executives

Keith joined the North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative (NOECPC) as Commercial Director in October 2011 and was appointed to the post of Managing Director in November 2012. His role within NOE CPC is to drive the organisation’s strategy by ensuring customers can gain clear and demonstrable value and cash releasing savings from a collaborative commercial relationship with NOE CPC. As Managing Director, Keith has overall responsibility for the day-to-day running of NOE CPC and implementation of the organisation’s three-year Business Plan

Prior to joining the NOE CPC, Keith worked in the IT Services Sector for 14 years. His career has covered a wide spectrum of roles including procurement, sales, marketing and operations within this sector. In the last 3 years Keith held the post of Commercial Director, responsible for commercial and contract management.

Keith has a proven track record of turning around businesses, departments and cross-functional teams. As Service Director he has led cross-functional teams to deliver continual improvement, contract extensions, contract management, profit improvement, service quality and recovery programmes. He has re-negotiated underperforming contracts delivering 20% improvement in profitability, resulting in growth and contract extensions in term and scope.

Richard is Head of Procurement for Essex Partnership, a Community & Mental Health Trust.

Prior to this he was Head of Procurement at Mid Essex Hospitals, having previously held roles in the Ambulance Service, Primary Care, and in a Collaborative Procurement Hub.

Before moving to the public sector Richard worked in the manufacturing industry managing the procurement, supply chain, and production planning for a manufacturer of scientific equipment. He joined the HCSA in 2014 as the regional representative for the East of England before taking up the role of Deputy Chief Officer in 2021.

Outside of work Richard is involved with charitable work and is actively involved in several sports clubs.

Clara has more than 10 years’ experience in senior leadership roles across private and NHS multi-million healthcare organisations and has led major transformation programmes and strategies re-modelling procurement and functionality.

She has a passion for supporting talent and identifying the next generation of leaders within the procurement and supply chain community and is committed to driving change and improving equality around the issues women continue to face within the modern commercial world.

Alan is an experienced and qualified procurement professional with over 36 years of NHS experience. He began his procurement life at Southampton and Southwest Hampshire Health Authority as a buyer in 1986, eventually progressing to a Purchasing Supervisor.

In 1996 he moved into the role of Customer Care Manager for NHS Supplies, where he remained until 1999 before taking an opportunity to move and taking up a post at University Hospitals Southampton (UHS) as Head of Procurement.

In February 2004 he was appointed to his final role in the NHS as Director of Procurement and Commercial Services for NHS South of England Procurement Services (SoEPS), formerly Solent Supplies Team, a collaborative procurement organisation based in Hampshire serving the local population including Surrey, Sussex and the Isle of Wight retiring from the NHS in August 2021 to take up a consultancy role with HCSA as part of the Business Support Team.

Up until August 2021 he was also involved on a national basis supporting NHSI and NHS Supply Chain as HCSA Chief Officer and several CCGs including NHS England in addition to the extensive experience he has gained with organisations in Hampshire and the surrounding areas. Alan is now founder and owner of a vibrant new consultancy called ALS Business Support Ltd and is delivering services to clients regarding leadership and Business support.

Kath is an experienced and qualified procurement professional with over 44 years of NHS experience, having worked at local trust level, regional collaboratives and nationally for NHS Supply Chain.

Having started work at Barnsley District General Hospital in 1979 as a junior member of the team, Kath progressed through her career whilst continuing to work for the Trust for nearly 20 years before leaving her role as the Deputy Supplies Manager, to join NHS Wholesaling (now NHS Supply Chain) based in Normanton, where Kath worked on the Theatre Portfolio for over 7 years. The role transferred to NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) during that time.

Kath then joined the South Yorkshire Confederation on secondment and later became permanent, working on collaborative projects across South Yorkshire and across the Yorkshire and Humber Region as Strategic Health Authorities merged.

The Y&H Strategic Collaborative successfully expanded its geographic footprint, resulting in a name change to the North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative (NOE CPC), where Kath became the Clinical Procurement Director, managing a team that delivered £m savings each year.

Kath was part of the 4 NHS Collaborative Hubs, teams that bid to secure towers as part of the Future Operating Model and were successfully awarded 3 of the Clinical Towers.

Kath moved to the Commercial Procurement Collaborative (CPC LLP) as the Orthopaedic and Ophthalmology Tower Director and was instrumental in building the team and developing the Category Strategies and subsequent tenders which deliver products and services nationally to the NHS.

Retiring in 2019 Kath moved to support the HCSA managing events and supporting Corporate Partners, whilst also continuing to work on an interim basis for the Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust.

Cathy is an experienced and qualified procurement professional with over 40 years of NHS experience. She has a passion for delivering L&D and supporting future leaders and colleagues and has always been involved with HCSA as either a regional or specialist L&D rep and a previous Taskforce trainer.

Cathy is Deputy Director of Procurement for Birmingham and Solihull Procurement Collaborative (BSOL PC) since July 2019 and looking to retire in March 2024 to pursue her passion for Learning & Development with HCSA.

BSOL PC is responsible for the procurement of the three Acute hospitals in Birmingham together with Birmingham Community Healthcare and Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health.

Prior to working at BSOL PC she was Head of Procurement at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, also working at national, regional and Trust level.

Bruce is an experienced communications professional specialising in digital marketing and social media.

He has worked in the public and private sector and with industries including healthcare, hospitality, technology, financial and retail.

Previously he was a journalist and editor covering the public and private sector at organisations including Mirror Group Newspapers, Euromoney and Reed Business Information.

Mel in an experienced business administrator. She has worked across several sectors ranging from schools, local government, airlines, and the construction industry. 

Mel joined the HCSA in December 2022 following a spell with the NHS connected to the Covid Vaccination programme.

Steve is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) Logistics Officer. He joined in the early 1980s and enjoyed a long and very happy career before retiring as a Group Captain in 2015. Along the way he served in Cyprus, the USA and Saudi Arabia as well as much of the UK, and had several operational tours, including Afghanistan.

As well as logistics and supply chain management, Steve was closely involved in leadership and management development during his RAF career and after leaving the RAF he spent several years as a freelance management trainer working in the UK and across the Middle East.

He joined Oxford University Hospitals Trust as Deputy Director, Supply Chain in 2019 … just in time for the pandemic!

Married with a grown up son and granddaughter, Steve lives near Swindon.

Jen has joined us to support all things Events.

Jen has worked in the public, private and charity sector over the last 12 years in Events and Communications. 

Jen previously worked with North-West Procurement Development pre-covid and is looking forward to supporting the HCSA with the events of the future

Sue is an experienced NHS professional with over 30 years procurement and supply chain experience. Sue started in her NHS journey in a Theatre Sterile Services department before moving into procurement.

Sue’s experience includes transforming and developing procurement teams to meet the changing needs of public sector procurement, including collaboration across multiple organisations.

Sue enjoys coaching and mentoring and as well as leading a busy Procurement Department was also a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian with her last NHS Trust before taking early retirement in 2023.

Since taking early retirement Sue has joined the HCSA Business Support Team to help others navigate their procurement journey as the HCSA had done for her in her early years.