Our Trustees

Dr Carol Cole, Chair

Carol joined the board as Chair in 2017 and is also chair of the Nominations, Remuneration and Governance Committee.

She has been involved in the leadership, design and delivery of strategic change throughout her career. Originally trained as a psychologist in mental health, learning disability and community care, she was a change management consultant with the NHS and then head of health at the Office for Public Management, before establishing a successful consultancy practice in organisation and management development. She has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University and the King’s Fund as well as a senior associate of the National School of Government.

Carol brings extensive experience of strategy, systemic change and governance, applying psychology to enhance individual, team and organisational effectiveness. She has worked across the public, charity and private sectors in Europe, North America and the Middle East, from the NHS to multinationals, smaller enterprises and charities.

Carol has held several non-executive board positions and is a trustee of Age UK and an independent member of the Remuneration Committee at the University of Roehampton. She was previously chair of Central London Community NHS Trust where she continues to chair its Academy Programme Board, a trustee of the RAF Museum, the senior independent director at Hounslow and Richmond Community NHS Trust, vice-chair of Deafness Research UK, a trustee of Action on Hearing Loss and vice chair of the Association of Business Psychologists. She is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society.

What I love about being a trustee and chair of Together is the opportunity to work alongside a great bunch of trustees – all committed, engaged and willing to contribute their experience and expertise for the benefit of those who use our services.

David Betteridge

David is a member of Audit and Risk Committee and also the Finance, Resources and Investment Committee. He is an experienced Board level Director who has extensive knowledge gained from a wide range of large complex organisations across the public, private and not for profit/dividend sectors in the UK. He has experience in strategic, operational, project and programme management, leading large, geographically dispersed, multidisciplinary teams through collaboration and engagement.

In his current role at a large social housing group, David is Governance and Risk Director, leading a team that ensures the Group manages risk effectively, is compliant and up to date with the latest legislation, and protects and informs the business. His role also ensures the Group have an effective governance structure in place to enable it to meet its objectives. In addition, David is the company secretary for the Group.

Throughout his career David has focused on organisations and roles that provide important services to vulnerable people in society, either directly or through partnership working. David is passionate about the difference good quality services can make to people at critical times in their lives.

I enjoy being a trustee at Together because it gives me an opportunity to work with fantastic people and contribute to an organisation with a purpose close to my heart.

Paul Breakwell

Paul is the Treasurer at Together and the Chair of the Finance, Resources and Investment Committee.

He is a chartered accountant and an MBA graduate. His career has been in helping various human capital businesses grow either through mergers & acquisitions or organic growth, across Europe and the US. Those businesses include a couple of management consultancies and a law firm.

His passion is in helping businesses, their leaders and his network realise their potential. Much of this is now focused in the charity sector specialising in reducing poverty in the UK and Africa, youth work and mental health.

Angus Cameron

Angus is Deputy Chair of the Finance, Resources and Investment Committee and is a member of the Quality and Safety Committee.

Angus has spent most of his working life involved with vulnerable people who come into contact with the criminal justice system. He is recognised as a respected senior leader in this field and currently holds the post of Mental Health Advisor and Head of Personality Disorder Strategy Implementation within the National Probation Service, London Division.

His expertise is on working at the interface of health and criminal justice. He has been instrumental in the development of a range of partnerships to support mentally vulnerable offenders and has written publications on the provision of service and management of offenders with mental health difficulties. He has received a prestigious Butler Trust award for excellence in mental health work with offenders.

Angus is a Fellow of the Probation Institute and a member of the London Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Strategic Management Board. He is acutely aware of the negative experiences of women and people from BAME communities in the criminal justice system and is committed to developing approaches and services to address this inequality.

Judy Clements OBE

Judy is Deputy Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Judy holds a BA (Hons) in Social Science and an LLB. She has over 30 years’ experience in the public and third sectors, mainly in Central Government at Senior Civil Service level. She has operated at national level in Chief Executive and Independent Adjudicator roles in the areas of criminal justice, taxation and higher education.

Judy retired at the end of 2017. Her last role was Ombudsman for Students in Higher Education. She has previously served as a Director for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), now the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Prior to that, Judy worked for the Home Office in HM Prison Service as Head of Diversity and Equality. She was a Member of the Home Secretary’s Stephen Lawrence Steering Group and chaired the Trust and Confidence Working Group.

