VERITA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Professor
- Visiting Professor at Strathclyde University
Professor Alexis Jay was appointed to the Panel of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in 2015. She was appointed as Chair of the Inquiry by the Home Secretary in August 2016.
Alexis Jay is a visiting Professor at Strathclyde University, where she chairs the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland. She worked for over 30 years in social work, working with vulnerable families in deprived communities.
In 2005 Professor Jay was invited by the Scottish Government to set up the Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) - a government agency to inspect all aspects of social services provided by Local Authorities. In this role, she was Chief Executive and Chief Inspector of Social Work for Scotland. After the SWIA was merged into the Care Inspectorate in 2011, she took up the newly created post of Chief Social Work Adviser to Scottish Ministers.
In 2014, Professor Jay led the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, an investigation into child sexual abuse in Rotherham in South Yorkshire. Her initial report, published in August 2014, identified that at least 1,400 children had been sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013
She is also Chair of the Life Changes Trust, which seeks to improve the lives of young care leavers and people with dementia, and of the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS), a government-funded centre based in the University of Strathclyde which carries out research and improvement activity within the children's sector in Scotland.
Professor Jay was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde in November 2015
Alison is an independent nurse consultant, with NHS director-level experience providing quality and safety reviews, advice on risk, and investigation into concerns relating to complex serious incidents, freedom to speak up guardianship, staff conduct and patient complaints. In her previous substantive role, Alison was a Director of Quality and Safety for a large community and mental health NHS trust.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Non - Executive Director
Ann is a non-executive director on the University of Kent Council and a member of its audit and remuneration committees. She has an MBA in strategic health services management and is undertaking a professional certificate in coaching at Henley.
Chris has worked for Verita for 15 years. She is an experienced investigator and has conducted some high-profile investigations and reviews over the years. Chris is a qualified mental health nurse and an experienced manager. She has previously worked as a director of nursing in a large mental health trust and has also worked at the National Patient Safety Agency working collaboratively across the whole health community to promote patient safety and improve investigations into serious incidents in the NHS.
Recently Chris has been working with iCoTech to develop Eva, a technology to help healthcare organisations conduct patient safety investigations.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Corporate Governance Consultant
Christopher Stephens CBE is a corporate governance consultant. He is an experienced chairman and NED with public, private and third sector bodies. In addition, Christopher has had worldwide business experience working for a variety of multinational companies.
Currently, he is chairman of the Sarasin Climate Active Board, managing funds on behalf of UK based charities. He stepped down in March 2023 from Power to Change, a charity focused on supporting community businesses and in December 2023 from being an independent NED of OCS, the global facilities management services company.
From 2011 to 2016, Christopher was chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission. In 2016, he was awarded a CBE for services to the Judiciary. Prior to this, he was a member of the Senior Salaries Review Board and a Civil Service commissioner.
His commercial NED roles have included the FTSE 250 companies WSP and Holidaybreak, where he was also chairman of the Remuneration Committees. He was also chairman of Traidcraft plc and the DHL Foundation.
Christopher's corporate career included being group human resources director at Exel (now DHL), the international logistics company, and HR roles with General Utilities, BET, Unisys, Nestle and Unilever.
He has an MA in PPE from Oxford, and a BA in Theology.
Job Titles:
- Company Director
- Human Resources Director
David Scott is an experienced human resources director, having worked at board/executive level for more than 30 years, including senior positions at British Telecommunications plc, HM Prison Service and United Utilities Group PLC. David has been interim HR director of First Group, the Strategic Rail Authority and was interim director of workforce and strategic HR at Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority from 2004-2005. David has been a non-executive director of the Whitehall and Industry Group and, until 2016, a trustee of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, where he also served as interim chief executive in 2005.
Ed Marsden has a clinical background in general and psychiatric nursing and NHS management. He has worked for the National Audit Office, the Department of Health and the West Kent Health Authority where he was director of performance management. He combines his responsibilities as Verita's founder with an active role in leading complex consultancy and investigations. Ed advised the Jersey government about the inquiry into historical child abuse. He worked with Kate Lampard to provide independent oversight of the 40 or so investigations carried out by the NHS into allegations about Jimmy Savile. He and Kate wrote a lessons learnt report for the Secretary of State for Health arising from the publication of the Savile investigations. He was appointed by the global board of G4S PLC to investigate the concerns raised by BBC Panorama in their programme about Brook House immigration removal centre at Gatwick airport. Recent work has included leading a review of patient safety at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and investigating the work-related death of an NHS manager. Ed gave expert evidence to the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA).
