Meet the team

As Chief Executive, Kathryn has overall responsibility for Yorkshire Cancer Research. Kathryn took up the post in 2017 after having spent three years developing and delivering a new research strategy to ensure the work we do delivers the maximum benefit to cancer patients.

Prior to joining Yorkshire Cancer Research, Kathryn was a post-doctoral scientist for ten years and has a degree and PhD in molecular biology.

Juliet leads the Fundraising, Marketing and Communication teams and joined the charity in 2017. She has 25 years’ strategic marketing experience gained in financial services and, since 2008, has provided consultancy to wide-ranging businesses including not-for-profit organisations and charities. Juliet has a degree in Combined Studies from Liverpool University and post-graduate diploma qualifications in marketing, banking and in counselling skills – which she studied to support her volunteering work with two different mental and physical health charities.

As Director of Retail, Services & Operations, Tony has direct responsibility for the charity’s growing network of shops, donation centre and café, alongside delivery of the Active Together and Smoking Cessation services. Tony took up the post in April 2025, having spent two years leading the Retail & Operations function, and five years developing the charity’s retail proposition.

Tony has a broad range of project management and stakeholder management experience and has worked as a retail specialist for over 25 years.

Stuart has led the Research, Policy & Impact team since 2018. He has extensive experience of working with cancer patients and researchers to tackle cancer having worked in various cancer charities. Before joining the charity, he was Assistant Director of Research and Strategy at Breast Cancer Now and has spent time as the Head of Strategy and Initiatives at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). He is also a 2014 Clore Social Fellow, having been selected to take part in the prestigious Clore Social Leadership Programme.

Joanne joined the charity in 2018. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994 with Arthur Andersen, having gained a BA (Hons) in Accounting and Law from Manchester University. She has over 20 years' experience in finance, with senior roles at General Electric as well as in the automotive, brewing and haircare industries.

Alan is a retired public servant with a career spanning almost fifty years in the National Health Service and Higher Education. This included significant periods as the Chief Executive of the NHS in England, the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds.

A graduate of the University of Glasgow, he has a lifelong interest in the scientific basis of health services, including significant contributions as the Chair of UK Biobank, Chair of the Health Foundation and as a founding director of the Office for the Strategic Coordination of Health Research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and five Medical Royal Colleges, with honorary doctorates awarded by a number of leading universities.

Martin sits on our Strategy & Impact Committee.

Martin retired in September 2021 after working for the NHS for 49 years in healthcare management. During the last 27 years of his career, he served five NHS Trusts as their Chief Executive. A key focus of his work was modernising mental health services and services for people who have a learning disability, and leading culture and organisational development in both mental health and general hospital services.

Martin is currently the Chair of York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a Governor of Leeds Beckett University and a Trustee of the charity Zarach whose prime purpose is providing beds for children who do not have a bed to sleep in.

He lives in Harrogate with his wife. They have two daughters and two granddaughters.

Jo sits on our People & Culture Committee.

Jo has over 25-years’ experience at KPMG having spent most of that time in Management Consulting, specialising in operational transformation and customer experience excellence and more latterly in a variety of internal roles spanning bid, operational and project management. Her current role is centred on delivering and facilitating continuous improvement internally and managing the firm’s policy library.

Jo has a BA Joint Honours degree in Geography and Management Studies from Leeds University and has completed an Executive MBA during her time at KPMG.

Jo was diagnosed with advanced cancer in 2014 and has been benefiting from the drug Lynparza which was discovered with funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research. From her first-hand experience, she is a firm believer in the physical and psychological benefit of exercise when navigating cancer, so always tries to make time to exercise around a busy family schedule.

Craig sits on our Fundraising & Retail Committee and our Finance & Investment Committee.

Having graduated with a Masters’ Degree in Economics, Craig has gained extensive experience across both the Retail and Hospitality sectors, latterly as the Chief Executive of Travelodge Hotels, having spent the first 23 years of his career at Asda / Walmart. During this time Craig held a number of roles including Operations Director for Scotland and Northern Ireland, Managing Director for City Facilities Management, and Vice President of Store Proposition and Format Development. Craig is married to Karlyn, and they have three children, Jack, Craig and Lauren.

Amy sits on our People & Culture Committee.

Amy is the owner of AEH Advisory, where she advises corporates and private equity-backed businesses on mergers and acquisitions, value creation, growth strategy and ESG initiatives. Before founding her consultancy business, Amy spent over a decade in finance and investment banking at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Rothschild & Co, followed by executive roles as Corporate Development Director and Chief Strategy Officer at Yorkshire based JLA. Amy holds a BA Honours in Economics from Newcastle University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA). She currently lives in Wakefield with her husband, two children, and their family dog Bailey.

