LEPRA’s board of trustees

Sir Ronald De Witt KB – Chairman Sir Ronald De Witt, KB was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Trustees in February 2011. He has extensive strategic and change management experience gained from a wide range of settings in the public sector at local, regional and national level. Sir Ronald was created Knight Bachelor in 2002. He has served on the Board of Trustees for LEPRA Health in Action since 2008. His past roles include Chairman and Chief Executive of Her Majesty’s Courts Service for England and Wales and Chief Executive of the North West London Strategic Health Authority.
Julian Briant – Honorary Treasurer Julian Briant became a trustee of LEPRA Health in Action in 2008 and was appointed as Honorary Treasurer in 2009. Until 2009 he was the head of International Investment Banking at ING. Prior to joining ING Barings he was a director at Robert Fleming, having held a number of senior roles worldwide within the Flemings group. He has now set up his own advisory firm. He is also a Trustee and Chairman of the charity Ucare.
Charles Bland Charles Bland is a long term supporter of LEPRA Health in Action and joined the Board of Trustees in 2009. He was formerly Executive Vice President for Policy and Corporate Affairs at BG Group, a UK-based FTSE 10 oil and gas company. In that role he had global responsibility for political risk and government relations, communications, brand, corporate responsibility, social performance, sustainable development and business principles. Before his corporate affairs role, he was President of BG Kazakhstan. Prior to working with BG Group Charles worked for over 20 years at the UK Ministry of Defence. He has also been co-chairman of the Kazakhstan Britain Trade and Industry Council, co-chairman of the Egypt Britain Business Council and a council member, World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Charles now has a portfolio of non-executive and advisory roles.
Meena Gupta Meena Gupta is Chairman of LEPRA India and became a trustee of LEPRA Health in Action in September 2011. She worked as a civil servant in India (as a member of the Indian Administrative Service) from 1971 until she retired in June 2008. She has held several senior positions in the Government of India and the State Government of Orissa. Immediately before her retirement, she was Secretary to the Government of India, successively, ‘the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and before that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Prior to that Ms Gupta had been Secretary to the Government of Orissa in the departments of Health and Family Welfare, as well as in Agriculture, Industries, Steel and Mines.
Fiona Duby OBE Fiona Duby has been a trustee of LEPRA Health in Action since 2000. Her areas of particular expertise are in the design, management, strategic planning and evaluation of public and private sector health and development programmes in reproductive and sexual health, HIV/AIDS, safe motherhood, adolescent health, NGO organisational development and capacity building. She has worked with ODA/DFID and has been a freelance consultant since 2002. She was awarded the OBE for services to Nigeria in 1999 and an MBE for services to Bangladesh in 1992. She is also a Director of Baby Milk Action and a trustee of HETN
Prof Michael Adler CBE Michael Adler is the Emeritus Professor of Genitourinary Medicine/Sexually Transmitted Diseases at University College London Medical School. His main research interests are in the field of epidemiology, with particular interest in the development of models of care and control programmes. He is an advisor to the British Government, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and the European Commission. He has considerable experience in working in the developing world, having carried out numerous consultancies, particularly in Africa, India, Bosnia, China and St Helena for WHO, UNAIDS and DFID. Recently, he has worked for VSO in Malawi. He has had a longstanding involvement with the voluntary sector, and was Chairman of the National AIDS Trust from 1991-2000. He also acted as a specialist advisor to the House of Commons Health Select Committee and was seconded to the Department of Health to design and co-ordinate a national strategy for sexual health and HIV.

LEPRA Newsletter January 2013

Sarah Tribe