Board of Trustees

With four children, including Fraser who has Cerebral Palsy and a large amount of daily care needs, Craig has first-hand experience of the challenges facing families caring for a child and young adult with complex health needs. As a WellChild Parent Ambassador, Craig has spoken about his experiences at a number of conferences, events and was part of the team that spearheaded the #notanurse_but campaign, shining a light on the reality of life behind closed doors for thousands of families. Craig is UK President at global technical consultancy firm, Tetra Tech. He is a Chartered Surveyor and a Fellow of the RICS, APM and CIOB.

Enjoying a business career spanning four decades Nick brings a wealth of experience to the WellChild board of trustees. Nick is the owner and CEO of Venture Studios, a nationwide family photography business. He has a PLC corporate background and is used to working in a disciplined and compliant structure. He is a member of the WellChild audit committee and in 2018 was appointed vice chairman of the board of trustees. He is a founder member of the corporate development board and also an advisor to the senior management team in his specialist area of marketing and fundraising.

Rosalind became a WellChild Trustee and Treasurer in 2018. Rosalind is a chartered accountant with nearly 20 years’ experience in practice and industry working for companies such as Andersen, PwC, Reuters and BT. She is currently Commercial Finance Director for Landsec, the UK’s the largest commercial property development and investment company. In addition to her role as Treasurer, Rosalind also chairs WellChild’s Audit Sub-committee.

Dr Evans has over 20 years of consultant experience. She was appointed in 2009 as a consultant respiratory paediatrician at University Hospital of Southampton NHS Foundation Trust having previously developed long term ventilation services for South Wales. She leads the regional long term ventilation service which now provides multi professional care for around 250 children. In addition she sees a varied population of children with complex health conditions as part of her general respiratory role. She regularly interacts with a wide range of health professionals and has enabled implementation of innovations to help enable children to thrive at home.

Simon is a Partner and Solicitor and the head of the Court of Protection and Deputyship team at Kingsley Napley LLP solicitors. He acts as a professional deputy or as a professional trustee for a broad range of clients, all with a multitude of differing needs and requirements including lacking mental capacity, specialising in property and financial affairs. Many have suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of medical negligence or personal injury, some have a mental illness or dementia, others have a learning disability. He has particular experience of working with young children and adults who have cerebral palsy and their families.

Simon is a member of the Law Society, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the Court of Protection Practitioners Association (COPPA) and the Professional Deputies Forum (PDF).

Anna joined WellChild in 2023 as a Trustee. Over 25 years her nursing career has spanned the acute, community and voluntary sectors. Anna has a passion for caring for and improving services for children living with clinical complexity and those living with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. Anna has previously worked as the director of children’s services at a children’s hospice and currently is working as head of clinical operations in preventative health. Anna also works as an associate lecturer at a local university lecturing on child health alongside working for two national clinical training companies, one of which specialises in clinical skills training for carers of children with clinical complexity. She has led several projects to develop service provision and to ensure the workforce can meet the clinical complexity of children and young people. Her work has been recognised on a national level including being an RCNi finalist for her work in long term ventilation and a Nursing Times finalist for her work in reducing social isolation for families and children with clinical complexity post Covid. Anna remains clinically current, working on the local children’s ward and also works as an expert paediatric nurse witness. Anna has completed a Florence Nightingale scholarship and now mentors new scholars. Anna has a love for education and has completed a BSc in professional practice and a BSc in community practice.

Claire has recently joined WellChild as a Parent/Carer Trustee. She is the mother of Emily & Christopher, twins with profound medical needs and physical disabilities. She has extensive lived experience of some of the most complex NHS Services, from Special Care Baby Unit, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, and other multiple paediatric departments at the Newcastle RVI, to Community Paediatricians and Nursing Teams within Gateshead through to Personal Health Budgets with the ICB.

Claire has completed the NHS England Personalised Care: Peer Leadership Foundation Courses, steps One and Two which explored the changing demand on the NHS, what personalised care is, where it came from, the difference it can make and how it enables culture change in the NHS. This included shared decision-making, social prescribing, patient choice, supported self-management, personalised care and how to help others to benefit from personalised care, along with support planning and personal health budgets.

Claire is a qualified Nutrition, Lifestyle and Stress Management Coach.

Amanda joined WellChild in February 2024. She brings 25 years of experience of working within the voluntary sector, holding a variety of senior leadership positions, with particular expertise in income generation, strategy development, building and driving financial growth and sustainability. She has been CEO for Motivation, a Bristol-based international disability development charity and social enterprise, since the start of 2017 and since then has been driving the organisation to maximise its impact and global reach. She is driven by a passion for social justice and her work experience has seen her advocate and fundraise for a range of UK and international organisations focussed on health, disability, children’s wellbeing and mental health.

Ben Bedford is Director of AI at the AA, where he leads the organisation’s AI strategy and implementation, focused on scaling practical and responsible AI to improve customer outcomes and operational performance. He works closely with senior leaders on AI governance and value realisation, helping move AI from strategy into day-to-day operations.

Previously, Ben held senior leadership roles at Faculty, Europe’s leading applied AI consultancy, where he led major AI transformation programmes for FTSE 100 clients across insurance and other regulated industries, overseeing multidisciplinary teams of engineers, data scientists, and product managers. Earlier in his career, he worked as a management consultant at KPMG, advising organisations on digital transformation, automation, and data-driven change.

Ben brings experience spanning strategy, delivery, and governance, alongside a strong interest in using technology responsibly to deliver meaningful social impact.