Our trustees
We're guided by an independent Board of Trustees.
Trustees are selected based on their expertise to support the commissioning of national prevention, education, treatment and support services to prevent and treat gambling harms.
The Board is chaired by Professor Siân Griffiths CBE.
Professor Siân Griffiths CBE is a past President of the UK Faculty of Public Health. Chair of PHE’s Global Health Committee and Associate Non-Executive member of the Advisory Board until its dissolution in September 2021. She is a Non-Executive Director for Public Health Wales. She practiced as a service-based public health physician at local, regional and national level in the UK.
In 2003 Siân chaired the Hong Kong SAR government's SARS Inquiry which led to her joining the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) as founding Director of the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care in 2005. Her tenure at CUHK saw the development of multidisciplinary approaches to public health education and extensive networks across China, Asia and beyond.
On return to UK in 2014 she picked up a portfolio career which included being Specialist Adviser to Healthcare UK in the UKTI. Now Emeritus Professor at CUHK and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London she maintains her global links as well as being involved in a variety of community based projects in the UK, in particular media commentary during the Covid pandemic.
Siân is also Chair of GambleAware, Chair of the Education and Treatment Committee and the Research and Evaluation Committee and has chaired the Bet Regret Safer Gambling campaign. Now a grandmother of 9, soon to be 10, she divides her time between Oxfordshire and France.
Saffron Cordery is Director of Policy and Strategy and Deputy Chief Executive, NHS Providers. NHS Providers is the membership organisation and trade association for the NHS acute, ambulance, community and mental health services that treat patients and service users in the NHS.
Saffron has extensive experience in policy development, influencing and communications and has worked in the healthcare sector since 2007. Before moving into healthcare, Saffron was Head of Public Affairs at the Local Government Association, the voice of local councils in England. Her early career focused on influencing EU legislation and policy development, and she started working life in adult and community education.
Rachel Pearce is Regional Director Commissioning at NHS England South West.
Alongside her NHS career, Rachel maintains a commitment to the non-statutory sector and has been a Trustee for 13 years with charities providing drug and alcohol services and latterly mental health support. This includes serving as Vice Chair of the Gloucestershire-based charity The Independent Trust until 2014.
Paul Simpson is Chief Finance Officer/Deputy Chief Executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
Paul is a chartered management accountant (FCMA and CGMA) and has been working as either a Finance Director/Chief Finance Officer or Deputy in NHS trusts since 2002. He joined Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust in December 2007 from Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust, where he was Finance Director and Deputy Chief Executive. From 2002 Paul was Deputy Director of Finance at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which he supported through its successful foundation trust application in 2006.
Paul’s previous experience has been in central financial oversight and performance management (NHS Regional Office, at the Department of Health HQ and the Benefits Agency), and an eclectic mix of other roles ranging from being an untrained Occupational Therapist at Broadmoor Special Hospital, to working in private office at the Department of Health in Whitehall.
From 2017 to 2019 Paul was the Chair of the Sussex and East Surrey Sustainability and Transformation Partnership Finance Group. From 2018 he has been a Trustee for GambleAware.
Paul achieved accreditation for SaSH+ Lean for Leaders in 2018 (SASH+ is the Trust’s continuous improvement programme) and in April 2021 he added Estates and Facilities to his span of work at the Trust.
Despite following an entirely unrelated career, Paul has a degree in zoology.
Baroness Hilary Armstrong is a Labour member of the House of Lords. She has extensive experience in non-executive leadership roles, including her role as a Board Member for Durham and Darlington Hospital Foundation Trust, Chair of Tony Blair Sports Foundation, and Trustee of Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales.
Until 2018 Baroness Armstrong was Chair of the charity Changing Lives, which supports people with complex needs. She continues to work with the organisation advising on their work with women.
Marina Gibbs is Policy Director within Ofcom’s Networks and Communications group who currently oversees Ofcom’s work in the postal sector and directs policy projects across Ofcom’s regulatory sectors. Marina has over 20 years' experience in operating at board level in both executive and non-executive roles.
Marina has served as Lay Non-Executive member on the Legal Services Board, the legal sector’s oversight regulator, and as Co-Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications Remedies expert working group. Prior to moving to Ofcom, Marina was a Partner with Spectrum Strategy consultants.
Dr. Koravangattu Valsraj is the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.
Before this, he was a Consultant Psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Clinical Lecturer at Kings College London. He is on the specialist register of the General Medical Council with dual accreditation in Psychiatry of Learning Disability and General Adult Psychiatry with specialty endorsement in Liaison Psychiatry.
Valsraj has substantial experience in clinical leadership roles in different boroughs in London, has provided leadership services for two mental health trusts, and has been part of a senior leadership board for a leading University Hospital in India. He is currently serving as a Trustee at mental health charity Careif and will be instrumental in GambleAware’s efforts to increase access and support for gambling harms amongst minority communities and networks.
Mel has been a Director-General of the Government Legal Department since October 2021 where she is a board and executive team member and currently leads the Litigation with Justice and Security Directorate.
She began her legal career as a barrister in Chancery Chambers specialising in property, charity and trusts work. In 1998 she spent a year at the Charity Commission before moving to the Government Legal Department. She has advised a variety of different departments including the:
- Cabinet Office and Number 10
- Department for Education
- Ministry of Justice
- Department for Transport
She became the Legal Director of the Department of Health and Social Care in 2016, leading on EU Exit and the covid-19 response. From November 2020 Mel was Director of Litigation and responsible for leading over 600 people defending litigation brought against the government, with the UK’s largest caseload in the Supreme Court. She has led on some of the leading issues of the day, notably human rights, freedom of information, devolution and equality law.
Mel is a mum of four and is interested in improving the life chances of other young people from less advantaged and under-represented backgrounds. She is a Governor of one of the largest FE colleges in the UK, HRUC. She chairs the Advisory Board of the University of Bradford’s Law School and mentors under-represented students at her alma mater, Durham University. She was highly commended in the Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2020 and appointed Companion of the Bath in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List.
Sir Alan is a former Lord Justice of Appeal, a Court of Appeal Judge and the former Chairman of Independent Press Standards Organisation.
Andy is a retired senior professional services partner and chartered accountant with a long-term passion for addressing social issues, including how business and community organisations can collaborate more effectively.
