Meet the team

As Chief Executive, Kathryn has overall responsibility for Yorkshire Cancer Research. Kathryn took up the post in 2017 after having spent three years developing and delivering a new research strategy to ensure the work we do delivers the maximum benefit to cancer patients.

Prior to joining Yorkshire Cancer Research, Kathryn was a post-doctoral scientist for ten years and has a degree and PhD in molecular biology.

Juliet leads the Fundraising, Marketing and Communication teams and joined the charity in 2017. She has 25 years’ strategic marketing experience gained in financial services and, since 2008, has provided consultancy to wide-ranging businesses including not-for-profit organisations and charities. Juliet has a degree in Combined Studies from Liverpool University and post-graduate diploma qualifications in marketing, banking and in counselling skills – which she studied to support her volunteering work with two different mental and physical health charities.

As Director of Retail & Operations, Tony has direct responsibility for the charity’s shops, donation centre and café. Tony took up the post in April 2023 having spent five years developing the charity’s retail proposition.

Tony has a broad range of project management and stakeholder management experience and has worked as a retail specialist for over 25 years. Prior to joining Yorkshire Cancer Research, Tony had various senior roles at Asda including leading a team which delivered over 50 new stores. These roles involved working with many parts of the business including supply, merchandising, property, trading, operations, and HR.

Stuart has led the Research, Services & Policy team since 2018. He has extensive experience of working with cancer patients and researchers to tackle cancer having worked in various cancer charities. Before joining the charity, he was Assistant Director of Research and Strategy at Breast Cancer Now and has spent time as the Head of Strategy and Initiatives at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). He is also a 2014 Clore Social Fellow, having been selected to take part in the prestigious Clore Social Leadership Programme.

Joanne joined the charity in 2018. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994 with Arthur Andersen, having gained a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Law from Manchester University. She has over 20 years' experience in finance, with senior roles at General Electric as well as in the automotive, brewing and haircare industries.

Alan is a retired public servant with a career spanning almost fifty years in the National Health Service and Higher Education. This included significant periods as the Chief Executive of the NHS in England, the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds.

A graduate of the University of Glasgow, he has a lifelong interest in the scientific basis of health services, including significant contributions as the Chair of UK Biobank, Chair of the Health Foundation and as a founding director of the Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and five Medical Royal Colleges, with honorary doctorates awarded by a number of leading universities.

Martin sits on our Strategy and Impact Committee.

Martin retired in September 2021 after working for the NHS for 49 years in healthcare management. During the last 27 years of his career, he served five NHS Trusts as their Chief Executive. A key focus of his work was modernising mental health services and services for people who have a learning disability, and leading culture and organisational development in both mental health and general hospital services.

Martin is currently the Chair of York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a Governor of Leeds Beckett University and a Trustee of the charity Zarach whose prime purpose is providing beds for children who do not have a bed to sleep in.

He lives in Harrogate with his wife. They have two daughters and two granddaughters.

Jo sits on our People & Culture Committee.

Jo has over 25-years’ experience at KPMG having spent most of that time in Management Consulting, specialising in operational transformation and customer experience excellence and more latterly in a variety of internal roles spanning bid, operational and project management. Her current role is centred on delivering and facilitating continuous improvement internally and managing the firm’s policy library.

Jo has a BA Joint Honours degree in Geography and Management Studies from Leeds University and has completed an Executive MBA during her time at KPMG.

Jo was diagnosed with advanced cancer in 2014 and has been benefiting from the drug Lynparza which was discovered with funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research. From her first-hand experience, she is a firm believer in the physical and psychological benefit of exercise when navigating cancer, so always tries to make time to exercise around a busy family schedule.

Craig sits on our Income Generation Committee and our Finance and Investment Committee.

Having graduated with a Masters’ Degree in Economics, Craig has gained extensive experience across both the Retail and Hospitality sectors, latterly as the Chief Executive of Travelodge Hotels, having spent the first 23 years of his career at Asda / Walmart. During this time Craig held a number of roles including Operations Director for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Managing Director for City Facilities Management, and Vice President of Store Proposition and Format Development. Craig is married to Karlyn, and they have three children, Jack, Craig and Lauren.

As well as being Chair of our Compliance & Risk Committee, Sandra also sits on our Strategy & Impact Committee. She was the Chairman of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust between 2008 to 2017 and maintains her own business providing consultancy and training to both the professional and health sectors. Sandra is also Chair of the Members of the Red Kite Multi-Academy Trust and Trustee of the Masiphumelele Trust, the UK arm of a South African charity raising funds for education and business support for the Masiphumelele township in the southern Cape of Africa.

As well as being Chair of our Income Generation Committee, Clare sits on our People & Culture Committee.

Clare has worked in Marketing for 30 years for blue-chip businesses, in branded goods and service sectors, across the UK and international markets. Her most recent role was as UK Marketing Director for Cox Automotive, part of the world’s largest automotive services business in the used vehicle marketplace.

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in Pure & Applied Biology, Clare started her career as a management trainee with Mars. She has worked for Northern Foods, as Marketing Director of Fox’s Biscuits and as Group Marketing Executive across 18 operating companies. She was Marketing Director of Aunt Bessie’s and has service industry experience with the train operating company, GNER, as Sales & Marketing Director and in retailing as Director of Customer Service and Internal Communication at Asda Walmart. Clare has also run her own successful marketing consultancy business advising key clients.

