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. 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. Prior to that, he was a partner in Booz Allen and Hamilton based in both London and New York. He has extensive practical experience in restructuring complex organisations across technology and business cycles and driving fundamental innovations in transforming
Appointed to the Board: 1 June 2016.
Term expires: 31 August 2020.
Committee membership: Chair of the Talent, Remuneration and Management Committee; co-chair of the Digital Committee in Common; member of the Investment 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 is a non-executive director at Health Education England and 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), non-executive director and vice chair at The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2014-2020), a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council and a board director for the Eastern Academic Health Science Network. She is a non executive director at Health Education England.
Soraya is a fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), holds the Charter Gold Medal for Science and Practice and was awarded an MBE for her contribution to Health Services in Bedfordshire.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2020.
Committee membership: Chair, Equality Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group; member of the Talent, Remuneration and Management Committee; member of the Research Advisory Group.
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 and on transforming IT organisations. He was also seconded twice as chief information officer to 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 of the Audit and Risk Committee; member of the Digital Committee in Common.
Deborah Oakley
Skills and experience: Deborah leads on assurance and risk for the NHS Digital Board.
Deborah has a long-standing passion and commitment to the NHS, which stretches back to 2000 when she started as a volunteer at University College Hospitals. She was formerly a non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), chair of the audit committee at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, chair of the Health Protection Agency’s Biological Medicines Technical Committee and chair of the audit committee at NHS Camden.
Deborah’s executive career is in the financial services sector. She worked at Newton Investment Management for 20 years and became a director of the company. 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 weekly welfare scheme in Camden.
Appointed to the Board: 1 July 2018.
Term expires: 30 June 2021.
Committee membership: Chair, Audit and Risk Committee; member of the 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; member of the 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 Procurator Fiscal Service and chairs its audit and risk committee.
He was chief executive of Southend-on-Sea Council from 2005 to 2017. He previously served as chief executive of South Northamptonshire Council for seven years. Under Rob’s leadership, Southend council was awarded LGC Council of the Year (2012) and MJ Senior Leadership Team of the Year (2016). He was awarded an MBE in 2017 for services to local government.
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.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2020.
Committee membership: Member, Talent, Remuneration and Management Committee.
Professor Sudhesh Kumar OBE
Skills and experience: Sudhesh is Vice-Chair and 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 at the University of Warwick. He is also a non-executive director on the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Board.
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. He has published more than 240 papers and six books.
Appointed to the Board: 1 January 2017.
Term expires: 31 December 2020.
Committee membership: Member of the Audit and Risk Committee and member of the 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 Head of Innovation and Artificial Intelligence at Medopad, his role is to develop market-leading digital health technologies to be deployed around the world. Previously, he was Chief Technology Officer at Digital Catapult, the UK’s advanced digital technology innovation centre, working across emerging technologies including machine learning, 5G, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality and blockchain.
Marko has been instrumental in bringing several new technologies to market. At a start-up called State, he helped to launch 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 2020.
Committee membership: Member of the Information and Cyber Security Committee and member of the 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 audit, 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.