Her current non-executive roles include: member of the British Board of Film Classification Appeals Panel; Governor for three independent faith schools, and Newbold College of Higher Education. Judy is a member of the Westminster Senior Women in Public Leadership forum.

JoAnne Cutting

JoAnne is a member of Workforce Committee and Lead Trustee for Advocacy.

She is an experienced manager in the health and care system, mainly NHS, for over 40 years, originally as a nurse and midwife.

JoAnne’s career has mainly focused on the hospital environment, but she has worked closely with community services and social care and has first-hand experience of the benefits to service users of partnership working. Having worked in mainly operational roles in the NHS as a substantive employee, a change to interim NHS management consultant in 2008 has broadened her experience extensively – having worked on waiting list management and delivery, reconfiguration of services, the development and delivery of an End of Life Care Strategy, and preparation for a CQC inspection.

Current role is Programme Director of Stroke Services reconfiguration and the reconfiguration and centralisation of inpatient cardiology services at a Kent NHS Trust. The former completes in April 2024, after 5 years and the latter is in the early stages of business case development

JoAnne is passionate about delivering high-quality care and believes a solid framework for governance and assurance is critical to ensure consistent, good quality services and evidence the same.

Deirdre Evans

Deirdre is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

She brings significant hands-on experience of financial strategy and management, from both the commercial and charity sector.  In her current role, Deirdre is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the Football Foundation, which delivers grassroots football facilities as the charity of the Premier League, The FA and Government.

Deirdre has worked in the charity sector since 2011, having previously been CFO for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association,  CFO for The Challenge, the UK’s leading charity for building a more integrated society and Deputy Finance Director for the National Trust.

Before entering the third sector, Deirdre had a successful career in the corporate energy sector, and had executive roles at BG Group and BHP Billiton, culminating in a three-year spell as Deputy CFO at BHP, Aluminium. In these roles, Deirdre developed and led across asset management, business development and finance, operating internationally.

She is also a Board member and the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at the University of Manchester.

Throughout her career, Deirdre has had extensive involvement in developing, implementing, and monitoring all aspects of governance and risk and assurance.

Naheed Hassan

Naheed joined the Board in 2024 and is a member of Audit and Risk Committee.

Naheed was previously a city investment manager and is now an Investment Associate at Fair4All Finance, an organisation founded by the DCMS to use dormant funds to serve the financially excluded – providing financial products and services to those who typically do not meet the criteria for mainstream finance. In 2019, he set up an organisation called Green Hands Newham, which focused on alleviating loneliness by getting communities to interact with their local green spots.

Naheed has had his own experiences of depression, anxiety, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and overcoming metastatic cancer. Citing his own lived experience of receiving treatment, he is particularly interested in the potential of community-led mental health approaches for minority ethnic groups.

Georgie Hodson

Georgie joined the Board in 2024 and is a member of the Quality and Safety Committee.

Georgie is passionate about promoting the voices of those with lived experience of mental health difficulties having accessed acute and secondary services for a number of years. After a period of mental illness–receiving inpatient and community treatment—she is in recovery and hopes to share her story to connect with and empower others on a similar journey.

As an autistic adoptee, she is especially committed to championing diversity across the mental health sector to work towards more inclusive and patient-centred care. Georgie proudly works for the NHS in a community mental health team focussed on rehabilitation, enablement and recovery. She says she is excited to draw upon these experiences and further develop her skills and knowledge as a Trustee for Together of Mental Wellbeing.

Ian Jones

Ian is a member of the Finance, Resources and Investment Committee, a member of the Workforce Committee, and is Lead Trustee for Whistleblowing.

Ian Jones is a solicitor with a background as General Counsel and Company Secretary. He has held senior positions at BT and BP, as well as having worked as a Senior Editor at Thomson Reuters. His career has seen him involved and leading major legal work projects, including the BT sale and leaseback of its UK Property Portfolio in 2001. His background is in technology, property and supply chain management. He now teaches and writes about risk management, legal ethics and compliance.

Ian is a trustee with lived experience. He was diagnosed with depression and anxiety over a decade ago and has had first-hand experience as a recipient of mental health care and management. He writes and speaks regularly to people using his own experiences to lift the stigma around mental illness and promoting open discussion about how it should be managed in the workplace. He also emphasises that mental illness does not stop people from making contributions in the workplace or having a successful career.