He has been an associate of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit where he carried out three assignments on immigration.
He is the founder of a new healthcare tech company called Eva (www.evaapplications.com).
Ed is married and lives in London. He has two grown-up children.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Registered Mental Health Nurse
Emily Ewart is a registered mental health nurse and a cognitive behavioural therapist. She is currently employed in Central London as a CPN and also carries a CBT caseload. During her career, she has worked in a range of acute wards and community-based positions including work as a Care Coordinator. Emily has gained considerable experience in the identification of patient risks and has been involved in the creation of programs for trainee therapists. In her roles, she has taken a proactive involvement in the development of procedures to ensure patients conditions are met with the correct levels of care and experience. Emily has gained a number of Graduate and Postgraduate professional qualifications.
Jane Russell is a practising barrister with 20 years' experience (15 years at the independent Bar and 5 years as a solicitor) undertaking employment, equality, regulatory and whistleblowing work and she has appeared in the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Employment Tribunals. Jane is also on the Attorney General's "B" Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and has acted on a range of matters for the UK Government. Jane's whistleblowing and equality experience caused her to be appointed to assist Tom Kark QC with the report commissioned by the Health Minister into the effectiveness of the fit and proper person test in the NHS. She brings to her investigations substantial experience and knowledge of whistleblowing, equality and discrimination issues.
Jo Gillespie is a pilot by profession with 30 years of hands-on flying experience, primarily as a commercial airline captain and flight instructor. He has also enjoyed a parallel career in aviation safety and risk management, spending many years as Vice President of Flight Safety for Emirates in Dubai. He has managed large safety and hazard reporting programmes and led numerous investigations into air accidents and incidents, which frequently focused on the behavioural choices of those involved. Jo advises and contributes to global organisations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the World Food Programme and the Flight Safety Foundation, and he supports the worldwide airline industry with consultancy and training services in safety management and investigation. He has also appeared in the High Courts of London and Dublin as an expert witness on aviation safety in defence of liability claims. Jo has been a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society since 2010 and was Chairman of the Gulf Flight Safety Committee for more than a decade.
Job Titles:
- Senior Associate
- Executive Secretary at the Committee of University Chairs
John Rushforth is the executive secretary at the Committee of University Chairs (CUC). He is responsible for the Higher Education (HE) Code of Governance, as well as for CUC Practice Notes on Remuneration Committees, Prevent and Academic Governance. He is a member of the Higher Education Standing Committee for Quality across the UK. He is also deputy chair of the South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group.
Nicola is a senior consultant having worked at Verita for four years. Nicola has conducted patient care reviews for acute and mental health NHS trusts and investigated human resources and governance issues for clients such as Public Health England, NHS England and The Open University. She has also carried out complaint audits for the GMC and the CAA. She has worked with Ed Marsden & Kate Lampard on a review of an immigration removal centre for G4S. Before joining Verita, Nicola worked at the Royal College of Music as an office coordinator and at Healix Health Services, a corporate private healthcare trust provider, as a claims administrator. She has a first-class degree in history from the University of Essex.
After graduating from Cambridge University, Peter Killwick worked in the IT industry for three years before spending the next two years travelling in Asia, Oceania, North America and Africa. For the subsequent 25 years, Peter has worked in consulting covering a variety of strategic and operational issues in a wide range of sectors including healthcare, automotive, financial services, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and government. At Verita, Peter has a particular focus on the development and evolution of our diagnostic tools including the Organisational Resilience Assessment and Complaints diagnostic. Peter has extensive experience of conducting complex investigations within the NHS, both at operational and commissioner level, including several cases involving allegations raised by whistle-blowers.
Peter Killwick After graduating from Cambridge University, Peter Killwick worked in the IT industry for...
Job Titles:
- Communications Advisor
- Communications Advisor ( Senior Associate )
Stephen Webb is a board-level communications advisor with over 20 years of experience and a successful...