Meet our Board and Executive Team

Dr Colin Sullivan became Chief Executive of the HTA in January 2022. Previously he was Chief Operating Officer at the Food Standards Agency.  At the FSA, Colin led the response to Food Incidents, the National Food Crime Unit and was the Covid Incident Director.  He is committed to progressing equality, diversity and inclusion and was the FSA Champion for faith and belief and anti-bullying and harassment.

He joined the Senior Civil Service in 2008 as Operations Director of the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency, before becoming the Director for Universal Credit in Northern Ireland in 2011. In 2013, he was promoted to Director of Strategic Policy and Reform within the Northern Ireland Department of Finance.  He spent more than 20 years in NHS optometry health service management. During that time, he worked on international health management consultancy in over 30 countries for the FCO/Department for International Development, the EU and the World Bank.

As HTA Chief Executive, Colin is the Accounting Officer and is responsible for implementing the strategic plan. This involves improving the efficiency and effectiveness of regulation, ensuring the HTA has appropriate and productive relationships with stakeholders, and leading the skilled and dedicated workforce. Colin is responsible for ensuring the HTA is governed effectively and provides best value for money.

Louise joined the HTA in October 2019 as the Director of Data, Technology & Development.  Prior to joining the HTA she has held a number of senior roles across healthcare including seven years in regulation with the Care Quality Commission.

Louise enjoys the intellectual and creative challenge of developing and delivering innovative solutions in complex environments. Over the course of her career these innovations have been recognised through national awards and publications as well as driving change through policy and operational improvements.  

As our Director of Data, Technology & Development, Louise’s responsibilities include leading the HTA’s transformation programme over the next two years, developing the use of data and the insight that it can offer to how the HTA regulates and exploring opportunities for the adoption and use of technology in support how the HTA operates.  

Nicolette joined the HTA in June 2018 as our Director of Regulation. Previously, she was the Head of Regulatory Delivery for the Food Standards Agency and prior to this, she held a number of senior management roles within HMRC, Scottish Public Pensions Agency and Revenue Scotland.

Nicolette’s responsibilities include the oversight and management of the HTA’s delivery of a right-touch programme of licensing, inspection and incident reporting; targeting our resources where there is most risk to public confidence and patient safety. She also oversees our effective regulation of living organ donation.

As our Director of Regulation, Nicolette ensures we provide high quality advice and guidance in a timely way to support professionals, Government and the public in matters within our remit. She also makes sure we are consistent and transparent in our decision-making and regulatory action.

Tom joined Director of Resources in August 2023, and splits his time with HTA and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Tom leads the HTA finance team and the HR function within HTA, focussing on getting the best out of our resources in delivering our duties.

Tom’s background in in public sector strategy, policy and finance, mainly in healthcare. Tom has worked at the Department of Health and Social Care for almost 15 years, most recently as Head of Research Finance (overseeing finances for the National Institute of Health and Care Research). Tom has also worked for the Ministry of Defence, NHS England and UKHSA, as well as 12 months with Médecins Sans Frontières in DR Congo. Tom is currently volunteering as Treasurer for Refugee Action, and has been Treasurer for MSF-UK.

John joined the HTA in August 2022 as Deputy Director for Performance and Corporate Governance, having held a number of senior corporate roles within regulation and local government before that.  

John is responsible for our Portfolio Management function; focusing on the creation and delivery of our Business Plan, the Private Office; that provides non-exec and exec support and advice, and the Corporate Services team; that works to ensure compliance with good governance practices and handles enquiries from the public.

John is focused on providing proportionate value-added corporate services that support the smooth running of our organisation.

As well as chairing the Human Tissue Authority, Lynne is Chair of the Court of Governors and Pro Chancellor of the University of Westminster. She is also a trustee and SID of Welsh National Opera. She has chaired and been on the Board of many public sector and not for profit bodies including Breast Cancer Now, Cambridge University Hospitals Trust, the Canal and River Trust, Sustrans, NCVO, CPAG and Glandŵr Cymru.

Lynne has held several Chief Executive posts in public bodies including the Charity Commission; the Equal Opportunities Commission; the General Social Care Council and in charities such as RVS and the Family Welfare Association. She has been a Board member of many governmental better regulation initiatives and was on the Advisory Board for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office.

She is Visiting Professor in Leadership at Bayes Business School, City, University of London; a Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University. She has received many national awards and has been appointed CBE.

Mhairi is the Operations Manager for Diagnostics and Therapeutics North East, where she leads the development of a regional strategy for clinical diagnostics.

As a qualified pharmacologist and Agile project management practitioner, Mhairi has worked extensively across academia, NHS and commercial research, including over a decade working in multinational pharmaceutical and contract research organisations, Sanofi-aventis & Covance, where she has led international projects as a Study Director and laboratory scientist.

Mhairi has also spent over 10 years working for Newcastle University as the University’s Tissue Governance lead.  Specialising in quality assurance, and the delivery of internal human tissue audits, Mhairi brings expertise in research ethics, governance and training. She is a strong advocate for the use of biobanks to facilitate research, and works cross-organisationally to develop collaborative biobanking approaches to underpin advances in precision medicine.

As part of her work in the skills sector, Mhairi has also supported regional skills academies and science ambassador programmes.

Tom is a commercial lawyer qualified in England and Wales, and is the VP Legal – Cloud for Aveva, a UK-based software company. Tom qualified in Medicine from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School and worked as a junior hospital physician for five years before converting to law and training at Slaughter and May as a corporate lawyer.