Heather sits on our Strategy & Impact Committee. 

Heather has over 30 years of experience in leading business change, digital and technical transformation, mainly in the financial services and retail sectors.

She is currently a Non-Executive Director with Ikano Bank, Rothesay PLC and Skipton Building Society and has previously held a number of other NED positions. During her executive career, she worked with a wide variety of organisations from start-ups to top 10 FTSE companies including Accenture, Burton Group, Asda, Boots, Capital One, HBOS/Lloyds usually as CIO/CTO or Chief Operating Officer.

From Huddersfield originally, Heather now lives in North Yorkshire with her three sons and spends as much of her free time as possible doing something active outside!

Sam sits on our Compliance & Risk Committee.

Sam is a Solicitor and is currently a Partner in the Trusts, Wills and Estates team at Raworths LLP in Harrogate having trained at Gordons LLP in Leeds. Sam has an LLM in Legal Practice and a BA (Hons) degree in Environmental Management from the University of Leeds.

Outside of work, Sam enjoys cycling, running and hiking and is kept busy and entertained by his young sons, Oscar and Arthur.

Matt sits on our Finance & Investment Committee.

Matt has worked in financial services for over 30 years. For the last 25 years he has been an investment actuary providing advice and fiduciary management services to large UK-based pension schemes.

Matt headed up the Leeds investment team for Willis Towers Watson for over 15 years and retired in 2021. His clients included the trustees for, and corporate teams at, a number of FTSE 100 companies. Matt is married to Jayne, and they have three children, Ruby, Victor, and Iris.

Bobby also sits on our People & Culture Committee.

Over the past 25 years, Bobby has gained a wealth of experience in senior executive leadership roles across finance, risk and IT.  He started his career at KPMG, where he qualified as a chartered accountant. He is currently the Group Chief Financial Officer of the Progeny Group, a professional services firm. Previously, he held a number of senior executive roles within the Skipton Group, including as the Group Chief Financial Officer.

Bobby lives in Leeds with his family, and alongside spending time with family and friends, he enjoys running, cycling and walking the family dog.

Sandy is a qualified Chartered Secretary and holds a Diploma in German. She has experience of working for two national charities, in television and for Chambers of Commerce in the Yorkshire region and as a non-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce. Sandy was the Chief Executive of the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and established a subsidiary company providing loans to business.

Liz is a chartered accountant, having qualified with EY, after an early career with Lloyds Bank.

She was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Callcredit (now TransUnion), the consumer credit reference agency, and a founder member of the board which led the business from start-up to a significant private equity exit.

Liz currently sits as a non-executive director and audit committee chair of Dotdigital plc, with previous non-executive roles with LINK Scheme, Tracsis plc and Leeds Trinity University. 

She is a lay member of the Council of the University of Leeds where she also sits on the audit committee.

Peter sits on our Finance & Investment Committee.

Peter is a chartered accountant and has over 30 years of experience in finance, mainly in public company environments. Most recently, he was Chief Financial Officer at EMIS Group plc, the Yorkshire-based leading provider of innovative technology to the NHS and other healthcare organisations. When not at his desk, Peter is often to be found exploring the beautiful countryside of the Dales on foot or by bicycle. Occasionally he even manages to persuade his wife and (now grown-up) sons to join him. He’s lived near Wetherby for nearly 25 years and hopes to be able to apply for his Yorkshire passport before long!

Bob was Professor of Surgery at the University of Dundee between 1996 and 2023. His main interests are the treatment of and screening for colorectal cancer. Having led the UK demonstration pilot that was used to inform the decision to introduce national screening programmes throughout the United Kingdom, he served as the Clinical Director of the Scottish Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme until 2023 and has published extensively in this area. He has chaired several NHS Quality and Healthcare Improvement groups related to colorectal cancer and colorectal cancer screening and he chaired the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) group that developed the first colorectal cancer guidelines.  He is a past member of Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and served as Editor of “The Surgeon” for ten years.  He is past Chair of the Health Improvement, Protection and Services (HIPS) Research Committee of the Scottish Government’s Chief Scientist’s Office, and past President of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland. He was co-founder and co-director of the Scottish Cancer Prevention Network and is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the Scottish Cancer Foundation. In 2016, he was appointed as Independent Chair of the UK National Screening Committee in which position he served until 2022. He currently chairs the Research and Innovation Group of the National Screening Oversight Board of Scotland.