Our people

Alan Gibbs

Alan Gibbs was on the Council of the RNPFN from 1996 until its sale to Liverpool Victoria in 2001 and has been the Chairman of the Burdett Trust for Nursing since its inception.

His great-grandfather, Henry Hucks Gibbs, was one of the original sponsors of RNPFN in 1887. Alan graduated from Oxford in 1974 and worked for Flemings for 17 years before pursuing his own interests in the Far Eastern investment markets. He was a school governor for over 10 years.

Clare Cable

Clare is a strategic nurse leader with significant expertise in charity governance, finance and policy. A children’s nurse by background, Clare has had a long career in healthcare quality improvement before stepping into the third sector. For the last decade Clare was Chief Executive of the Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS) and has focussed her energies in creating safe and brave spaces where nurses can discover themselves and connect with a new sense of agency, by understanding what they need to flourish. She is a Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholar, an Honorary Professor of Nursing at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and a Visiting Professor, at the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Her vision is to unleash the creativity of nurses to be catalysts for positive change and powerful advocates for the health of people, place and planet.

Audrey Ardern-Jones OBE

Audrey trained at The Middlesex Hospital and spent many years as a Community Nursing Sister. She has been involved in research for much of her career starting with the Medical Research Council and then moving to the Institute of Cancer Research. As a nurse specialist she helped set up and develop the Cancer Genetics Services in The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in Chelsea.

She has published a great deal of work and taught world-wide and served on various Department of Health Committees. She received the OBE in 2013 for ‘services to cancer genetics nursing care at The Royal Marsden Hospital’. She is currently part of the onco-genetics research team at the Royal Marsden and Institute of Cancer Research.  She is a published poet and is artist in residence at the Royal Marsden.

She has been a school governor for many years and is passionate about nursing and raising awareness for third world impoverished countries.

Dame Christine Beasley

Christine has worked in various roles across the NHS in a 50 year career. Her final role was as Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health, a position she held from 2004-12.

She is currently Non-Executive Director of Kings College N.H.S. Trust and the board’s Maternity Safety Champion. She is also Chair of the Florence Nightingale Museum, Chair of the board of the Nursing Now Challenge Advisory Committee and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and the Queen’s Nursing Institute. She has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Nottingham, Wolverhampton, Northumbria, Sheffield Hallam, Keele, Plymouth, and City University, London.

Christine was awarded a CBE in 2002 and a DBE in June 2008.

Andrew Gibbs

Andrew Gibbs joined Broad Street Asset Management in April 2019 as Chief Investment Officer. He has 30 years investment management experience focused on Asian, Emerging market and global equities for major global institutions in Asia, America and Europe. Over his career he has managed long only equity mandates, hedge funds, investment trusts, unit trusts, pension funds and multi asset portfolios.

He started his career in 1988 in London with Manulife, the Canadian life insurance company. In 1993, he moved to Hong Kong with Carlson Investment Management, now part of DNB Asset Management. While there he launched and managed the Dublin listed Siam Recovery and Sri Lanka Growth Funds. On returning to London, he managed market neutral hedge funds for Quaestor Investment and institutional mandates for New Star Asset Management. From 2012 to 2019 he worked as a manager and team supervisor at Henderson Rowe, the UK discretionary private client manager. He is a trustee of family trusts and a member of the stakeholder advisory board of CRISEA, a European Research Council research project on South East Asia. A keen skier, cricketer and pianist, he has 3 children and lives in London.

Evy Hambro

Evy Hambro, Managing Director, is the Chief Investment Officer of the Natural Resources Equity team within BlackRock’s Alpha Strategies and is also Global Head of Commodities for BlackRock. He sits on the BlackRock Global Operating Committee and is a member of the Alpha Strategies Partner Group. Evy is responsible for the management of the BGF World Mining and BGF World Gold Funds. He is also manager of the BlackRock Gold and General Fund and the BlackRock World Mining Trust. Evy is co-manager of the BlackRock Natural Resources Hedge Fund and manager of a number of segregated portfolios.

Mr Hambro’s service with the firm dates back to 1994 including his years with Mercury Asset Management and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) which merged with BlackRock in 2006. He has worked for the firm in London, Sydney and Toronto. Mr Hambro earned a BSc degree, with honors, in Agricultural Food Marketing, from Newcastle University in 1994.

He is a Trustee of the Julian Baring Scholarship Fund which provides financial assistance to allow African students to continue their studies and pursue a career in the mining industry.

Andrew Martin-Smith

Andrew Martin Smith began his career at Hambros Bank in 1975 as a graduate from Oxford University. He has over 30 years experience in the financial services industry and currently works on private equity related matters with Guinness Asset Management. He is Chairman of Parmenion Capital Management and a Director of other investment related companies including Church House Trust PLC, Runciman Investments, and Atlantis Japan Growth and M&G High Income investment trusts.

Andrew has spent the last 15 years specifically involved in the fund management industry firstly as Chief Executive of Hambros Fund Management where the RNPFN was a long established client. He joined Berkshire Capital Securites after Hambros’ successor fund management interests were acquired by Investec. His experience at Berkshire has involved him in providing advice and raising capital for several new independent fund management companies and he remains an advisory director.

