Governance

Governance

Key to the Foundation’s governance, the Board is currently composed of eleven Trustees. The Trustees lead and have ultimate responsibility for the Foundation. They are responsible for directing the Foundation’s affairs, providing appropriate oversight of delegated activity undertaken by the Foundation’s Executive Team, governance and leadership to the Foundation in the pursuit of its strategies to fulfil its mission. The Board meets six times per year plus an away day each year, alongside sitting on a variety of more focused sub-committees.

Julia Palca is Vice Chair of the Board. Julia was a partner in the law firm Olswang for many years and a part-time judge. Among her third sector roles, Julia has been Chair of MacMillan Cancer Support, where she remains Deputy President, Chair of the Royal Free Charity, Chair of City, University of London, and Senior Independent Director at the Nuffield Trust. Julia’s current roles include chairing the Mines Advisory Group and being Deputy Chair of City St George’s, University of London. Julia sits on our Charities Strategy Committee, Nominations Committee and People Committee.

David Bennett spent his professional career in financial services. He most recently spent 13 years at the investment consultancy, Redington. During his time there he was a senior consultant advising on a diverse portfolio of institutional investors, Head of Investment Consulting, Chair of the Investment Strategy Committee and a Board Member. His current roles include being a Trustee of the Science Museum Foundation, a Director of the John Lewis Partnership Pensions Trust and a member of the Investment Committee of the BBC Pension Scheme. David chairs our Investment Committee and sits on our Finance and Audit Committee.

Sir Ron Kerr is the Trust nominated Trustee. He was appointed as a lay member of the Council for King’s College London in August 2019 and Chair of NHS Providers in July 2019. Prior to this, he joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Executive in 2007. He stepped down in October 2015 after 30 years in senior NHS leadership roles while remaining with the Trust before becoming special advisor to the Board. His other Chief Executive roles have included the National Care Standards Commission, United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust and the South East London Commissioning Agency. Ron sits on our Charities Strategy Committee.

Yasemin Saltuk Lamy is MD, Head of Asset Allocation and Capital Solutions for British International Investment plc. She previously covered Digital Identity and Innovation at Omidyar Network and had several roles at J.P. Morgan in London across derivatives and impact investing. Yasemin earned a Master of Science with merit in financial mathematics from King’s College London. She chairs our Funds Committee, which is a sub-committee of the Investment Committee.

Andrew Lee has held senior executive and Board positions as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Security Officer in the financial services industry for 35 years. Now retired from executive roles he currently holds non-executive Board roles at St Andrew’s Healthcare Trust, Birmingham Assay Institution and The Scottish Building Society. Andrew chairs our Finance and Audit Committee.

Dr Danny Sriskandarajah is Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation and has previously been Chief Executive of Oxfam GB. Prior to this, he held leadership roles at CIVICUS – the global civil society alliance – the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Commonwealth Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research. He holds a Masters and Doctorate from Oxford University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Sydney, and is a Trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee. Danny chairs our Charities Strategy Committee and sits on our Nomination Committee. Danny is also the Board’s DEI lead.

Pamela Thomas is a Director in PwC’s Financial Services Advisory practice. She is an experienced international business transformation executive, with 20+ years of diversified expertise advising leaders in FTSE 100 financial institutions, energy and the public sector on transforming their organisations. Previously she worked at Accenture and Capita leading enterprise-wide transformations for clients. Pamela sits on our Investment Committee and chairs our Impact on Urban Health Committee.

Katherine Ward is Entrepreneur in Residence in the HealthTech team at Oxford Science Enterprises. She has worked in healthcare for over 30 years: 15 years in the NHS in both provider and payer roles and 11 years with UnitedHealth Group, where she was Chief Executive of UnitedHealth UK and, later, Chief Growth Officer for Optum International. Katherine chairs our People Committee and sits on our Nominations Committee.

Johnson Situ is Director of Co-Chairs Office and Diplomacy, C40 Cities, where he works with City Mayors and their teams around the world on climate initiatives. Johnson previously worked with the Mayor of London, including on initiatives to reduce knife crime and improve opportunities for young people.

Kirsty McHugh is Chief Executive of the Carers Trust. Kirsty provides experience from across the public sector, public policy, local authority and fundraising specialisms. She was formally a Lambeth Councillor and is an experienced trustee.

The Foundation’s staff team is led by Laurie Lee, as Chief Executive, and an executive team comprising:

 

Peter Babudu (Executive Director of Impact on Urban Health). Peter leads all areas of our work at Impact on Urban Health.

