Meet our Board of Trustees

Karen Frank

Chair of the Board of Trustees

Karen joined the Board of Trustees in 2019, and was appointed as Chair in 2024. She is Chair of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Remuneration & People Committee.  

Karen was Executive Managing Director, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, where she was responsible for a C$70bn Equity portfolio of Direct Investing, Public Investing and GP Fund commitments, overseeing a team of 150 globally. During Karen’s tenure, the Equities division achieved record results and performance. She also sat on the cross asset class International Investment Committee.

Previously, Karen was the CEO of Barclays Global Private Bank, where she was responsible for c.$150bn of client assets and a team of c. 1,750. She was a member of the Barclays Consumer Banking & Payments Executive Committee. Karen joined Barclays in 2012 as a Managing Director, where she co-headed the Financial Sponsors Group, EMEA.

Karen started her career in private equity in 1992, working in Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Bank in New York and London. After a decade working in Private Equity, Karen joined Goldman Sachs’ Investment Bank to build the firm’s middle market Financial Sponsors business.

She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School (honours) in 1997. She graduated from Georgetown University (summa cum laude) with a degree in Economics. Karen is the Chair of the Deans Council for the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Dr Sarah Clarke

Deputy Chair 

Dr Sarah Clarke MB BChir MA MD FBCS FESC FACC FRCP has been a full time consultant interventional cardiologist at Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge since 2002. She is the Clinical Director for Strategic Development and has a highly regarded regional, national and international leadership profile. She is a champion of high quality education, research and cardiac services with a track record for delivering service transformation over a number of years.

She is the immediate Past President of the Royal College Physicians (2022-2024) and was the fourth female elected to this role in over 500 years, since College was founded. She was previously Clinical Vice President ( 2018-2022). She was the first female President of the British Cardiovascular Society (2015-2018), undertaking a governance review and transforming the Annual Conference into tracks with significant increase in footfall. She was a member of the Board of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and she represented Europe on the Assembly of International Governors of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). She was Co-Chair of their International Centres of Excellence Programme delivering improvement and outcomes in cardiac services, through audit, in developing countries.

As Clinical Director of cardiac services at Royal Papworth Hospital, Dr Clarke coordinated and established the heart attack service across the East of England. She was cardiology lead for the design and delivery of the New Royal Papworth Hospital, opening in Cambridge in April 2019, Chair of the Cardiology Workstream, Cambridge and Peterborough System Transformation Plan (STP) and joint National Lead for Cardiology for ‘Getting It Right First Time’, GIRFT,  publishing the cardiology GIRFT report in 2021. She continues to transform NHS services to improve quality, cost effectiveness and reduce variation.

In 2018, Dr Clarke was awarded a competitive place by the ESC to attend the 2018 Women Transforming Leadership Programme at the Saïd Business School, Oxford and in recognition of her global leadership she was awarded the 2018 ACC International Service Award by the President of the ACC at the recent ACC Congress. In the same year, she was appointed Trustee to the Board of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and is delighted to bring her experience from the NHS, and beyond, to the team. She has run the marathon once for the BHF and hopes to have one more round before she demits as trustee to raise valuable funds to support lifesaving research to find cures and treatments for circulatory diseases. Please think what you can do to help this amazing Charity and save lives.

Dr Clarke joined the Board of Trustees in October 2018, and is also a member of the Nominations Committee, and Remuneration & People Committee.

Mark Ashton-Rigby

Mark has a extensive background in technology and broader operations and logistics, primarily in financial services. 

From 2019 to 2023, Mark was Group Chief Operating Officer at Barclays PLC leading the company through a period of significant technology and service transformation across its markets and geographies.  Additionally, he was a member of the Board Audit Committee through this period.  Mark was the Barclays Chief Technology Officer for 3 years before being promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to 2016, Mark spent over 25 years working in financial services technology based in either London or New York for JP Morgan, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Deloitte as his career developed from software engineer to leading the technology for JP Morgan’s wholesale bank spanning over 70 countries delivering trading, payments at custody services technology as the division expanded and the digital engagement increased.

Mark is currently a non-executive director at Sentiance, a leading road safety Artificial Intelligence technology company, and an advisor to Barclays CEO. 

Mark joined the Board of Trustees in August 2024, and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Claire Balmforth

Claire brings extensive experience and expertise in leadership, customer-focused cultures and human resources, particularly in employee engagement. She has held both executive and non-executive director positions in FTSE 250 companies across the retail, B2B and financial services sectors, including chairing the Remuneration Committees at Safestore plc, Trifast plc and FRP plc.

After recently retiring from her other board roles, Claire joined the Board of Trustees in 2025 and will chair our Remuneration and People Committee. She is also a member of the Nominations Committee and a longstanding member of our Retail Committee.

David Boynton

David Boynton was the architect and leader of the purpose-led transformation of the original ethical beauty business: The Body Shop. He has a C-suite leadership background on three continents that covers various sectors, including Grocery (Safeway PLC), Health and Beauty (A.S. Watson), Men's Fashion (Charles Tyrwhitt), and premium, ethical Beauty (L’Occitane and The Body Shop). He is an expert in business transformation, culture change, and brand building; and also a keynote speaker on ethical and sustainable retail, having participated in events such as COP26, World Retail Summit, and World Retail Congress. David is a champion of the retail industry as a driver of economic inclusion and social mobility through the pioneering, award-winning Open Hiring programme.

David joined the Board of Trustees in December 2023, and is a member of the Retail Committee.

Roisin Donnelly

Roisin Donnelly spent over 30 years leading marketing at Procter & Gamble in different UK and international roles. Most recently Roisin served as Chief Marketing Officer for Northern Europe following 12 years as Chief Marketing Officer for UK & Ireland. She worked on many brand building campaigns including the Olympic Sponsorship “ Proud Sponsor of Mums” and Always “Like A Girl”.

