As a member of Clinical Governance Committee, and with the support Tim and his family give to events, Tim has a wide experience of the work of the Hospice.

He lives locally in Potten End and brings an in depth understanding of the communities we support. The Board of Trustees will formally recommend Tim's appointment as Chair of Trustees at our AGM. He takes up his role with immediate effect.

Tim has a wide range of executive and non-executive Board experience. He sits on the boards of two other national charities and is a non-executive director of a wine distribution company. Tim's professional career was in the Ministry of Defence and latterly the National Crime Agency where he served for 5 years as a main board director. Tim now runs a consulting business offering security and crime prevention advice and works at Kings College London, Department of War Studies, where he is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow.

Tim said “I am delighted and honoured to be appointed as Chair. The Hospice of St Francis is a wonderful and much loved instiitution, offering outstanding palliative and end-of-life care to our community. I have been involved with the Hospice for over 20 years, first as a supporter and fund-raiser and since 2019 as its Treasurer. It is a great privilege to continue now as Chair. Like many other charities, the Hospice is facing challenging times, with costs rising but income failing to keep pace. If we are to continue to offer the same range of outstanding care, we are going to need even more help from our many friends and supporters in the towns and villages around the Hospice. I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor Mike Tye for the work he did with our CEO Kate Phipps-Wiltshire to begin developing a new strategy for the Hospice, with a range of new income generation plans. I am excited to take up where Mike left off and am very much looking forward to working with Kate and her team to lead the next phase of the Hospice of St Francis.”

Debashis has led large multinational businesses, more recently as a CEO of a healthcare business in the UK and Ireland. Debashis sits on the board for a number of companies, both in the Charity and Private sector.

Debashis is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Management Accountant and lives in Pinner.

As CFO for the newly-formed VodafoneThree, Darren oversees the finance teams including financial strategy, management and reporting, along with the Procurement, Data & Analytics and Wholesale functions of the business.

As CFO of Three UK since 2018, he led the finance function through a period of significant transformation and growth. Prior to this, he held senior roles including Deputy CFO, contributing to major strategic initiatives and financial leadership across the business.

His career spans senior finance positions in large-scale organisations such as Marks & Spencer Plc, Kingfisher, Warehouse Fashions and Borders Books.

He has successfully led a variety of medicines management services and projects in primary care for CCGs, PCTs and individual GP practices. The common principle in each of these services is the implementation of quality outcomes relating to medicines use that also have the patient and individual healthcare practitioner’s needs in mind – Soar Beyond has saved the NHS millions of pounds whilst also improving quality and reducing risk. In a career spanning more than 25 years working within, and with, the NHS Shailen has also been involved in a number of strategic and support roles relating to medicines management, pharmacy and commissioning / service re-design in primary care.  Shailen has previously held posts as Diabetes Lead at Hillingdon PCT, Head of Medicines Management and Lead for Community Pharmacy Development. He has also been instrumental in a number of nationally acclaimed medicines management, health economy and community pharmacy initiatives.  Shailen and his family live in Hemel Hempstead.

She has experience in professional services marketing and communications, and is qualified as a Chartered Marketer with the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  Starting her career advising lawyers in London and New York on business development, Jenny has more recently worked as editor for the National Pharmacy Association, and then as Group Editor at LaingBuisson, a company which reports on the UK and international private healthcare and social care markets.   

Jenny strongly believes in giving back to the Berkhamsted community. For the last 10 years she has been a school governor of two local Church schools and has recently become a trustee for a group of 11 schools spread across Herts and Beds. She is also a trustee of a local Scout group. Through these roles she has developed skills in community stakeholder management, organisational change, financial oversight and safeguarding in the public and charity sectors.

Jenny and her family live in Berkhamsted.

He is a commercial lawyer and a partner in a central London law firm. His specialist legal areas include commercial contracts, intellectual property, data protection, and e-commerce.

Eddie is keen to apply his legal expertise to help the Hospice maintain its principals of sound governance and careful risk management, as well as helping the Hospice with legal compliance in its commercial and fundraising efforts. Eddie first became aware of the Hospice as a result of his daughter’s school’s fund raising efforts. 

