John takes over from our outgoing Chair, Jason Parker, who steps down from Bliss’ Board having completed two terms of office.
John is a Partner at Baringa Partners, where he was founding partner for their Supply Chain, Procurement & Sustainability practices. He has over 20 years’ experience in operations consultancy focusing on operational excellence, KPIs and performance improvement, digital transformation, data and analytics and people and culture transformation. Most of his recent work has been within the NHS, including a key leadership role in delivering the Covid Vaccine Deployment Program. He brings relevant third sector experience from wider involvement at Fareshare, Gates Foundation and Save the Children and an extensive network of private sector C-Suite executives.
John and his family have been actively engaged with Bliss since the loss of their precious daughter Chloe, born prematurely in late 2016. John has been a Trustee of Bliss since late 2017, and more recently has chaired Bliss’ Board sub-committee the Impact and Delivery Committee.
John said:
“It is a genuine honour and privilege to take on the Chair position at Bliss, following on from the great work that Jason has done over the last 4 years. It’s an exciting time for the organisation with a new government committed to reforming the NHS and tackling healthcare inequalities, a growing public awareness of neonatal care, and game changing new innovations such as AI and data transforming all organisations.
“Together with our hugely talented Board and Senior Management Team, I am excited for what we can achieve together over the next couple of years in transforming the lives of babies born premature and sick, as part of our daughter Chloe’s legacy.”
Caroline Lee-Davey, Chief Executive of Bliss, said:
“We’re thrilled that John is stepping up to take over as Chair of Bliss’ Board of Trustees. During his time on the Board so far John has brought his strategic insight, analytical mind, and expertise across digital, data and diversity and inclusion in support of all aspects of Bliss’ development and evolution as an organisation.
“Underpinning all of this has been John’s deep passion and commitment to Bliss’ work following his personal neonatal experience, and we are all looking forward to continuing to work with him in this new role to deliver even more for babies born premature or sick across the UK, in particular as we launch a new strategy in spring 2025.
“We’re also hugely grateful to our outgoing Chair, Jason Parker, for his leadership over the last 4 years, starting in the depths of the Covid pandemic. He has contributed an enormous amount to Bliss during his time on the Board and leaves us in a really strong position.”