Karen Bloomfield – Head of Talent – East of England
[email protected] | 07879 898 071
Karen has responsibility for working in partnership with the regional ICS Workforce leads to develop and establish a system talent management approach, enabling healthy talent pipelines and maximising retention. She aims to build on talent management approaches which are evidence-based and meet the needs of our local health and care workforce to support delivery of quality care and improved health outcomes. Karen’s role encompasses the establishment of the infrastructure to support this work e.g. Talent and Leadership Strategic forum and Talent Community of practice, together with activities to support increasing Board diversity representation and increasing numbers of staff who have the aspiration and potential for roles of increased breadth, depth or complexity at Director level and in essence succession planning for sustainability of critical roles. .
Karen has worked in the NHS since 1979,initially training as a general nurse, working as a senior nurse in Hertfordshire then workforce development roles and leading the national Midwifery recruitment and retention action plan. From 2011, she led the East of England Leadership academy and was successful nationally as ‘Leadership Development Champion of the year’. During this time, she ran programmes such as Aspirant Directors Development, Primary Care Collaboratives and Change Leaders. More recently Karen took up post as Head of Talent in 2019 focused on the delivery of a strategic approach for talent management, ensuring we meet the commitments of the NHS People plan and supporting staff at all levels to thrive, develop and enjoy a rewarding career in health and social care. During the pandemic Karen was deployed to and led the East of England Bring Back staff team regionally.
Karen is inspired by working with people to be the best version of themselves and gets a buzz from seeing colleagues have successful careers, supporting them through coaching and mentoring. Karen’s favourite quote is ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’ by Maya Angelou.
Find Karen on Twitter at @karenbloomfiel1 and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-bloomfield-1960
Pat Cotton – Programme Lead (East of England Regional Talent Board)
[email protected] | 07384 877273
Pat is the Programme Lead for Talent and Inclusion and supports the development, implementation and management of the local and national leadership development programmes and work streams related to talent management and building leadership for inclusion.
Pat is a registered nurse and midwife and held senior clinical roles in various posts particularly in midwifery. The development of others has always been fundamental to her practice as a leader. This interest prompted moves into roles within practice development, leadership development and organisational development working within an acute trust and across the locality and more recently across the region. Pat passionately believes that when you create an inclusive culture whereby staff talents are recognised nurtured and developed, staff are more able to deliver high quality care and are engaged not only in their own development but the development of others.
Deborah Peacock – Business and Performance Manager
[email protected] | 07542 476074
Deborah manages our business operations which includes financial planning and management, business planning, human resources, service management, and information technology. Her experience ranges from financial services to programme management. Deborah joined the NHS and the Leadership team in 2009 having worked in a similar team for LloydsTSB. She has played a fundamental role in implementing our leadership approach over the last few years.
Julie Dynes-Conner – Leadership Development Senior Manager
Julie has over 25 years working in the field of People and Organizational development.
Julie began her career as Psychology Lecturer in Essex before building a new NHS career shaping Leadership Development in Mental Health Services. From here she moved to the East of England Leadership Academy supporting Leadership Development across the region.
A qualified Executive Coach and NLP Practitioner Julie has a passion for seeing others grow, develop a better understanding of themselves and achieve positive outcomes.
She is currently undertaking a Doctoral programme in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck University and has a special interest in psychological wellbeing in the workplace.
Richard Noble – GMTS Leadership Development Senior Manager
Innocent Muza – Primary Care Programme Manager
[email protected] | 07548 841421
Innocent is a Programme Manager for primary care leadership development. He supports Primary Care Networks (PCNs), General Practices (GPs) and other Systems Leaders within the Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to influence through appropriate leadership development initiatives enabling care and health staff make decisions that ensures best possible care.
He is a holder of, B.Sc. (Hons) Politics & Administration, MSc Development Planning: Environment & Sustainable Development, and MSc Public Health degrees. He is also PRINCE2 and MSP qualified and is a Quality Service Improvement & Redesign (QSIR) associate. Last year Innocent participated in a flagship Next Generation Leadership development programme, ‘this contextualised my experience into a reality of how to become a senior leader…’
Innocent has Public Health, and Transformation/Programme Management experience with a demonstrated history of working in the NHS in different roles at national/regional level, and in provider and commissioning organisations. Outside work, Innocent enjoys cycling, running, gardening and spends time volunteering.
Matina Triantafyllou – Leadership Development Manager
[email protected] | 07384 877274
I proudly hold the title amongst others in my life like Coach, Mentor, Trainer, Facilitator, psychometrics practitioner and wider OD Consultant (in addition to being a “juggling” mum of two) en-route to becoming a Master Practitioner in Emotional Intelligence.
Starting off my career as an HR generalist, I quickly discovered my preference and passion for enabling growth. Leadership and organisational development activities were the perfect platform. Across my 15 years experience I have co-created multi-input leadership development programmes supporting the development of first, middle and senior leaders in the NHS and Not-for-Profit sector. I am motivated by being a catalyst for change for leaders of all backgrounds. I work for a future where more self-aware leaders will be enabling the delivery of effective patient and service user care through integrated high performing and possibly game changing teams and systems.
