Interim Chair

Philip Gayle joined the Trust on 1 October 2019. Philip is Chief Executive at Servol Community Services, a third sector organisation that provides accommodation and support services for people experiencing mental health difficulties. 

He has extensive knowledge and leadership experience within the health, social care and housing sector as well as expertise and specialised skills as a business consultant and in transformation and improving business performance. Philip has been an independent consultant for TRIBAL, an assessor for national funding applications for government schemes, where he gained key insight into government contracts and procurement. 

He is a qualified counsellor and has an MSc in Healthcare Policy Management from the University of Birmingham. Philip has previously held a number of NHS board positions and is a non-executive director at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

Non-Executive Director

Dr Linda Cullen was appointed as a non-executive director of the Trust on 1 January 2019. Linda has worked as a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist for 25 years in a wide variety of settings across the Midlands.  She is currently a locum consultant in the NHS and also a second opinion doctor for the Care Quality Commission. She has worked closely with colleagues in child and adult services, using research and evidence based practice in developing novel services. 

Linda helped to develop Early Intervention in Psychosis services across Birmingham and acute and high dependency child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), including one of the first CAMHS acute admission wards in the UK. She has also been active as a trainer, tutor, and mentor and for several years in clinical lead and director roles with professional line management responsibilities.

Non-Executive Director

Prof Russell Beale joined the Trust as a non-executive director on 1 January 2017, he has a wealth of experience from more than 25 years at the University of Birmingham, where he is currently Professor of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Director of the HCI Centre, a major centre focusing on designing and developing the digital future. 

Russell has achieved worldwide recognition for his work on using artificial intelligence to assist interaction between users and technology, is a Chartered IT Professional and Visiting Professor at the University of Swansea.  He also has commercial and management experience, having held senior positions in both large and small technology organisations and founded six hi-tech companies.

Non-Executive Director

A highly enthusiastic and motivated individual with over 40 years NHS experience including over 20 years at a senior and Board level, at both executive and non-executive levels. Anne has had roles covering commissioning, strategic and operational planning and operational management in secondary, community and primary care. Anne brings a wide range of skill with particular emphasis on structures and processes for successful planning, transformation and service improvement, performance management and improvement, business analysis, programme and project management.

Anne has been active in strategic and organisational projects and joint working with both providers, commissioners and other partner organisations. Her experience includes working in multi-disciplinary and agency systems including leadership of key projects. Anne is the Chair of the Reach out Commissioning Sub Committee.

Non-Executive Director

Winston works at Board level for a variety of organisations with purposes beyond profit. He is an Independent Member at a Welsh University Health Board with an interest in Finance and chairs its Sustainable Resources Committee. He works at Board level as non-Executive Treasurer of a BAME church led Housing Association based in the West Midlands. 

He brings experience of chairing and serving on Board committees, providing governance, risk, and audit & financial expertise.

Winston is a Big 4 qualified Public Finance Accountant with post graduate qualifications. He is CPFA qualified with significant post qualification experience in Public Sector Finance, Private Finance Initiative, procurement, and service improvement programmes. He established a small consultancy business in 2012, working in the public sector, providing support to various NHS / Housing/ Education organisations in senior project director / finance roles. 

He has two children at University and his wife works at the University of Birmingham. He supports and mentors’ young people. He is a trustee of a charity with an interest in community initiatives, cultural heritage and promoting multi-cultural, vibrant communities in Northwest Birmingham.

Non-Executive Director

Bal is Managing Director of his Management Consultancy company, MyQonsult, helping organisations across a broad range of industry sectors to grow and succeed. He is also an Associate at the global consultancy firm Alumni services and an Independent Member of the Council at the University of Warwick.

Previously Bal had a hugely successful career at BT. Starting as an apprentice he worked his way up to senior director roles leading large-scale strategic business transformation.

Non-Executive Director

Monica has been the Chief Executive of The Kaleidoscope Plus Group since 2010. She is committed to promoting the role of women and Black and Minority Ethnic individuals in leadership roles and has a keen interest in football, holding a number of non-executive roles in the sector. One of these is the post of Non-Executive Director at Birmingham County Football Association where she has lead responsibility for equality and mental health. She is also a member of the Premier League’s Equality and Diversity Panel. 

Monica has been recognised for her work in supporting black, Asian and minority group communities and in February 2022, she won the Corporate Achievement of the Year’ category at the British Muslim Awards.

Patrick Nyarumbu was appointed as the Director of Strategy, People and Partnerships in November 2020 and was previously Director of Nursing, Leadership and Quality for NHS England and NHS Improvement (East of England).

Patrick is a mental health nurse by background and has worked and in a wide range of NHS organisations covering mental health, acute and specialist services as well as a Primary Care Trust and a Clinical Commissioning Group. Patrick is passionate about leadership development, talent management and championing diversity.

Fabida Aria was appointed Executive Medical Director for BSMHFT in April 2022. Fabida is responsible, among other things, for medical, psychology and pharmacy leadership at the Trust.

Fabida is a consultant psychiatrist and previous has been a medical leader for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust since 2013  and a system leader in the region in the last few years. She has been associate medical director for mental health services in adult, older adults and learning disability patients. She brings a wealth of clinical leadership experience and many  initiatives she led have been recognised nationally.

She is a Fellow of the Royal college of psychiatrists and also has done a Masters in healthcare leadership. She holds additional roles at the Royal College of psychiatrists including Chair of the Transcultural Psychiatry Special Interest Group and Specialist Advisor for the medical trainee initiative scheme.

Fabida is passionate about engaging people, promoting innovation, research and collaborative working. She will provide clinical and strategic leadership on the board.

Sarah is a credible and transformational nurse leader with experience of operating strategically at Trust Board and executive level, ensuring that vision and strategy is translated and implemented across the organisation. 

Sarah is a values driven leader with strong professional standards and expectations. She is driven by the delivery of safe, kind and effective care that supports patients and their families and carers. Sarah has taken over from Sue Hartley who has now retired.

Vanessa Devlin was appointed as the Executive Director of Operations in September 2019, having been an Associate Director of Operations with the Trust since May 2013. Vanessa has a background in nursing, having been an RMN (registered Mental Health Nurse) with North Birmingham Mental Health Trust for 10 years, before moving over to the management side of care services.  

From 2006 up until the time she joined the Trust she held posts within West Midlands Commissioning Boards leading on the strategic development of mental health services within the NHS and Local Authority.  Vanessa is very committed to delivering quality mental health services to our population and believes that service users and carers should be at the forefront of development, delivery and monitoring of our services at all levels.

Dave Tomlinson joined the Trust as Executive Director of Finance in April 2017. Dave brings 20 years’ experience as a Director of Finance in the NHS, the vast majority of which has been with large mental health providers. He plays a key role in advising the Board on issues around the Trust’s fiscal performance, information governance and estates. Dave’s experience includes 12 years as Director of Finance at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust where he established the Trust as a £100m turnover provider by bringing together services from seven organisations, led the acquisition of a number of services and established a commercial and property management joint venture that delivered savings of £1m per annum. He has experience in both the private and public sector and during his career has been responsible for a broad portfolio of services in large and complex organisations. Most recently he has enjoyed a successful period as an interim director in acute and mental health trusts.