Ian is also a trained Mental Health First Aider.

Ajay Mehta

Ajay joined the Board in 2024 and is Deputy Chair of the Quality and Safety Committee.

Ajay is an organisational development specialist supporting the growth and sustainability of civil society organisations globally to increase their impact. Ajay’s portfolio of work has ranged from working with large international institutions to smaller community-based organisations, including those whose mission is to support and transform the lives of people living with mental ill health.

His social enterprise em4’s mission is to review and re-engineer the strategic interventions and maximise the social impact of non-profit entities, particularly in Brazil and India. He has held Non-Executive Director positions with national and international charities and with community-based healthcare organisations.

He is currently on the Board of the NHS London North West Acute Provider Collaborative, which has strategic oversight of 12 hospitals serving a population of 2.2 million people across eight London Boroughs. Complementary to his professional profile and achievements, Ajay has also made significant contributions as a volunteer, including providing hands-on support to people with mental ill health, working on the helpline with the Samaritans, and delivering an in-person listening service to suicidal young men in prison.

Donald Mungall

Donald is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and Deputy Chair of the Workforce Committee.

Donald has worked in the field of organisation behaviour and change for over four decades. Initially employed in local government and then Shell, for the last 30+ years he has worked as an independent organisation consultant across numerous sectors, including health and social care and energy (oil and gas).

With a focus on pragmatically fusing organisational psychology with business imperatives, Donald worked at various levels of organisational life: coaching individual leaders and senior executives, developing effective teams, advising on and facilitating major strategic change and transformation programmes, and integrating globally dispersed, joint-venture organisations.

As a result, he has been exposed to a diversity of organisations with different purposes, visions, cultures, values and competencies. Working with this diversity has enabled Donald to bring multiple perspectives, empathy, understanding, rigorous analysis and equal measures of challenge and support to any given situation.

One of the reasons I am a trustee at Together is that the philosophy and values behind the charity’s ‘service user leadership’ approach to care match those that I held and practised throughout my professional career.

Zain Richardson

Zain joined the Board in 2024 and is a member of the Finance, Resources and Investment Committee.

Zain is a former management consultant, now global Chief Marketing Officer, with deep experience in the consumer services, travel, and hospitality sectors. He has led transformations at multiple consumer-focused businesses across brand, digital and data, as well as service-culture evolutions to drive customer and employee engagement.

He is an experienced board director, with a particular passion for supporting organisations to better engage with both users and supporters, as well as to evolve business models to drive long-term financial sustainability.

Zain has first-hand experience working with locally-delivered mental health services and has been involved with the Movember Foundation (the world’s largest investor in men’s health programmes, with a particular focus on mental health) for over a decade.

David Shakespeare

David is the Senior Independent Director, Chair of the Workforce Committee, and Deputy Chair of the Nominations, Remuneration and Governance Committee.

He is a senior HR professional with over 20 years’ HR experience and 10 years of operational business knowledge in Financial Services, Banking and Insurance and FMCG sectors. David holds a Masters in International Human Resource Management from Cranfield University.

Through his work in business and the community, David has experienced first-hand the impact of mental distress has on people. Mental distress frequently presents itself in the workplace and therefore David believes everyone has a responsibility to create a culture, at home or at work, where mental distress is openly discussed and supported; prevention is better than the cure.

David volunteers for a number of charities that focus on promoting the interests of children who are disadvantaged in any way – supporting a stable start in life can prevent some of the causes of mental distress that present later in life.

Dr Ben Thomas

Ben is the Chair of the Quality and Safety Committee and the Lead Trustee for Safeguarding.

He is Professor of Mental Health and Learning Disabilities at the School of Health and Social Care, London South Bank University, and is Expert Adviser for Mental Health and Patient Safety at NHS Improvement. He is a director and trustee for a number of charities. Ben has served on a number of ministerial reviews and advisory committees to governments including Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and China.

He chairs the Mental Health Independent Advisory Group for the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicides and Homicides and is a member of the UK Expert Mental Health Advisory Group. Ben is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and Honorary Senior Fellow at Kingston University and St George’s University of London.

Find out more

To find out more about our Trustees or how to become one, contact:

Nicola Hannam
Email: nicola-hannam@together-uk.org