I look after three workstreams; Coaching and Mentoring, Healthcare Leadership Model and the OD Network. My focus is to promote coaching and mentoring as the powerful development opportunities they are, to cater for our community of HLM Facilitators and to support our growing OD Network in its mission to create opportunities for thought and practice exchange.
Hannah Morris – East of England Talent Project Manager
Hannah joined the Leadership and Lifelong Learning Team in the East of England in November 2020, taking up the role of Project Manager. She is responsible for the project management and delivery of work streams related to talent management and the Regional Talent Board.
Hannah is passionate about supporting the delivery of excellent patient care through developing talent and promoting an inclusive and compassionate culture. Hannah is a member of the Association of Project Management and joins the team following a career in healthcare research and health education.
Jacqueline Smith – Leadership Development Co-ordinator
[email protected] | 07849 574329
Jacqueline began her career in a more forensic setting: Psychologist in the prison service for several years, and has held a number of project manager roles; for the police in domestic violence, for offender services working with probation and prisons and for parenting programmes working closely with CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) as well as Operational Performance Manager for the Drugs and Alcohol service, Post Graduate Dental Education and HEE Programme Manager for CPD projects across East of England. Jacqueline is a feedback facilitator for the Healthcare Leadership Model 360, her workstreams are the system Leadership and primary care agenda and programmes across the EoE.
Jacqueline is the holder of a BSc (Hons) Psychology and BACP Counselling.
Jacqueline is proud to be a domestic abuse ambassador, and to help support teams in the community to create safe environments so survivors feel able to speak out and be supported by services. Also a member of the NHS Regional Office Greener group, supporting the NHS to be more sustainable and a greener NHS. She enjoys spending precious time with her children, grandchildren and friends, enjoying the value of time together, travel, swimming, paddle boarding and anything to do with the sea.
Ruth Davis – Inclusion Co-ordinator
Ruth joined the East of England leadership team in 2017, providing support to the Inclusion, Talent Management and Graduate Management Training Scheme workstreams. In October 2020, Ruth was appointed as Inclusion Co-ordinator supporting positive action programmes and inclusive leadership development across the team. Ruth has a passion for promoting a compassionate, inclusive and enabling culture within the organisation and across the systems within the region. As a carer herself, she is particularly keen to raise awareness of the issues faced by working carers and is a member of the carers network. In April 2020, Ruth was appointed as one of the east of England EDI representatives, supporting the delivery of the regional EDI plan.
Ruth has a background in health and social care and has previously worked in education and training, as a social worker in older people’s mental health services, and as a long-term volunteer for a charity in India. She loves to travel and experience different cultures, and also to spend time at home reading, walking the dog and socialising with family and friends.
Amber Ramans-Harborough – Leadership Development Co-ordinator
I joined the team in 2018. Over the years, I have supported the EOE Graduate Management Training Scheme and Leadership Development.
I get great satisfaction from being involved in a team that nurtures and supports compassionate leadership, personal development, and organisational growth within health and care systems.
I have completed the NHS Mary Seacole Programme, covering core leadership skills and behaviours, leading for improvement and management skills.
My background is in biological sciences, I have an MSc in Plant Genetics, and have previously worked as a research assistant. Outside of work, I enjoy drawing, and time outdoors.
Ellie McNally – Business and Performance Officer
I joined the Leadership and Lifelong Learning team in February 2021 as a Business and Performance Officer. Previously to the NHS, I worked in the private sector for four years as a Business and Sales Support to the CEO, helping to create and nourish a company culture to ensure people were able to grow to be the best versions of themselves.
This exposure to supporting colleagues, creating new workplace practices and developing leaders helped me realise my passion of encouraging nurturing workplace cultures, whilst aiming for each and every person to feel valued in their roles.
I moved to work within a NHS trust as an Administration Lead for almost a year before making the decision to apply to work with the LLL team. I knew my own personal values matched their’s, with the NHS People Plan at the base of everything we do. I’m looking forward to getting my feet under the desk and working within a passionate team which cares about their most valuable asset: the people.
Daniella Smith – Business Support Officer
Ashleigh Gombedza – GMTS Leadership Development Administrator
Ashleigh joined the Leadership and Lifelong Learning Team in December 2021 as the Leadership Development Administrator for the GMTS. Ashleigh has a background in working within the Health and Social Care sector with adults and young adults in providing care and promoting independence.
Ashleigh had also had the opportunity to work within HR in her previous role before joining the GMTS team. This included supporting and training staff within the healthcare sector in looking after patients and services users by leading training programmes such as medication training. In addition, Ashleigh has experience as a Mental Health first aider, facilitating mental health and well-being service for staff. Alongside holding a degree in BSc (Hons) Public Health.
Ashleigh is passionate and excited about being able to support the team, trainees and being involved in a dynamic team that provides training and development for individuals to be the next future NHS Leaders.