PDSA - Key Persons
Alison became a PDSA Trustee in 2016 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Alison is a commercial marketing professional with over 30 years experience working across the Barclays Group, including in Wealth, Corporate, Retail and Barclaycard Payments.
Joining Barclays as a graduate trainee she worked across the Group to develop broad commerical experience before specialising in both consumer and client marketing roles. Prior to leaving Barclays in June 2021 she led the Corporate Banking marketing team, with responsbility for the US, Asia and Europe.
She is passionate about animal welfare and conservation and has previously provided marketing expertise as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.
Carole became a PDSA Trustee in 2014 and is the Chair of the Finance & Investment Committee and a member of the Governance & Remuneration Committee.
After gaining a degree in Physics from Oxford, she qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co (now KPMG) before joining Schroders.
She initially led the development of accounting systems for the Investment Management company before moving on to manage private client investment portfolios. She left Schroders as an Investment Director of Schroders Private Bank before moving to Rathbones as an Investment Consultant. After leaving Rathbones to look after her two children Carole is now Chair of Trustees at a secondary school Academy, which includes overseeing safeguarding, as well as the science and maths departments.
Job Titles:
- Director of Finance & Resources
David became a PDSA Trustee in 2018 and is a member of the Finance & Investment Committee.
David Lister was born and educated in Manchester where he originally trained and qualified as a solicitor before moving to London in 1987. Following his move to London David embarked upon a career as a Family Lawyer specialising in the issues arising from the breakdown of relationships of predominantly (ultra) high net worth/international clientele with an emphasis on financial issues. During his career, he has pioneered the use of litigation funding and third-party disclosure, as well as having conduct of the largest court determined matrimonial settlement at the time (£54 million), with proceedings in six jurisdictions.
David has practised in this field for over three decades with specialist matrimonial firms, currently David is a Senior Partner at Vardags and previously he has been a partner with Sears Tooth, Mishcon De Reya LLP and Rayden Solicitors.
David lectures and broadcasts on his professional work and is a Governor at Large of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
Outside of his work David is a keen (but not particularly competent) Equestrian and was a co-founder of the London based networking group City Saddles. A keen sailor David is a member of the Wembley Sailing Club and Little Ship Club.
David is married with two adult children. Throughout his life David has been a "brother/father/uncle" to no fewer than eight Labrador dogs.
David became a PDSA Trustee in 2018 and is a member of the Finance & Investment Committee. He was appointed as Chair of the Governance & Remuneration Committee in January 2023.
David is the owner of More-Gain Solutions, an independent consulting business specialising in growth strategies for digital transformation solutions focused on the retail industry.
David is also a director of Hyperspots Clickable Media, LLC, a start-up software business providing a solution for making videos and images "clickable". He has held executive positions with a number of businesses including IRI (market intelligence and analytics), EDS (IT outsourcing and consulting) and ZBD Solutions (electronic shelf-labels) as well as spending a number of years working for retail operations.
Having been born in England of Welsh and Dutch parents, David now lives on a smallholding in Scotland and acts as an able(ish) assistant to his partner, Jane, who runs a self-funded animal rescue centre for 74 animals ranging from chinchillas, guinea pigs, chickens and rabbits to cats, goats, pigs, donkeys and horses!
Gary became a PDSA Trustee in 2014 and is a member of the Audit & Risk Committee.
Job Titles:
- Trustee
- Director of Operations and Support for the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee
Gordon became a PDSA Trustee in 2018 and is a member of the Governance & Remuneration Committee.
Gordon is Director of Operations and Support for the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) which promotes and supports the interests of NHS community pharmacies in England. He is qualified as a pharmacist and barrister. For just under 17 years he worked for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, first as Assistant Registrar in charge of professional standards and fitness to practise procedures for veterinary surgeons and nurses and then as Registrar of the College.
Ian became a PDSA Trustee in 2018 and was appointed Chair of Whitechapel Associates Limited, which is the Trustee of the PDSA Retirement Benefits Plan, in January 2023.
In July 2021 he became Director of Intelligence at the Financial Conduct Authority and prior to that was Director of Technology for Citizen Health at NHS Digital.
He has worked at the Home Office as Delivery Director for Immigration Technology, which was at the forefront of providing digital services and transforming services for staff and customer. In his time there, they removed the need for significant amounts of paper, streamlined the flow of information and improved the services to their customers - from asylum seekers to highly skilled migrants.
He had an 11 year career in Defence and National Security as well as delivering on a range of other IT and communications projects and programmes.
He was also the Chair of LGBT group at his previous office and by working on Diversity and Inclusion they managed to get their office to No.1 in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. He is supporting PDSA's Diversity, Equality and Inclusion plans. Prior to this he had a varied career starting in the Royal Navy and continuing in the financial sector with companies such as Visa, American Express and Citibank.