Eddie lives in Hemel Hempstead, but can regularly be found walking his dogs in the countryside around Berkhamsted.

Charlotte has over 25 years’ experience working in the Third Sector, leading fundraising teams to deliver ambitious income growth.  She has developed fundraising strategies for both large and smaller charities and currently heads up the Social Giving and Retail team at Amnesty International UK. 

Charlotte is passionate about helping organisations thrive through change, by building supportive cultures, and empowering teams to do their best work.  Charlotte lives in Berkhamsted with her family and is looking forward to being able to bring this experience to her role as a Trustee.  

Philip has been a volunteer for the Hospice for a number of years now, assisting at a variety of events both pastoral and fundraising. Most recently these have included the annual Plant Sale, the Berkhamsted Fun Run/Half Marathon and the Light up a Life service at Christmas.

Philip is a real estate lawyer and throughout his professional career gained experience in all aspects of financing, developing, leasing and trading a variety of types of real estate. Acting for major institutions as well as private and public real estate companies. He was the London based managing partner of a global law firm headquartered in New York and finished his career in London as the Joint Senior of a national UK law firm. Now semi-retired Philip is the Company Secretary of a private residential developer based in Welwyn Garden City.

A family man, Philip has lived in Berkhamsted for nearly 40 years and thoroughly enjoys his time with his wife of nearly 50 years, two adult children and now 6 grandchildren, all living in Berkhamsted or Tring. He tries not to dwell on his love of Tottenham Hotspur FC, particularly this season at least!

Philip was heavily involved in local Round Table for many years and sees the opportunity to give something back to the community through the role as Trustee at the hospice and very much looks forward to working with the Board of Trustees and the Executive Team.”

Avni brings over 20 years’ experience across the healthcare sector, including system leadership within NHS Integrated Care Systems. Her career has focused on commissioning, service transformation and redesign, with a strong emphasis on improving patient outcomes and supporting sustainable, value-based decision-making in complex environments.

A pharmacist by background, Avni combines clinical insight with commercial understanding and system leadership. This enables her to offer thoughtful oversight and constructive challenge, supporting effective and well-aligned decision-making at board level across NHS healthcare, pharmaceutical and MedTech sectors.

Avni has held a number of senior roles across NHS organisations and, more recently, has joined a MedTech company, where she draws on her experience in NHS strategy and funding.

She lives in Stanmore and has strong personal and professional roots in Hertfordshire, where she began her career as a hospital pharmacist and spent the past decade working in NHS commissioning and transformation. She is delighted to be joining the Hospice of St Francis and looks forward to contributing to the work of the Board of Trustees and Executive Team.

Jean brings over 30 years of strategic leadership and retail expertise to her role as a trustee for the Hospice.

Throughout her career, she has consistently delivered growth in both bricks-and-mortar and online retail environments, spanning homeware, furniture, and fashion.

Starting her career in the 1980s at Topshop, Jean developed strong commercial acumen in buying and merchandising. This foundation led to senior commercial director roles at major UK retailers including Matalan, Home Retail Group, and DFS, as well as several start-ups. While primarily focused on the UK market, she also gained international experience leading teams in Central Europe, navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on cross-border operations.

Jean’s core strengths lie in merchandising, buying, and sourcing. She excels not only in operational leadership but also in driving transformation through supply chain systems projects. She particularly enjoys these projects because of her ability to bring a wide-angled perspective and a calm, collaborative approach, uniting people and their skills across key commercial functions.

Beyond her corporate achievements, Jean is a passionate accredited business mentor and also mentors MBA students at the University of the Arts in London.

Having lived in Chesham for over 20 years, with her husband and two sons, Jean is deeply connected to the local community. She has a long-standing interest in the efficiency and operations of the third sector, previously serving on local health authority community groups. In her free time, Jean practices yoga, enjoys abstract art painting, and is rekindling her piano skills.

Her extensive commercial background, coupled with her passion for mentoring and community involvement, makes her a valuable asset to our hospice.