Sardip Sandhu, Non-Executive Director
Sardip Sandhu has over 20 years of experience and expertise in a variety of commercial, general management, strategy & transformation leadership roles at Walgreens Boots Alliance. She specialises in building strategy, operational change, brands, teams and people, and has worked with teams in UK, USA and Asia. Sardip, who has a Masters degree in Global Public Heath, is a qualified performance coach, is passionate about people, innovation and ethics in organisations.
Sardip is also a independent Governor and board member of DeMontfort University and is a Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham medical school.
Sardip is Chair of the Charitable funds committee, Vice Chair of Finance and performance Committee and a board member of D Hive.
Professor Jaspal Taggar, Non-Executive Director
Professor Jaspal Taggar is a General Practitioner and Clinical Academic at the University of Nottingham.
As Head of Undergraduate GP Education at Nottingham University, Prof. Taggar is passionate about the training of the future medical workforce and innovation of medical education.
He has a portfolio of clinical and medical education research whilst supporting research delivery across the East Midlands in his capacity as Co-Lead for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network.
Born and brought up locally in Derby, Prof. Taggar wants to use his expertise to support and develop high-quality patient care and services, enabling the health and wealth of the local community to thrive.
Professor Chris Harrison, Senior Independent Director
Chris brings over 35 years of board-level experience across the NHS and wider public sector, including senior executive roles in trusts and commissioning organisations and at regional and national level. He now has a portfolio of non-executive positions currently also including vice chair at The Northern Care Alliance NHSFT where he chairs the quality committee. He is a senior adviser to the board of The Christie, a specialist cancer centre, and a Trustee of the Orwell Society, a charity and international literary society.
Chris has extensive leadership experience in NHS governance and system working in some of England’s most complex organisations and health systems. He is a registered doctor, a fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, Royal Society of Medicine, Royal Society of Public Health, and Royal Society of Arts.
In addition to his NHS governance roles Chris is an accredited executive coach and an accredited independent funeral celebrant. He is also an Honorary Professor at The University of Manchester.
Nicky Clarke, Non-Executive Director
Nicky has over 38 years of HR and people experience in large organisations, 11 of those years within the NHS. Nicky is currently Chief of People for the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which is a post she has held since 2019, and has previously worked as Director of HR at Nottingham University Hospitals and Director of Workforce and Organisational Development at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
She also has extensive experience in the private sector, spending a large part of her career in HR at Boots UK, where she worked for 20 years in a variety of roles.
Nicky has a generalist HR background and has worked on several change programmes, working closely with executive teams to support them on the overall shape and design of the organisation, the organisational culture and employee engagement.
Simon Pearce, Non-Executive Director
Simon was born in Staffordshire and is an engineering graduate. He qualified as a chartered accountant and spent most of his career working in London and the south-east, initially in auditing and then in mergers, acquisitions and flotations. He then spent over 20 years working in a commercial environment, for a Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100, FTSE 250 and private companies, predominantly in company secretary or senior financial management roles. He experienced the financial crash of 2008 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of an investment bank before joining the Financial Conduct Authority (then Financial Services Authority) in 2012 as the organisation’s first Company Secretary and, later, Director of Corporate Governance.
He retired in 2022 and returned home to East Staffordshire and was appointed as Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee at Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, a large mental health and community care trust covering Staffordshire and Shropshire and providing specialist services, including forensic services, further afield.
Simon’s motivation for joining UHDB was that Queen’s Hospital Burton is his local hospital – a hospital that has served his family well for many years.
Dr Catherine Free, Non-Executive Director
Catherine is an experienced NHS board-level leader with over two decades of clinical and executive experience. A Respiratory Medicine Consultant by background, she held substantive roles as Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director at George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, where she led a significant period of transformation — driving CQC improvement, financial turnaround and significant improvements in staff engagement.
An effective system leader, she served as Chair of Warwickshire North Place, championing tackling health inequalities and improving population health. Coventry University awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Science for her contributions to the NHS in 2022.
Having grown up in Derby, she is passionate about ensuring the highest quality of care for everyone across Southern Derbyshire and South-East Staffordshire.
Steve Hackett, Non-Executive Director
Steve has worked in the NHS for 35 years, working predominantly in the South Yorkshire and surrounding areas.
Steve has worked as a Director of Finance in the NHS for more than 20 years and has worked in community, mental health and acute organisations at board level. He also has experience of commissioning healthcare services and has worked for NHS England as Director of Finance in the South Yorkshire regional team.
Steve is proud to be part of the NHS and believes it’s a privilege to work in this great institution, striving to deliver the best quality care for the population we serve.