Jan is a biochemist with an MSc in Microbiology and began her career with Allied Breweries in 1986 as a Microbiologist.
Jan left the brewing industry in 1994 and had successive senior management and operational roles with H J Heinz and Northern Foods, before joining PDSA in 2001 as Business Development Director, taking responsibility for leading a number of new business initiatives, primarily within the Veterinary department. Jan was appointed Director of Veterinary Services in 2003, overseeing the modernisation of PDSA's services, including the introduction and roll-out of preventive treatments across the charity's 48 Pet Hospitals.
In 2008 Jan was appointed PDSA's Director General. She led the organisation through financial recession that resulted in a 50% increase in demand for the charity's help as a consequence of the economic crisis, which plunged many people into financial hardship. Her role involves the day-to-day management of the charity and its finances, ensuring all of its work complies with the relevant legislation and working with the Trustees to develop future plans to help pets and their owners in the years to come.
Jan adheres to a model of continuous improvement and innovation from her business background. She believes in challenging the status quo and is always looking for different, more efficient ways of doing things in order to maximise the impact of every penny the charity spends.
Jan McLoughlin is PDSA's Director General and has worked at the charity since 2001. Below, Jan explains why PDSA is so special.
Liz became a PDSA Trustee in 2022. She is the Director of Communications and Marketing for the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences, the British Academy, and has held leadership roles in a range of organisations in Higher Education and public bodies including Goldsmiths, University of London, the General Social Care Council, the Electoral Commission and the Learning Trust.
She is a trustee of Music for Youth and member of the British Library Advisory Board and the Discovery Decade Advisory Board.
Mary became a PDSA Trustee in 2016. She Chairs the Audit & Risk Committee and is a member of the Governance & Remuneration Committee.
Mary has over 30 years' international experience as a chartered accountant and non-executive director working across a variety of sectors including sport, luxury retail, manufacturing, business services and media. Mary's current Non-Executive Directorships include Ferrexpo plc, Crown Agents Ltd and the Department of Transport.
She has previously held Non-Executive Directorships with the London Development Agency, London 2012 Limited, the Invictus Games. Mary worked with Deloitte LLP from 1974-2013 and was an Audit Partner. She is a Trustee of the Invictus Games Foundation and the Institute of Imagination.
Job Titles:
- Director of Digital, Data & Technology
Matthew began his career in 1994 as an IT apprentice at a Midlands-based construction company, Tarmac.
After gaining skills, knowledge and qualifications in a range of systems and technologies, he joined the University of Wolverhampton as a Senior Lecturer. For 11 years, he taught various subjects from pre-entry to post-graduate level including strategic management, computer science, and information systems disciplines. Matthew moved on to join the Corporate Services of the university as Assistant Director of IT, leading Teaching and Learning technology, and delivering a wide range of business intelligence, digital transformation and systems projects.
Matthew then went on to work for the National Lottery Community Fund for over four years. He joined as the Deputy Director in IT, and through promotion, became the Director of Technology and Data. He delivered an ambitious, fast-paced digital transformation programme, making improvements in customer and colleague-facing technology and digital services. Matthew's work also included the delivery of remote, home and community-based working ahead of the global pandemic, and evolving back-office IT into a customer-centric business enabling directorate.
As Director of Digital, Data and Technology at PDSA, Matthew is responsible for our vision for digital, data and technology, and bringing the vision to life through our people and our resources, enabling our organisation to achieve all our ambitions.
Rebecca began her career in retail, moving onto the world of training and development in 2001. From here, she worked for a range of organisations, from parking enforcement to stationary supplies. However, her commitment to people remained the same - ensuring they were at the heart of organisations' decision-making whilst delivering success.
In 2010, Rebecca proudly accepted the Head of Learning and Development role at PDSA, where her passion for people and expertise shone. Not only did she bring her knowledge to PDSA, but she also strongly resonated with the cause from her own experience of needing housing support as a young, single mother when finances were tight.
After thirteen successful years in the People Directorate at PDSA, Rebecca was appointed the Director of People. She is responsible for ensuring that PDSA's vision and mission are brought to life through our employees and volunteers.
Job Titles:
- Director of Veterinary Services
- Veterinary Surgeon from Glasgow University
After qualifying as a Veterinary Surgeon from Glasgow University, Richard worked in private veterinary practice in
Staffordshire. In 1996 he joined PDSA as a Veterinary Surgeon in Aston, Birmingham, before becoming Senior Veterinary Surgeon at Stoke-on-Trent Pet Hospital. Richard then became Chief Veterinary Surgeon for PDSA, a post he held for five years before being appointed Director of Veterinary services in 2008.
As the Director of Veterinary Services, Richard is accountable for the effective delivery or the charity's public-facing veterinary work and shaping the strategy and delivery of all of the treatment, prevention and educational services that PDSA