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.

Michelle McDermott

Co-Chairperson

Michelle McDermott is Co-Chairperson of the Thera Trust board, alongside Sally Warren. 

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.

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.