Andrew is a trustee of several family and charitable organisations and a school governor.

David Sines CBE

Professor David Sines was recently Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean and Professor of Community Health Care Nursing at the Faculty of Society and Health at Buckinghamshire New University.

He held previous roles as Executive Dean for the Faculty of Health & Social Care at London South Bank University and as Head of School of Health Sciences at the University of Ulster. David obtained his PhD in social policy from the University of Southampton in 1993 and has held four Secretary of State appointments, including appointments to the UKCC and NMC. He has been a Governor of three NHS Foundation Trusts in London.

He recently held an Honorary Appointment with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust as Associate Director of Nursing. He is a Fellow of the RCN and received a CBE in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for ‘Services to Health Care’. David is a Non-Executive Director with the Central London NHS Community Healthcare Trust and an Associate Non-Executive Director with Buckinghamshire NHS Hospitals Trust. David has been appointed as Emeritus Professor of Community Healthcare at Buckinghamshire New University and as an Associate Assistant Director to the GP Deanery at Health Education North West London.

Professor Dame Donna Kinnair

Donna is a Trustee of the Burdett Trust. She is a Non-Executive Director at East London Foundation Trust. She was the General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) until June 2021.She was responsible for delivering the RCN’s strategic and operational plans and promoting patient and nursing interests on a wide range of issues. Donna held various roles, prior to joining the RCN, including clinical director of emergency medicine at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust; Executive Director of Nursing, Southeast London Cluster Board; Director of Commissioning, London Borough of Southwark & Southwark PCT. She was the Strategic Commissioner for Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority’s Children’s Services. Donna advised the PM’s Commission on the future of Nursing and Midwifery in 2010 and served as nurse/child health assessor to the Victoria Climbié Inquiry. She was made a DBE in 2008 for services to nursing.

Janice Stevens CBE

Janice Stevens CBE.RN  MA  DSc(hon). Member  Faculty of nursing  (RCS Ireland)

Awarded a CBE for nursing and healthcare in 2010, Janice has had an extensive and varied NHS career, with roles at all levels of the NHS. Beginning as an A/E nurse eventually becoming an Executive Director of Nursing  In 2005 Janice reported to England’s Chief Nursing Officer at Deptament of Health leading and successfully  delivering three high profile national  programmes – reducing MRSA,  C.difficile  and elimination of mixed-sex accommodation. In 2012 Janice joined the newly formed Health Education as Managing Director of Health Education West Midlands and then as a national director overseeing the three LETB’s across Midlands and East,. She is proud of the work she has championed on widening participation and leading the Come Back Campaign for Nurses.  In  2015 Janice was asked  to support  Barts Health and  then Worcestershire Acute as their turnaround CNO. when they were placed in special measures. After a short break in 2018  Janice embarked on a new role as Chief Nurse at  the UKs largest and most complex private hospital – The Wellington Hospital where she currently works.

Rachael Corser

Rachael has been a qualified registered general nurse for over 25 years after completing her training at Kings College Hospital, London. Rachael has worked across complex health and care settings in acute, community, integrated and independent healthcare sectors. Rachael has a first degree in nursing practice, a masters degree in nursing research and innovation, and an MBA from the Ashridge Business School.

Rachael has been the chief nursing officer at the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB since 2022; prior to that she was chief nurse at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust where she was instrumental to the trust’s response to the pandemic. Rachael is passionate about delivering nursing, midwifery and allied health professional excellence at all levels, striving for international recognition of excellence in nursing practice. Nurturing and growing talent, enhancing the well-being of the workforce, and embedding excellence in practice with a personal commitment to research, transformation, innovation and improvement is what motivates and energises Rachael.

Rachael is incredibly proud to be a Trustee for the Burdett Nursing Trust and will bring her extensive clinical, academic and board experience to the role of Trustee.

Rachael is a Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholar and a Visiting Senior Clinical Fellow at the University of Hertfordshire and has published in nursing journals and text books.

David Martin Smith

David Martin Smith joined Care Concern Group in June 2021 as Corporate Development Director. Care Concern operates 80 care homes across the UK and David supports the growth of the business focussing on investment, M&A and fundraising. He is also Managing Director of Willinbrook Healthcare, a Midlands based care home business within the Care Concern Group. He has over ten years’ experience in the UK healthcare sector both from an operational and institutional background.

David started his career with Evelyn Partners (formerly Smith & Williamson) where he trained as a chartered accountant in the audit and business services team. Post-qualification, he spent three years working in corporate finance advising companies and shareholders on business strategy. He subsequently joined the UK focussed private equity fund Downing LLP where he was an Investment Director focussed on origination, transactional execution and portfolio management. David is a keen golfer and cricketer. He has 3 children and lives in London.

Zoe Amasanti

Zoe started her career at KPMG and has been involved with the Burdett Trust for Nursing since 2016.

Zoe provides support to the CEO and is responsible for the efficient day-to-day operations. Zoe oversees all the administration and grant management in addition to planning and managing the events hosted by Burdett.

Lauren George

Lauren started her career in management after graduating with a 1st class degree from University and has been involved with the Burdett Trust since September 2021.

Lauren supports with the charity’s administration, correspondence and communication with grant holders, organisation of seminars and events and attending the Trustee meetings.