CHP Executive and Board

Catherine Mason joined CHP as Chair in September 2019. Catherine is also Chair of the Solent NHS Trust, a community and mental health trust in the south of England, and an independent member of the Network Rail System Operator Advisory Board.

She has a broad range of experience, including as Managing Director of NATS (National Air Traffic Services) Services division, the leading provider of air traffic control services at the largest airports in the UK, and previously worked in Northern Ireland as Group Chief Executive of Translink, a public corporation providing all of the public transport in the province, including rail infrastructure, bus and coach services, plus car parks, parcels and a tours holiday business. She has also worked for Arriva and United Biscuits.

Bernadette Conroy has over 20 years’ experience of senior roles in the corporate and investment banking sectors, latterly as Global Head of Strategy and Planning at HSBC.

At a non-executive level, Bernadette has worked in the health, housing, property and regeneration sectors including roles with Barnet CCG, North London Estates Partnerships and Poplar Harca. Bernadette is the current Chair of Building and Space Management at University of Cambridge.

Bernadette has an MA in Mathematics from University of Cambridge and an MBA.

Bernadette is also the Chair of CHP’s Property and Tenant Management Committee.

Bob Alexander is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) with Board experience within the public and independent sectors at national, regional and local level.

He is currently the Independent Chair of the Sussex and East Surrey Sustainability and Transformation Partnership, a Trustee in the hospice and education sectors and an adviser to CIPFA on health and integration matters. Prior to this, Bob was Deputy Chief Executive at NHS Improvement that incorporated the responsibilities of the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) where he had been Finance Director and subsequently Chief Executive.

Prior to joining the TDA, Bob was the Finance Director of NHS South of England and the Director of NHS Finance at the Department of Health from 2007.

Bob is also the Chair of CHP’s Audit Committee.

Cha has been involved in the rationalisation and upgrading of the estates and facilities in the NHS in Camden and Islington; and in the integration of community healthcare services in Bromley, working closely with GPs, and using Big Data to significantly improve efficiency and deliver more for less.

She has a strong focus on governance, finance, risk and performance, and a passion for achieving effective improvement.

Cha is also the Chair of CHP’s Finance, Investment and Systems Committee.

She is committed to therapeutic design estates that enable staff to provide access to safe, high quality care for patients. Geraldine is a Non-Executive Director at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, a co-founder of the Zero Suicide Alliance and a Vice Patron of the Poppy Factory. She is passionate about the development of leadership competencies and using information to enable informed decision-making.

Geraldine is also the Chair of CHP’s People, Culture and Remuneration Committee.

Claire Hewitt is Senior Commercial Strategy Manager at the Department of Health and Social Care, which involves performing the shareholder function on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health.

Claire is an accountant by background, having trained with one of the “Big 4” specialising in public sector organisations, and has also worked in the NHS.

In addition to her work in the private sector, Claire has over 14 years working with the DHSC alongside CHP, and is now the Shareholder Representative on the Board.

Dr Sue O’Connell is a Medical Practioner  and a graduate of Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, University of London. She spent five years in hospital medicine and then followed a career in family medicine, working as a Principal in General Practice for 18 years.

During this time, she became aware of a need for a new approach to improving the health of local communities and in 2001, became involved in strategic service and estate planning. In 2003-2004, Sue led a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project through procurement to financial close. Sue joined CHP in January 2004 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2006, leading the Company and managing its £2.5bn property and investment portfolio.

Sue’s focus has always been to work with the NHS to provide the estate needed to deliver high quality  multidisciplinary services and contribute to the development of healthy communities

Mark joined CHP following a career in the NHS spanning more than twenty years. An accountant by training, he was a Finance Director for ten years and for much of that time also Deputy Chief Executive leading on general management challenges as diverse as contract and performance management, developing prison health care, patient and public involvement, and IT Shared Services. He has held a number of roles at CHP beginning as a Regional Director working with all LIFTCos in the North of England, before becoming Chief Financial Officer. Since then he has been Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for the Company’s Property and Investment Functions, as well as the Corporate Programme Management Office. A Chartered Director, Mark holds degrees in Public Administration, Computing, and Business Administration, is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant, and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.  His experience has been heavily influenced by international work though study and consultancy work in Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Poland, the Irish Republic, and Canada.  He has experience in health economics, held teaching appointments at two Universities and is active in professional bodies being a former member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and chair of its Health Panel.

Gillian is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Director with over 24 years’ experience working both in professional practice as a senior manager and in industry for not for profit and public sector funded organisations. She has been at CHP since September 2012 and is the shareholder representative for CHP across its 49 joint venture companies. On joining CHP she took a leading role in the pre-April 2013 transition leading on the financial implications for the new responsibilities facing CHP. As CFO she has successfully grown the Finance and Corporate Services team to enable effective data migration, accounting for expenditure on the estate, budgeting, forecasting and billing all tenants on a full cost recovery basis. The successful implementation of an in-house billing function and the successful database project has enabled the Company to obtain unqualified audit reports in all years to date. Gillian actively leads on a programme of innovation and improvement across all CHP’s corporate support services and is the lead on all aspects of CHP’s organisational development. She leads the CHP people programme and is Exec Sponsor for CHP’s diversity plan. Outside work she has held positions as both a Governor, Trustee and Director of Cheshire Academies, Director of Kelsall Primary School acting as Vice-Chair of Governors and Chair of the Finance Committee, and serving four years as Chair of a pre-school charity.

Malcolm has 30 years’ experience in corporate real estate, asset management, property development and estate management, working across large and diverse property portfolios.

Prior to joining CHP, Malcolm held the position of Head of Group Property at the Department for Transport, having worked on high-profile areas across the DfT Group, such as HS2, Highways England and the DVLA, as well as in the delivery of cross cutting central government initiatives.

A Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), Malcolm was also previously Head of Corporate Real Estate at Network Rail. He is also the Non-Executive Vice Chair of the Shepherds Bush Housing Group.