John was appointed as the Chair of NHS Devon and NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly in September 2025.
He previously chaired NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (since autumn 2021) and prior to that spent the two years as the independent chair of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly integrated care system (ICS) health and care systems board.
John has extensive leadership experience having been; NHS acute foundation trust deputy chair in Essex and as a non-executive director in a variety of industry sectors.
For government, he has been the chief executive officer of the UK’s Money and Pensions Service and also been a group chief executive officer in the third (not-for-profit) sector, as well as managing director of Surrey County Council. He also has held board director appointments in the private sector and charity sector.
He leads the two Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) as a single South West Peninsula cluster during a period of significant alignment across both systems.
Mark brings extensive leadership experience across the NHS and the wider health system, where he has led major transformations to improve clinical quality, outcomes, and financial sustainability.
Most recently, he served as Interim Chief Executive of University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust (Derriford Hospital).
Prior to this, he was Chief Executive of Swansea Bay University Health Board (and been CEO in other NHS Trusts) where Mark has led major service and clinical transformation and improvements in system performance and financial sustainability.
Originally from the North East, Chris spent the first part of my career as a medical officer with the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.
On leaving the service he has been a GP partner in Dorset and then New Zealand where he also held various leadership and governance roles with Northland District Health Board and The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.
For the past few years, he has enjoyed working as a GP in Cornwall.
Libby Ryan-Davies
Chief strategic planning and commissioning officer
Libby originally joined NHS Devon in August 2024 as a Transformation Director. Her role has been to lead and drive our out-of-hospital delivery programme and the development of a medium-term plan to support our local communities as an alternative to hospital.
Prior to her role with us, Libby was the Integrated Health Community Director for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and Strategic Programme Director at Hywel Dda University Health Board in Wales.
Patrick Weir
Chief People Officer
Patrick joined NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly at its formation in 2022, moving from Cornwall Council where he was Head of People and Change.
Patrick has previously held senior roles in HR, organisational change and community development in local government, and has extensive experience of organisation and service design.
As well as corporate roles, he has worked in and with local communities on service innovation, resident participation and community health and wellbeing, and is passionate about the opportunities of good service design and great engagement to secure better outcomes for people, and more satisfying working lives.
Peter Collins
Chief population health officer
Peter is an experienced and skilled chief medical officer and secondary care consultant who has operated at a senior level in the south west for almost two decades.
Having originally trained as a liver specialist (hepatologist), Peter worked at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust for more than 15 years.
He has since held deputy and chief medical officer roles for trusts in Bristol, Weston-super-Mare and, most recently, Salisbury, where he led an improvement programme across areas including strategy, operational and culture.
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Rachel Pearce
Managing Director, NHS England South West
Simon Gittoes-Davies
Chief finance officer
Simon is a qualified accountant starting out originally in the private sector and over the last 30 years working with the NHS.
Following 8 years as a substantive finance director, he has worked both as an interim director of finance across all NHS sectors and in roles including programme director and financial recovery director for a number of NHS organisations. He has also worked on financial strategy and change programmes and more recently as an acute hospital director of finance, and as programme director for NHS England leading the national programme to reduce the cost of specialised high-cost devices.
Simon has a strong philosophy and belief in people being the key to organisational success and in the core value of the NHS in caring for our population. He has 2 teenage children who keep him busy and loves to get out on a long bike ride including some across the UK and Europe.
He has held several high-profile executive and non-executive positions including in his current role as a Non-Executive Member for the Department of Health and Social Care, and on its Audit and Risk Committee.
In previous roles, Graham has chaired the Audit and Risk Committees of NHS Health Research Authority and MIND (the mental health charity). He was also Chair of HUC, which provided 111 services to more than six million people.
Graham also has extensive experience of the pharmaceutical industry in a number of senior commercial roles including at GlaxoSmithKline, GE Healthcare and his own life sciences company.
Lopa Patel MBE
Independent Non-Executive Member
A champion of entrepreneurship, innovation, AI and technology, she has founded two ventures in online media and a data-driven marketing consultancy.
She joined NHS Devon’s Board as an Independent Non-Executive Member in January 2025.
As the Chair of Diversity UK, Lopa has played a pivotal role in advocating for diversity, equality, and inclusion within healthcare and beyond, shaping policies and practices that support underrepresented communities.
Lopa has been recognised with many accolades including an MBE for services to the creative industries and an Honorary Doctorate conferred by the Open University.
Martin Sykes
Independent Non-Executive Member
He has extensive NHS experience, previously as the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust director of finance and deputy chief executive.
Martin also held the Vice Chair and Non-Executive Director roles at NHS University Hospital Bristol and Weston Foundation Trust, where he chaired its finance and digital committee and sat on its audit committee.
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Mary Aspinall
One Devon Partnership (Integrated Care Partnership) Chair
Neil Walden
Independent Non-Executive Member
Neil has been a member of NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Board since 1 July 2022.
He is a passionate advocate of working in partnership with people, and listening to their experiences of care, understanding what’s important to them to solve problems and create solutions.
This has included bringing together the NHS, providers, patients, and the voluntary sector to co-design an integrated community health and care service in west Penwith.
Neil has previously been a Clinical Leader of NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly’s west integrated care area, and a member of the west Cornwall integrated care board. He was a Locality Lead GP and Clinical Director of Penwith’s primary care network and is a member of the Penwith Integrated Care Forum.
Neil has an excellent appreciation of the complexity attached to partnership arrangements in primary care networks working together and will use this to ensure plans are patient-centred and informed by clinical evidence.
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Peter Roberts
Devon GP Collaborative Chair
Robert Williams
Independent Non-Executive Member
Robert is a former non-executive director at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, with a career rooted in management consulting and advisory work across public and private sectors globally.
He specialises in business transformation and organisational change, with healthcare systems experience spanning our NHS to the US, Middle East and Australia. He continues to work with organisations developing innovative, digitally enabled approaches to strategic change.
A graduate in Occupational Psychology, Robert previously served as Vice Chair of Trustees at Step One Charity, supporting people across Devon with mental health needs, learning disabilities and neurodiversity.
He is particularly proud of his time as Chair of Governors for a Berkshire school for children with complex learning needs, leading the funding, development and opening of a new specialist school. Having lived in Devon for 12 years, Robert and his family support their son, a young adult with special needs.
Tarn Lamb
Independent Non-Executive Member
Tarn has a depth of leadership, systems change and business development experience at both executive and in a variety of non-executive roles in the charity and social care sector.
She is a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion with the skills to bring diverse audiences together to achieve shared community outcomes.
Photographs are shown from the organisation’s own website.