Heather sits on our Strategy and Impact Committee. 

Heather has over 30 years of experience in leading business change, digital and technical transformation, mainly in the financial services and retail sectors.

She is currently a Non-Executive Director with Ikano Bank, Rothesay PLC and Skipton Building Society and has previously held a number of other NED positions. During her executive career, she worked with a wide variety of organisations from start-ups to top 10 FTSE companies including Accenture, Burton Group, Asda, Boots, Capital One, HBOS/Lloyds usually as CIO/CTO or Chief Operating Officer.

From Huddersfield originally, Heather now lives in North Yorkshire with her three sons and spends as much of her free time as possible doing something active outside!

Sam sits on our Compliance & Risk Committee.

Sam is a Solicitor and is currently a Partner in the Trusts, Wills and Estates team at Raworths LLP in Harrogate having trained at Gordons LLP in Leeds. Sam has an LLM in Legal Practice and a BA (Hons) degree in Environmental Management from the University of Leeds.

Outside of work, Sam enjoys cycling, running and hiking and is kept busy and entertained by his young sons, Oscar and Arthur.

Matt sits on our Finance & Investment Committee.

Matt has worked in financial services for over 30 years. For the last 25 years he has been an investment actuary providing advice and fiduciary management services to large UK-based pension schemes.

Matt headed up the Leeds investment team for Willis Towers Watson for over 15 years and retired in 2021. His clients included the trustees for, and corporate teams at, a number of FTSE 100 companies. Matt is married to Jayne, and they have three children, Ruby, Victor, and Iris.

Bobby sits on our Compliance & Risk and People & Culture Committees.

Bobby is a chartered accountant and has held several senior and board level Finance, Risk and IT roles at Skipton Group and KPMG over the past 25 years.

Sandy sits on our Income Generation Committee.

Sandy is a qualified Chartered Secretary and holds a Diploma in German. She has experience of working for two national charities, in television and for Chambers of Commerce in the Yorkshire region and as a non-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce. Sandy was the Chief Executive of the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and established a subsidiary company providing loans to business.

Yvette has recently retired from NHS England where she was the Regional Medical Director for the North-East & Yorkshire. Since “retirement” from Leeds Teaching Hospitals where she was the Chief Medical Officer, she has been involved in the NHS response to the Covid-19 pandemic firstly as the Medical Director for the Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and Humber and then as the North-East & Yorkshire Clinical Lead for the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme. During her time in Leeds, the Trust went through a significant transformation – improving staff engagement, quality of care and achieving financial turnaround. Yvette was a key instigator and executive leader of the Leeds Improvement Method – working in collaboration with the Virginia Mason Institute in Seattle. She also led significant improvements in Research, Postgraduate and Undergraduate Medical Education. Yvette retired as Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Chief Executive for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) in May 2020 after seven years in post.

She was previously the Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Chief Executive of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and before that the Executive Medical Director of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS (CHFT) Foundation Trust. Yvette graduated in Medicine from the University of Leeds and went on to become a Consultant Paediatrician.

Yvette has extensive experience in leading through clinical engagement, major service change, reconfiguring hospital services and working across organisational boundaries to deliver improvements in healthcare. Yvette is a Lay Member of Council for the University of Leeds.

Paul sits on our Compliance & Risk Committee.

Paul is the Joint Chief Digital and Information Officer for Bradford NHS Foundation Trust, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Airedale and Craven Locality. He is responsible for supporting and enabling the rapid and effective uptake of digital technology in care pathways and new service models across health and care.

He has been the SRO (Senior Responsible Owner) for substantial national digital transformation programmes concerned with hospital care, mental health, primary care, maternal and child health and diagnostics.

Paul was formerly the director of the Long-Term Conditions programme in Yorkshire and Humber with a focus on Telehealth. He has been a Primary Care Trust director, a transformation director in the NHS Modernisation Agency and a policy lead in the Department of Health. He has published and spoken widely on the challenges and opportunities to deliver new service models utilising assistive technology/telehealth/information technology. He is passionate about inclusive digital transformation and ensuring that the interests and experiences of the diverse populations that our communities comprise are instrumental in how care is delivered and experienced.

Paul holds a BA degree in Law and Accounting (Manchester), a Masters in Informatics Leadership (Imperial) and a Doctorate in Medical Law and Bioethics (Manchester). He is also a graduate of the Said Business School (Oxford) where he completed the Major Projects Leadership Academy and has recently participated in the first cohort of the NHS Digital Academy. He is graduate of the NHS management training scheme.

Liz is a chartered accountant, having qualified with EY, after an early career with Lloyds Bank.

She was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Callcredit (now TransUnion), the consumer credit reference agency, and a founder member of the board which led the business from start-up to a significant private equity exit.

Liz currently sits as a non-executive director and audit committee chair of Dotdigital plc, with previous non-executive roles with LINK Scheme, Tracsis plc and Leeds Trinity University. 

She is a lay member of the Council of the University of Leeds where she also sits on the audit committee.