New Board Members and Recruitment in the New Year
Recruitment to our Board of Trustees
Our board of trustees is responsible for the effective governance of the organisation and setting strategic direction. After commencing a recruitment drive throughout August, shortlisted candidates were interviewed in September with four being successful.
At the Annual General Meeting on 20th November the following candidates were formally (and unanimously) approved:
- Roger Beeching
- Maryrose Brennan
- Carol O’Brien
- Andrew Stenson
Roger Beeching
Roger was a National Health dentist in Harlow for 37 years.
From 1976 to date he has been a Councillor at one level or another, Sawbridgeworth Town Council (Mayor 4 times) East Herts Council (Chairman), Hertfordshire County Council (Vice Chairman for 2 years).
At Hertfordshire County Council he spent 8 years on Scrutiny Committee, Chairing Panels specializing in in depth scrutinizing of Health matters.
He was a magistrate in Hertford for 16 years, Chairman of the Governors of a local Secondary school for 33 years
In 2010 he was awarded MBE for Services to the Community, he is also a Freeman of the City of London.
He has a wife (of 55years) 15 grandchildren and a lurcher dog, called Riley.
Roger feels his life’s experience will enable him to be a useful member of the board, and to be able to add something to discussions.
Maryrose Brennan
Maryrose joined Healthwatch Hertfordshire having spent 30 years in the pharmaceutical industry in a variety of roles across research & development and global manufacturing.
Maryrose remains an active volunteer at the SeriousFun Children’s Network, a global charity serving children with serious medical conditions, and currently supports the family and hospital programmes in Ireland and the UK. Additionally, Maryrose is a foundation governor/treasurer for a local junior school in Hertford, where she lives.
Maryrose is eager to support the mission and vision of Healthwatch Hertfordshire, act as a catalyst to ensure the voice of the community is heard on health and social care matters and keen to apply her business knowledge within the organisation, as appropriate.
In her private time, Maryrose is a keen cyclist (road and off- road) and a member of Herts Wheelers.
Carol O’Brien
Carol started working in the public sector in the 1980’s initially housing and moved over into social care managing quality, performance and policy development. Over time she’s managed a variety of social care services and worked closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group to integrate care and health services.
She’s dedicated to improving and developing services for vulnerable adults in our community. In supporting people to live at home for as long as they want to it’s really important that they feel safe, that they have a social life and are able to ‘get out and about’. Her mother died a few years ago had dementia – she valued her privacy and her independence but whilst she managed to have that, she was in many ways vulnerable. It’s incredible hard to watch a loved one grow old with dementia.
The value of being involved in an organisation like Healthwatch ensures that the public sector commissioners and care providers remain sensitive to these complex needs and relationships.
She is passionate about her horses and has ridden for years… for some unknown reason she tends to have naughty horses.
Andrew Stenson
Andrew grew up in Hertfordshire and has strong family connections with the county. His interest in working with Healthwatch Hertfordshire came from observing the care given to a close relative during a particularly challenging time in their life.
He is a passionate advocate for treating patients with dignity and ensuring that care is patient-centred; Andrew’s background is in business consultancy, training, and publishing with a particular focus on health.
Andrew is currently working with OxFed, the Oxford City GP federation, developing the Oxfordshire Primary and Community Care workforce through the provision of high quality continued professional development.
When not working, he can usually be found spending time with his family or walking through parks and countryside.
We are fortunate to have a dedicated board of trustees, and the quality and calibre of the newly elected members will enhance the board going forward. We will be running another recruitment drive for Board members in the New Year.
Find out more about the work of our Board of Trustees
You can find out more about what our Board does and when it next meets by visiting the Board pages here
