Noel Gordon
Chair
Skills and experience: Noel chairs the NHS Digital Board.
Noel is also a non-executive director of NHS England and Chair of the Healthcare UK Advisory Board. He also serves as a non-executive director of the Payments Systems Regulator and is chair of the board of trustees of UserVoice.org. He was formerly a member of the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Board, the Accelerated Access Review and the chair of the Specialised Services Commissioning Committee.
Previously an economist and a banker, Noel spent most of his career in consultancy, where he was Global Managing Director of the banking industry practice at Accenture from 1996 until his retirement in 2012. He has extensive practical experience in restructuring complex organisations across technology and business cycles and driving fundamental innovations in transforming industries through big data, analytics and digital technologies.
Appointed to the Board: 1 June 2016.
Term expires: 31 May 2020.
Committee membership: Chair, Talent, Remuneration and Management Committee.
Professor Soraya Dhillon MBE
Skills and experience: Soraya is the Senior Independent Director and leads on clinical safety and governance, e-channels and diversity and inclusion for the NHS Digital Board.
Soraya has 35 years’ experience in academia and clinical practice, retiring as Dean of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire in November 2016. She has held a number of non-executive posts in the NHS since 1991. She was Chair of Luton and Dunstable NHS Foundation Trust (1999-2010), a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council and a board director for the Eastern Academic Health Science Network. She is a non-executive director and vice chairman at the Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and an academic manager at the University of Hertfordshire.
Soraya was awarded an MBE for her contribution to health services in Bedfordshire, is a fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and a recipient of the society’s Charter Gold Medal for Sciences and Practice.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2020.
Committee membership: Chair, Equality Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group and member of the Talent, Remuneration and Management Committee
Daniel Benton
Skills and experience: Daniel leads on IT delivery excellence, operational transformation and technology strategy for the NHS Digital Board.
Having spent most of his career at Accenture, where he was Global Head of Technology Strategy and Digital Strategy Practices, Daniel has extensive experience in setting and implementing technology agendas for large organisations going through periods of transformational change, including the implementation of consumer-facing technologies. He led much of Accenture’s thinking around the impact of technology on business models and on transforming IT organisations. He also served as chief information officer of an international bank and a large global insurer.
Daniel is a trustee of the Grange Festival.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2020.
Committee membership: Chair, Investment Committee; Member, Audit and Risk Committee; and Member, Digital Committee in Common.
Deborah Oakley
Skills and experience: Deborah leads on assurance and risk for the NHS Digital Board.
Deborah was formerly a non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). She was chair of the audit committee at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, chair of the Health Protection Agency’s Medicines Technical Committee and chair of the audit committee at the NHS Camden Clinical Commissioning Group.
She has spent most of her career in the financial services sector as a director of Newton Investment Management. Since 2010, she has worked at Veritas Investment Management, where she manages portfolios for private clients, trusts and charities.
Deborah is involved in several charities including a winter night shelter for the homeless and a parent teacher association in Camden.
Appointed to the Board: 1 July 2018.
Term expires: 30 December 2021.
Committee membership: Chair, Audit and Risk Committee; Member, Information and Cyber Security Committee.
John Noble CBE
Skills and experience: John leads on information and cyber security for the NHS Digital Board.
He was Director of Incident Management at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), where he led on nearly 800 major cyber security incidents. Before this, he spent four years at the British Embassy in Washington DC.
During his 40 years of government service, John has specialised in operational delivery and strategic business change. He was awarded a CBE for his work in creating effective partnerships in the run-up to the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
Appointed to the Board: 1 July 2018.
Term expires: 30 June 2021.
Committee membership: Chair, Information and Cyber Security Committee; and Member, Audit and Risk Committee.
Rob Tinlin MBE
Skills and experience: Rob leads on integrated care, digitising social care, change management and organisational development for the NHS Digital Board.
Rob is a non-executive director on the board of the Crown Office and the Procurator Fiscal Service and chairs its audit and risk committee.
Until his retirement in 2017, he was chief executive of Southend-on-Sea Council for 12 years, during which it received the LGC Council of the Year Award (2012) and MJ Senior Leadership Team of the Year Award (2016). He was formerly chief executive of South Northamptonshire Council.
Rob was the chief executive leading on health and social care for the East of England and was a founding member of the Southend Health and Wellbeing Board. He has been a member of the National Information Board, the Anglia Ruskin MedTech Campus Board and the advisory board for the Queen Mary University of London School of Business.
He was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to local government.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2019.
Committee membership: Member, Talent, Remuneration and Management Committee.
Professor Sudhesh Kumar OBE
Skills and experience: Sudhesh leads on big data, partnerships with the research sector, clinical informatics, medical technology and life sciences for the NHS Digital Board.
Sudhesh is Dean of the Warwick Medical School and Director of the Institute of Digital Healthcare at the University of Warwick. He is a Non-Executive Director on the board of University Hospital Coventry and the Warwickshire NHS Trust.
He is a clinical endocrinologist with 24 years’ experience as a consultant physician in the NHS. His research has included developing novel approaches in areas such as medical technology, obesity and diabetes management. His work has helped to transform and improve patient care and treatment, on which he has published over 240 papers and six books.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2019.
Committee membership: Member, Audit and Risk Committee and Member, Research Advisory Group.
Dr Marko Balabanovic
Skills and experience: Marko leads on innovation, emerging technologies, partnerships and technology transfer for the NHS Digital Board.
Marko has been driving innovation in academia, corporations and start-ups both in the UK and the USA for more than 20 years. As Chief Technology Officer at Digital Catapult, his role is to drive innovation by bringing together expertise from the creative and research and development fields, and ensuring that the organisation remains at the forefront of key trends and emerging technologies. He has been instrumental in bringing several new technologies to market, including ‘State’, a digital global opinion network.
He was head of innovation at lastminute.com, where his team launched an array of award-winning mobile phone apps. He studied computer science at the University of Cambridge and has a PhD in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from Stanford University, where he led foundational work on recommender systems.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2019.
Committee membership: Member, Information and Cyber Security Committee and Member, Investment Committee.
Balram Veliath
Skills and experience: Balram leads on culture, values and stakeholder relations for the NHS Digital Board.
He is the Director of Quality, Risk and Assurance at the BBC, where his responsibilities include internal auditing, risk management, safety and security, and assurance of critical projects.
He qualified as a chartered accountant in 1988 and has over 25 years’ experience of risk governance, including developing and implementing risk management systems, assisting organisations to assess their capability to handle risk, and supporting boards in culture, diversity and inclusion.
Previously, he worked in senior executive roles at the Royal Bank of Scotland and ABN AMRO, covering internal auditing and risk management across operations and technology. He worked at KPMG for 12 years, including as a partner with responsibility for financial audits across a range of sectors.
Appointed to the Board: 1 July 2018.
Term expires: 30 June 2021.
Committee membership: Member, Audit and Risk Committee.
