Our People
Our Senior Management
Our Senior Management Team has overall responsibility for the charity’s strategy, leadership, management and organisational performance.
Our Board of Trustees
Our Trustees are responsible for the governance and running of the activities of the charity.
Roslyn Neely
Roslyn is the charity’s Chief Executive and works with the Board of Trustees to agree ECHC’s goals and ambitions. Roslyn liaises with the hospital management team and supports ECHC staff and volunteers to improve how we transform the lives of children and young people in hospital and healthcare.
Pippa Johnston
Pippa is our Deputy CEO. She is responsible for overseeing the transformation of the fundraising and marketing operation so that we can reach even more children and their families while working closely with the CEO/Board on the future direction of the organisation.
Katie Handy
Katie is Chief Operating Officer. She ensures effective governance and financial management of the charity, including the effective delivery of all business operations (including our fabulous and family focused, friendly shop within RHCYP) to ensure we can continue to support children, young people and families during their time in hospital. In addition, Katie is responsible for managing our Grants Programme, which delivers over £500k of projects annually.
Fiona O'Sullivan
Fiona is our Director of Children’s Wellbeing. She leads the Arts Programme, Volunteers Programme and Youth and Family Support services, making sure children and young people staying in hospital feel supported and have the best possible hospital experience.
Rachel Baxter
Rachel is Director of Relationships. She leads the delivery of an imaginative programme of fundraising and engagement activities that inspire support for the charity and generate income. Rachel also works closely with philanthropists who transform the hospital experience for seriously ill children and their families.
Rhona Shepherd
Rhona, initially a trustee, took over as Chair in 2024, brings two decades of experience in Performance Coaching at the highest levels of sport and business. She has played a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of board meetings across a range of organisations, including PLCs, AIM-listed companies, charities, LLPs, limited companies, and CICs. Throughout the economic ups and downs of this century, Rhona has consistently balanced her interventions with a sharp focus on delivering a strong ROI.
Angela Thomas
Angela retired in 2017 from her position of Consultant Paediatric Haematologist at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People where she had a special interest in presentation of paediatric patients with bleeding disorders notably in the context of non-accidental injury. She is a past president of the British Society for Haematology and was acting President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from June 2020 – 2021. She is currently the Honorary Librarian and Director of Heritage at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. In addition to her clinical work, Angela has more than 18 years’ experience in the licensing and regulation of medicines, with particular expertise in the field of vaccines, biological medicines and advanced therapies. She was recently appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.
Tracey Ashworth Davies
Tracey became a Trustee in 2017 and is currently Director of Workforce at NHS Education for Scotland. She is also a highly experienced financial services professional having held senior roles with Legal & General, Toronto Dominion Bank Group, Royal London Group and Scottish Provident. She also served as a member of The Court of Heriot Watt University for eight years where she was also Chair of the Staff Committee. She is married with two daughters, both of whom have visited Edinburgh’s Children’s Hospital on more than one occasion!
Keith Anderson
Keith is Chief Executive Officer for ScottishPower and he also sits on the ScottishPower Board, where he was appointed in February 2012. He is a member of the UK Government's Investment Trade Advisory Group and is also a COP26 Business Leader. In January 2021, he became Chair of CBI Scotland. Prior to joining ScottishPower, Keith had worked with some major financial institutions including The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Life, as well as working as a management consultant with Ernst & Young.
Lynda Cowie
Lynda Cowie has worked her whole career in the NHS in a variety of nursing roles including General Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting. She has also held a number of managerial roles within the NHS most latterly the Associate Nurse Director for Children and Young People in NHS Lothian. It was during her time in this post that she saw the difference the ECHC makes to the lives of children and parents using services both in the hospitals and the community. Lynda has now retired from working in the NHS but was delighted to be appointed as a Trustee in June 2018.
John Brodie
John Brodie was appointed a Trustee of ECHC in September 2016. A Chartered Accountant by profession, he has been the Chief Executive of Scotmid Co-operative, Scotland’s largest independent retail co-operative since 2005. He has also been a member/Director of various industry bodies and charitable organisations.
