Michelle McDermott
Co-Chairperson
Michelle McDermott is Co-Chairperson of the Thera Trust board, alongside Sally Warren.
Meet the board
Thera Trust has an equal executive team made up of four directors each with equal responsibility for decision making. Three of the roles are held by appropriately qualified and experienced leaders with the fourth role being held by someone who brings their experience of having a learning disability, along with their previous work experience, to the role.
Sally Warren
Co-Chairperson
Sally Warren is Co-Chairperson of the Thera Trust board, alongside Michelle McDermott.
John Blundell
Non-Executive Director
John has worked in the U.K. Financial Services Industry for 35 years and is formally the Managing Director of the U.K. General Insurance business within the Ecclesiastical Group.
Christine Chang
Non-Executive Director
Christine Chang is Deputy CIO at Big Society Capital and is a member of its Executive Committee and Investment Committee.
Simon Conway
Director of Strategy and Company Secretary
Simon Conway studied Classical Archaeology at Cambridge University before starting his career with the National Audit Office.
Matthew Smith
Group Director - Learning Disability Leadership
Matthew Smith shares the Group Director - Learning Disability Leadership role with Jenny. Matthew brings both his personal and professional experience to the director role in Thera, ensuring that the quality of support Thera provides is monitored and that people are fully involved in the planning and delivery of their support.
Jenny Garrigan
Group Director - Learning Disability Leadership
Jenny is Group Director - Learning Disability Leadership at Thera. She is dedicated to facilitating and enabling the leadership of Thera by people with a learning disability.
Nicola Coote
Non-Executive Director
Nicola is founder and Deputy CEO of PHSC plc which specialises in safety, management systems and security. She has a background in occupational safety and risk, environmental management, and is a Registered Expert Witness.
Elizabeth Lichten
Non-Executive Director
Elizabeth is founder of Pink Mingo marketing.
Jill Parker
Senior Independent Director
Jill has a background in delivering care and support services and now works for Gloucestershire VCS Alliance.
Christopher Rheinberg
Non-Executive Director
Chris’s career spans marketing, advertising and communications acting as client service director on UK and Europe wide campaigns. While running his own marketing consultancy, he joined the board of Thera East Anglia in 2014 and became Chair two years later.
Priya Oomahdat
Non-Executive Director
Priya is a national Deputy Director in the NHS with a career focused on improving population health through commissioning, transformation & improvement and service redesign, working at a national level in operations, strategy and policy.