerly been appointed as Director of Operations in January 2020 and Interim Chief Operating Officer in October 2020. He was appointed as a Deputy CEO in November 2023.
Edwin is a mental health nurse by background and has held various nursing and management roles in a range of settings including forensic mental health services and adult mental health services. He was the Borough Lead Nurse and Associate Clinical Director for Newham adult mental health services between 2009 and 2015 before taking up the Borough Director position for Tower Hamlets in 2016.
Edwin is also a Trustee at St mungo’s Homeless Charity and is the secretary of the Jabili Men’s Network CIC.
Edwin holds a Registered Nurse qualification RMN, MPA and the Nye Bevan Healthcare Leadership Programme award.
Amar has been the Chief Quality Officer at the Trust since 2017 and is a consultant forensic psychiatrist. He has led the approach to quality at ELFT for the last decade. Amar’s portfolio includes quality, performance, strategy, planning and business intelligence.
Amar is the National Clinical Director for Improvement at NHS England and is the National Improvement Lead for Mental Health at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, leading several national improvement collaboratives on topics such as mental health equality and workforce well-being. He is Chair of the QI faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of Leicester and City University, London.
Amar is also a member of the National Improvement Board at NHS England, a member of the Health Foundation Q Advisory Board and a Council member for the Healthcare Costing for Value Institute (HFMA). He is an improvement advisor and faculty member for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, teaching and guiding improvers and healthcare systems across the world, and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Group at IHI.
Amar’s qualifications include MMBS, MRCPsych, MA (Hons), LLM, MBA and PGCMedEd.