Tom has worked on corporate and commercial transactions, in legal private practice and also in-house for companies including Novartis and Gilead Sciences.  He has consulted as a lawyer for a number of life sciences and healthcare companies on complex projects covering IT/software, data protection, intellectual property licensing, pharmacovigilance and has led on several diverse commercial transactions including the integration of the GSK-Novartis Consumer Healthcare joint venture

Gary is a former Professor of Innovation at Keele University Business School, where he led and established the Mercia Centre for Innovation Leadership.

His corporate career was in senior leadership roles in Financial Services and organisational development and transformation, most notably for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and latterly as Managing Consultant at PA Consulting.

He has held a wide range of Vice Chair and non-executive director roles with NHS Trusts, a building society and in education. Gary joined the HTA as a Member for 3 years from 1 September 2019.

Helen is an international lawyer and board member with over 30 years’ experience in the legal and financial services sectors. She is currently a non-executive director and trustee of the St John’s Eye Hospital Group, a director of LegalUK, a member of the Ministry of Justice sponsored LawtechUK Commercial Dispute Resolution Taskforce, and a member of the development board of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. Previously she was Global Head of Legal, Dispute Resolution at Standard Chartered Bank, and a non-executive director of the London Court of International Arbitration.

She specialises in international and cross border dispute resolution and also has a strong interest in creation and maintenance of systems of dispute resolution (including online). She is a strong supporter of alternative and online dispute resolution.

Helen is a solicitor, a CEDR accredited mediator and a Senior Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
 

Ellen is a former Management Board Executive Director and experienced Non-Executive Director with over 25 years commercial experience in the Private Sector. Her previous roles include Trading Director, responsible for the development of brands, products and services within Debenhams PLC, and Operations Director where she led a workforce of over 5,000 staff and a turnover of half a billion.

Ellen has significant corporate governance experience as a Non-Executive Director in the Public Sector and is currently a member of the Board of the Welsh Government, Qualifications Wales and Marie Curie Wales Advisory Board. Ellen previously held Non-Executive posts at Linc Cymru and the Audit and Risk Committee of the Welsh Government's Economy, Skills and Natural Resources Group. During this time she gained valuable knowledge of housing, care, transport, economy, skills and education.

As part of her work as a Non-Executive Director for the Welsh Government, Ellen is also a member of the SCS Remuneration Committee, the Finance Committee and the Transport for Wales Steering Board.

Ellen is a trained Executive Coach and has worked with many people and organisations across the UK, including the Cabinet Office.  She has a post graduate certificate (ILM level 7) in Executive Coaching.

Andy Greenfield is an Honorary Research Lecturer at the Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford. Most of his career has been spent in scientific research, including 25 years as a programme leader at the MRC’s Harwell Institute. His expertise lies in genetics and genetic technologies, especially in the areas of developmental genetics, reproductive biology and assisted reproductive technologies.

From 2009 to 2018, he was a board member of the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority and Chair of its License Committee. He also brings expertise in ethical innovation, policy and governance and was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 2014 to 2020. From 2020, he has been a member of the Regulatory Horizons Council, an independent expert committee that advises Government on the regulation of emerging technologies.

In 2022, Andy was appointed chair of a subcommittee of the Food Standard Agency’s scientific advisory committee, the ACNFP, charged with developing an assessment framework for precision bred (e.g. genome-edited) organisms for food and feed purposes.

Dave spent 30 years policing in a variety of uniform and plainclothes roles, before retiring as Deputy Chief Constable for Dorset, and National Police Chief’s Council lead for ethics.

He now undertakes a variety of roles which include membership of the Home Office Forensics and Biometrics Ethics Group, membership of the ECB’s Regulatory Committee, chairing and facilitating cross sector leadership programmes for Windsor Leadership Trust, and chairing FIGS, a charity which funds a girls’ school in South Sudan.
 

David Lock is a barrister and a King Counsel.  He serves as a Deputy Judge in the Family and Kings Bench Divisions of the High Court, and is a Recorder in the Crown Court.  He is a Visiting Professor in Healthcare Law at the London School of Economics and chairs the Prisoners of Conscience charity.  He was a specialist public law practitioner and was the Legal500 Public Law silk of the year in 2022.  He is the editor of “NHS Law and Practice”, the leading practitioners’ book on the legal duties of NHS bodies.  He has a long history of public service having served as a Member of Parliament, Minister, has chaired national public bodies and acted as the Senior Independent Director for a major NHS Foundation Trust.  He served as an independent expert member of the BMA Ethics Committee for 10 years until earlier this year.  He lives with his wife, who is a retired GP, in rural Shropshire and is proud to serve as the Vice-Chair of the Haytons Bent Village Hall Committee.  In his spare time, he is a keen long distance cyclist and maintains a cycling blog. 

A biomedical science graduate, Jessica has had a longstanding and widely varied career as a senior manager and Board Director in the NHS, working at system, regional and national level in public health, hospitals, emergency and ambulance services, and as an NHS England Programme Director leading large scale transformation programmes. In addition to her healthcare career, Jessica has held academic teaching positions, designing and delivering clinical leadership programmes to Masters’ level to healthcare professionals as part of a Faculty at Cambridge University, and has previously held honorary positions at the Medical Research Council and Addenbrookes Abroad, supporting healthcare professionals to undertake voluntary work overseas.

Jessica is a qualified Executive Coach and Mentor and a lay member of the Education Committee of the General Chiropractic Council. Jessica also holds volunteering positions in the sporting world, including Safeguarding and Welfare Lead roles for the English Cricket Board and Swim England at club level and as a Mini and Youth Team First Aider for the Rugby Football Union.