Emma Davies (Chief Investment Officer). Emma oversees our endowment and leads our investment strategy to help us shape our role as an engaged investor and deliver on our dual mandate of positive financial returns and broader impact outcomes that support our mission.

Cynthia Duodu (Chief People Officer). Cynthia and her team are accountable for driving our People Strategy, establishing the vision and leading on all people operations and programmes.

Rob Halkyard (Executive Director of Charities). Rob leads the Foundation’s work with the NHS to provide faster, fairer healthcare. He has strategic oversight of fundraising, marketing, impact, and operations, as well as three public-facing charity brands.

Stuart Howard (Chief Financial Officer). Stuart is our CFO with responsibility for all financial and legal matters across the foundation.

Governance and Committees

Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation is an independent charitable company, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, with charity number 1160316. The Foundation is registered at Companies House as a company limited by guarantee, with number 9341980.

Our registered office is The Grain House, 46 Loman Street, London, SE1 0EH.

The Foundation is the Trustee of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Endowed Charity, Evelina London Children’s Charity, Guy’s Cancer Charity and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity, and a number of other linked charities.

The Foundation owns 100% of the share capital of three trading subsidiary companies: GSTC Property Investments Ltd, GSTC Health Innovations Ltd and GSTC Property Developments Ltd.

The charitable objects of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation are: any charitable purpose or purposes relating to the general or specific purposes of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust or the purposes of the health service (as described in section 1 of the NHS Act 2006 or any statutory modification of that section), including but without limitation by:

1. securing improvements in physical and mental health.
2. securing improvements in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental illness.
3. the promotion and protection of public health.

Committees

As well as our Board of Trustees, we have a number of sub-committees that support our governance:

Finance and Audit Committee

This committee takes responsibility for overseeing financial governance and all matters relating to internal and external audit, oversees the maintenance of an effective system of internal financial controls, management reporting and risk management, and advises the Board on governance arrangements. It reports to the Board of Trustees.

People Committee

This committee develops policy on staff remuneration, approves overall spending on staff remuneration and benefits and monitors board composition. It also approves senior executive remuneration and terms of employment of the Chief Executive and considers succession planning and recruitment to senior management positions. It reports to the Board of Trustees.

Charities Strategy Committee

This committee, operating under delegated authority from the Board, is responsible for setting the strategic direction of fundraising and fund spending, providing long-term strategic advice on all work with the Trust and NHS influencing work, and considering the strategic fit of funding and fundraising projects with a value of over £2m.

Impact on Urban Health Committee

This committee, operating under delegated authority from the Board, is responsible for providing strategic oversight and guidance to Impact on Urban Health (the programmatic area of the Foundation’s activities). The committee advises on strategic direction for cross-programmatic learning, reviews the progression of our programmes and, if appropriate, recommends for approval the funding of Impact on Urban Health proposals above £2m.

Investment Committee 

This committee takes responsibility for investment strategy and management of the Foundation’s non-programme-related assets and the investment of the assets of the Endowed Charity and other linked charities, which are held by the Foundation as sole corporate Trustee. It reports to the Board of Trustees.

The Investment Committee has two sub-committees:

Fund Investment Committee

This committee is responsible for making investment decisions, with oversight from the Investment Committee, with a view to overseeing and guiding our initiative to build a portfolio of funds that generate both risk-adjusted financial returns and health benefits in the UK.

Property Committee

This committee is responsible for overseeing and guiding our major property projects. It can approve certain activities up to agreed thresholds and reports to the Investment Committee. For activities above the agreed thresholds, the committee makes recommendations to the Investment Committee for approval.

Nominations Committee:

This committee considers Board succession and recruitment. It reports to the Board of Trustees.

Executive Commitees

Executive Investment Committee

This committee, operating under delegated authority from the Board, is responsible for the Foundation’s activities as an independent health foundation, under its Impact on Urban Health brand.

Trust Funding Committees

Evelina Children’s Fund Committee

This committee meets regularly during the year and is responsible for considering applications for funding from the Evelina Children’s Fund.

Cancer Funds Committee

This committee meets regularly during the year and is responsible for overseeing Special Purpose Funds benefiting cancer services and considering applications for funding to improve cancer care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

The Charitable Fund Committee

This committee meets regularly during the year and awards grants to improve patient care and experience and to support staff across Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

The Samaritan Fund Committee

This committee oversees strategy and spend for the Samaritan Special Purpose Fund, which exists to support vulnerable patients of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust including those in financial need.