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.

Professor Jane Armitage 

Jane is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Trials & Epidemiology, and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals.

Having qualified in medicine in 1979, Jane spent 10 years as a junior hospital doctor before joining the Oxford University Clinical Trial Service Unit in 1990.

Over the course of 35 years, she co-ordinated or was Chief Investigator for a series of large-scale randomised clinical trials in cardiovascular disease, including the 20,000-participant MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study, the 12,000-patient SEARCH and 25,000 HPS2-THRIVE study, which are each trials of lipid modification in people with or at risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, she was Chief Investigator for the BHF-supported ASCEND trial of aspirin and fish oils involving 15,000 people with diabetes. These trials have had a major impact and led to changes in clinical practice.

Jane collaborates with other epidemiologists and statisticians in the Nuffield Department of Population Health in Oxford on a variety of genetic and other risk factor studies based on the trial cohorts. She has a particular interest in the safety of statins, and her main research interests are in lipids and the epidemiology of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases including osteoporosis. 

In 2020, Jane designed and established, with colleagues, a new Masters course in Clinical Trials at the University of Oxford. The course aims to train the next generation of trialists to run efficient, large-scale streamlined clinical trials. In addition, she supports other trialists nationally and internationally by sitting on Trial Steering Committees and Data Monitoring Committees. She is currently Chair of the BHF Clinical Studies Committee and the Expert Advisory Panel of the Global Cardiovascular Research Funders Forum.

Professor Armitage joined the Board of Trustees in October 2025.

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.

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 Simon Ray

Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees

Simon Ray is a Consultant Cardiologist and Honorary Professor of Cardiology at Manchester University Hospitals. He was appointed as National Clinical Director for Heart Disease in NHS England in 2024 having served as the Joint National Lead for the Cardiology theme of the Getting it Right First Time programme since 2017. 

He was previously Research and Development Director at the University Hospitals of South Manchester and Lead for the cardiovascular theme at the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre. Nationally, Simon has served as President of the British Society for Echocardiography and the British Heart Valve Society, Vice President for Clinical Standards of the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS), and President of the BCS from 2018 to 2021. 

Simon has a longstanding involvement with the BHF. He was supported on a BHF project grant for his doctoral research more than 35 years ago and has served on a number of BHF committees, most recently as Chair of the Implementation Fund. He was previously a member of the Board of Trustees from 2014 to 2018 and is delighted to have the opportunity to re-join the Board as Deputy Chair.

Simon re-joined the Board of Trustees in October 2025, and is also a member of the Nominations Committee and the Remuneration & People Committee.

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.