Board of directors

Mike Viggers, Chairman
Mike Viggers was appointed Chairman in January 2012. Prior to his full time appointment he was Interim Chairman of the Trust since May 2011 following the resignation of the previous Chairman, Hywel Evans, for health and family reasons.

Mike joined the Board on leave of absence from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where he was Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director. He brings to the Trust extensive experience as a Senior Director for blue chip companies in the private sector, including a period as Operations Director for Parker Pen.

Marianne Griffiths, Chief Executive
Marianne is Western Sussex Hospitals’ first chief executive, and was previously Interim Chief Executive of the Royal West Sussex NHS Trust during the final months before merger.

She joined the hospitals from NHS South East Coast, where she was Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Commissioning and Delivery, prior to which she was Chief Executive at Kent and Medway Strategic Health Authority. Her many roles in the NHS have also included a joint appointment in West Sussex as Head of Commissioning Social Services and Director of Strategic Development for the Health Authority.

Dr Phillip Barnes, Medical Director
Dr Barnes is a Consultant Neurologist and has 10 years experience in senior clinical management roles. He joined the Trust in September 2009 having previously worked at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, in London.

Jane Farrell, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer
Jane has 28 years experience in the NHS and prior to the creation of WSHT had been Director of Operations / Deputy Chief Executive of Royal West Sussex NHS Trust since joining in July 2008.

Originally training as a nurse, she specialised in paediatrics and held several senior professional roles before moving full-time into general management. Her extensive management experience includes several senior roles across London, including at Great Ormond Street, St Mary's, and prior to moving to Sussex, as Director of Operations at Ealing Hospital NHS Trust.

Spencer Prosser, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance
Spencer has held posts in several local NHS organisations, in both acute hospital and community/mental health settings. He was previously Director of Finance at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, West Sussex Health and Social Care NHS Trust, East Sussex County Healthcare NHS Trust and Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust.

Spencer is a qualified accountant (IPFA) with a BA (Hons) in Economics.

Cathy Stone, Director of Nursing and Patient Safety
Cathy was Director of Nursing at Hastings and Rother NHS Trust for six years and Director of Nursing at Worthing and Southlands from January 2008 prior to her appointment as Director of Nursing and Patient Safety at Western Sussex Hospitals.

She is a registered nurse and midwife with a special interest in neonatology, was part of the national steering group which developed the Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner role (ANNP) and one of the first ANNP’s to be appointed in the county. In support of her clinical background, Cathy has an MSc in Healthcare Management and has previously held Senior General Manager positions in other Trusts.

Denise Farmer, Director of Organisational Development and Leadership
Denise joined Royal West Sussex NHS Trust in February 2008 as Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development and was appointed to her current post on the merger with Worthing and Southlands.

She originally hails from Liverpool and has worked in the public sector for her entire career, most recently at Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT), where she was involved in major change programmes. At South Central Strategic Health Authority she led the recruitment process for PCT Chief Executives and Directors to the new PCTs.

Tony Clark, Deputy Chairman
Tony has lived in Chichester for many years and was a member of the old Royal West Sussex Board from 2006. He is a magistrate sitting on the Sussex Western Bench.

He served a full career in the Royal Navy as an Engineer Officer, rising to the rank of Commodore, and held senior positions in NATO. He is a Chartered Engineer.

Martin Phillips
A resident of Shoreham-by-Sea and a member of the old Worthing and Southlands Hospitals Board, Martin has 20 years’ experience operating at Board level in sales and marketing and general management within the technical and engineering sectors.

His community involvement includes being a Trustee and Chair of Relate for Brighton and Hove and District, a magistrate on the Sussex Western Bench and an advisor for the Citizens Advice Bureau.

Jon Furmston
A resident of Horsham, Jon has had a career with BT of over 20 years to date and in that time has held roles in financial, marketing, general management and regulatory governance up to Board level.

He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology

Joanna Crane
Joanna has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years, beginning her career in private banking before moving to corporate banking and structured finance, with a particular focus on strategic planning. Joanna moved into HR in 2001 to look at aligning the “people” strategy with the business strategy.

In addition to an HR and strategic planning background she has a keen focus on risk assessment due to many years working in a credit-risk environment. In her current role at the European Investment Bank (EIB) she is responsible for performance management, talent management and learning and development, alongside all personnel legal issues and recourse procedures.

She is also responsible for the Diversity Strategy and sits on the EIB’s Equal Opportunities joint-committee. Joanna has a degree in psychology from St Andrews University.

Bill Brown
In his 30 years experience operating at Board level in the health care industry, Bill was chief financial officer of three top-10 UK pharmaceutical companies, and also held Board positions in manufacturing and operations, and marketing.

Latterly, Bill acted as executive director in a European-wide role for Wyeth. Now retired from the pharmaceutical industry, his community involvement includes membership of the Board of Governors of a local independent school.