Roisin has broad board experience and is currently a Non Executive Director at NatWest, Sage and Premier Foods. Roisin’s previous non executive directorships include Homeserve, Just Eat, Holland and Barrett and Bourne Leisure. Roisin is on the Digital Advisory Board for Coca Cola Europacific Partners and a Non Executive Advisor to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Roisin is passionate about diversity, equality and inclusion and a former President of Campaigning group WACL. Roisin is a keen advocate for Sustainability. 
Roisin grew up in Glasgow where she became aware of the impact of heart disease and the importance of supporting science to improve and save lives. 

Roisin joined the Board of Trustees in 2024, and is Chair of the Marketing Advisory Board.

Professor Sadaf Farooqi

Sadaf Farooqi is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge and Honorary Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology, Addenbrooke’s Hospital. She is an internationally recognized Clinician Scientist who has made seminal contributions to understanding the genetic and physiological mechanisms that underlie obesity and its complications.

The work of Sadaf Farooqi and her colleagues has fundamentally altered our understanding of how body weight is regulated and established that the principal driver of obesity is a failure of the control of appetite. Her work is often cited as an exemplar of how the translation of basic research into the mechanisms of disease can lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.

Her current work focuses on the genetic basis of thinness with the aim of finding new drug targets for weight loss therapy. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her contribution to science and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2021.

Mark FitzPatrick

As the Chief Executive Officer for St. James’s Place, Mark FitzPatrick is responsible for setting the strategic direction and vision for growth for the UK’s largest financial advice firm.

Mark started his career with Deloitte, becoming a Partner in 1997, and remained there for 26 years, focusing on financial services in the UK, Europe, and South Africa. During this time, he was a member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Deloitte, UK with responsibility for their clients and ensuring their voice was heard at all levels of the organisation.

Following his time at Deloitte, Mark became Group Chief Financial Officer at Prudential plc in July 2017, Operating Officer with responsibilities for communications, legal, company secretarial, and government relations functions.

Mark was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Prudential plc in April 2022 on an interim basis, where he led the executive team and accelerated the drivers for growth. During his time there, he oversaw complex corporate restructures, including debt raises and redemptions, an equity raise, and two demergers. Mark also served as Chair of the Prudential Diversity & Inclusion Council and Chair of the Group ESG Committee, underscoring his belief in delivering fair value for all their stakeholders.

Outside of SJP, Mark is on the boards of the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust.  

Mark joined the Board of Trustees in 2020, and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Dr Annalisa Jenkins 

Annalisa Jenkins, M.B.B.S., F.R.C.P. is a biopharma thought leader with over 25 years of industry experience. Dr Jenkins has extensive recent experience in building and financing biotech companies pursuing cures for the most challenging rare diseases to address important medical issues globally. She has consistently built and led teams advancing programs from scientific research through clinical development, regulatory approval, and into healthcare systems globally. In addition, she is an advocate for diversity and inclusion, particularly for women in science.

Dr Jenkins served as president and CEO of Dimension Therapeutics, a leading gene therapy company that she took public on the NASDAQ and subsequently sold to Ultragenyx. Prior leadership roles have included the head of global research and development and executive vice president global development and medical at Merck Serono, and several senior positions at Bristol Myers-Squibb over 15 years - including serving as senior vice president and head of global medical affairs. Earlier in her career, Dr Jenkins was a medical officer in the British Royal Navy during the Gulf Conflict, achieving the rank of surgeon lieutenant commander.

Dr Jenkins is a board member of several growing public and private companies including Oncimmune, AVROBIO, COMPASS Pathways, MEREO biopharma, and Affimed. In addition she serves as a  Non-Executive Director at Genomics England and a Trustee at The British Heart Foundation, The Kings Fund, Cancer Research Horizons, The Lady Garden Foundation and You Belong.

Dr Annalisa Jenkins joined the Board of Trustees in October 2021.

Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed

Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed (MB ChB, PhD, FRCPE, FRCP, FFPM. FRSB, FBPhS, FMedSci) is David Weatherall Chair in Medicine at the University of Liverpool, NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics, and a Consultant Physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.  He is Director of the Centre for Drug Safety Sciences, and Director of the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine.    He is also Director of HDR North. He is an inaugural NIHR Senior Investigator, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK, Commissioner on Human Medicines and is a non-executive director of NHS England.  He was President of British Pharmacological Society from January 2020-December 2021, and is currently President of the Association of Physicians.  He was awarded a Knights Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2015. His research focuses on personalised medicine, clinical pharmacology and drug safety in a variety of disease areas, including cardiovascular medicine. 

Munir joined the Board of Trustees in 2020.

Professor Brian Walker

Brian Walker was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor at Newcastle University in 2022, having served as Pro Vice Chancellor for Research Strategy & Resources and Professor of Medicine since 2017.

He was previously at the University of Edinburgh, where he was a clinical Endocrinologist, BHF Senior Research Fellow, Head of the BHF Centre for Cardiovascular Science, and Dean of Research for the College of Medicine & Veterinary Medicine.

His group’s research, spanning from experimental models to genetic epidemiology, has revealed the role of steroid stress hormones in cardiovascular disease and developed a new drug through to clinical trials. Brian is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a former Chair of the Wellcome Trust Clinical Interview Committee and BHF Project Grants Committee, was a member of the Clinical Medicine sub-panel for REF2021, and is currently Chair of the MRC Population & Systems Medicine Board and member of MRC Strategy and Major Investments Boards.

Professor Walker joined the Board of Trustees in 2022.