Fiona Linklater
Fiona is a legal director at Eversheds Sutherland specialising in commercial property. She is qualified in Scots Law. Fiona has worked in this sector for over 20 years with considerable experience in commercial leasing acting for both Landlords and Tenants, portfolio management, sales and acquisitions and Scottish Property aspects of corporate deals. She also has experience of working in the charity sector with a wide variety of different types of third sector clients, something she really enjoyed.
Jon McCormack
Jon has been a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist at Edinburgh's children's hospital since 2008, and also works for the critical care transport division of the Scottish Ambulance Service. As an anaesthetist, Jon interacts with specialties across the hospital, providing pain relief on the wards and co-ordinating different elements of care for children with cancer. His work in critical care transport takes Jon all over Scotland, enabling a really clear vision of the capabilities and demands of healthcare colleagues and facilities across the country when caring for ill and injured children.
Louise Potter
Louise is a Director of her own Clinical Psychology practice and worked in the NHS for 18 years, reaching Consultant Clinical Psychologist. Her main interests are parenting and attachment and she spends much of her time doing court work as well as running a small clinic for children and young people. Attachment throughout the lifespan is something which underpins the psychology of each and every one of us and something which is used in all the psychology work she undertakes. Louise is particularly passionate about the mental health of children and young people and helping to bring about societal change.
Ed Brooke
Ed arrived at The Leith Agency from Grey in London where he worked on international accounts such as British Airways and Canon. Since his arrival he has led the IRN-BRU team, multiple retail accounts such as Aldi, Spar and Dobbies whilst also developing the agency's strong reputation in the transport sector with ScotRail, Govia Thameslink, Great Western Railways and Network Rail. Over the last 10 years he has worked with the team at ECHC on initiatives such as Christmas campaigns and the Oor Wullie's Big Bucket Trail. Highly commercial, strategic and trusted, Ed is strong at developing bold and effective campaigns for his clients and their brands.
Angus Blacklock
Angus Blacklock is an ECHC Young Trustee and is currently a journalism student at Edinburgh Napier University. Angus was born with a condition called microtia, meaning that he was born with one ear and is half deaf. This means Angus spent a lot of time in the hospital growing up. Angus took part in a charity bike ride with for friends when he was 10, cycling from his home in East Lothian to the old Sick Kids and raising over £7,000 for ECHC and Changing Faces. Once Angus has finished his university course, he would like to pursue a career in sports media.
Christy Thomson
Christy is a volunteer manager at Macmillan Cancer Support and has worked within fundraising and volunteering at both The Yard and CHAS. Having grown up with a disabled sister, Christy spent a fair bit of time in hospital and can fully understand the impact that ECHC makes to the lives of children and parents.
Shujaat Khan
Shujaat was appointed a Trustee of ECHC in [September 2023]. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers specialising in the financial services audit business. In this role he has worked with a broad spectrum of financial services organisations including banks, asset managers and insurance companies delivering external audit and wider assurance services.
Richard Slater (non-Trustee Committee member)
Richard is a Partner within Deloitte and is Head of Deloitte's UK Investment Advisory business and Pension practice in Scotland, a position which he has held since 2011. Based in Edinburgh, Richard has over 27 years' experience in advising corporates and Trustees across all aspects of investment issues. Prior to joining Deloitte, Richard was a Partner and senior investment advisor within PWC for Scotland.
Lyndsay Gowans (non Trustee Committee member)
Lyndsay is a Chartered Surveyor with DHKK Ltd Surveyors. She is a keen hockey player and a founding member of the Craig Gowans Memorial Fund – a tribute fund of ECHC. Among many fundraising events, Lyndsay participated in a successful Guinness World Record attempt resulting in the Fund winning the Voluntary Fundraising Group of the Year Award 2015. All proceeds were donated to ECHC.
Paul Leonard (non Trustee Committee member)
Paul is a consultant in paediatric emergency medicine at Edinburgh’s children’s hospital, so has seen the benefits of ECHC’s work first hand and is keen to contribute to this. Having served the full term allowed as a Trustee of the charity, he was delighted to be able to continue his support by acting as an advisor to the Grants Committee.