Meet the Board

Interim Chief Executive 

Trudie joined the Board in July 2025.

Trudie joined North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust in August 2025 as the Interim Chief Executive Officer, on secondment from Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, where she has served as Chief Executive Officer since March 2023.

Trudie began her NHS career in 1992 as a Student Nurse at North Devon District Hospital and qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1995.  She went on to hold clinical roles in both Leicester and Leeds before transitioning into management, where she developed a strong focus on service and performance improvement.

Her leadership journey progressed through a number of operational roles, culminating in her appointment as Assistant Director of Operations at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, where she led on the unplanned care agenda.  From 2016 to 2023, Trudie served as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, working both within the organisation and across the wider system to strengthen collaboration and integrated care.

Trudie holds an MSc in Innovation, Leadership and Management from the University of York.  She has a particular interest in the relationship between organisational culture and its impact on patient outcomes and experience.

Trudie is married with one daughter and two dogs.

Executive Medical Director

I joined the Board in January 2022 as Executive Medical Director.

I am the Trust’s Responsible Officer and Caldicott Guardian.

I am an experienced clinical leader and in my career to date I have held roles including:

• Executive Medical Director South Tees Hospitals 2016-2021
• Medical Director Friarage Hospital 2017-2021
• Deputy Chief Executive South Tees Hospitals 2017-2020
• Regional College Advisor and Council member Royal College of Emergency Medicine 2010-2016
• Training program Director for Quality Assurance Acute Care Specialties HENE 2010-2016
• Clinical Director Emergency Medicine 2006-2016 South Tees Hospitals
• Consultant in Emergency Medicine to date

Interim Chief Nurse

Gill joined the board in October 2025. 

Awaiting biography.

Executive Chief Operating Officer

I joined North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust as Chief Operating Officer at the end of March 2025. With a background in nursing and nearly 30 years’ experience in the acute sector, I am passionate about delivering clinically led services where quality and patient care are at the heart of everything we do.

Before coming to NCIC, I was Interim Chief Operating Officer at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in Wales, and I’ve previously held senior roles in East Sussex and Lancashire.

I care deeply about improving patient safety, experience, and outcomes. I believe strongly in the power of teamwork and collaboration, and I’m committed to working closely with our partners to deliver outstanding care for our communities in Cumbria.

Executive Director of Finance, Estates and Digital

I joined the Board in February 2023.

I have 18 years’ experience as an NHS finance director in the regulatory, provider and commissioner sectors. My previous experience includes Chief Finance Officer at Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Director of Operational Finance for North Bristol NHS Trust, Director of Finance of NHS England (South Central), Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust.

NCIC is the sixth Director of Finance post covering regulatory, commissioning, acute, community and specialist Trusts.

Interim Chief People Officer

Awaiting biography.

Interim Chair

I was appointed to the Board in April 2022.  I am currently Vice Chair, member of the Quality Improvement & Safety Committee and of the Audit and Risk Committee , Non-Executive Director (NED) Maternity Champion and NED Armed Forces Champion.

As a registered nurse I have 40 years’ experience working in healthcare at a senior level both in the NHS and Military. Holding the rank of Group Captain, I left the Royal Air Force in 2021 after 27 years. During this time, I deployed to Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Karachi, Kuwait and Baghdad. I have undertaken leadership roles in a variety of roles including training, Governance and Assurance, commissioning, clinical and medical planning. I led the medical planning for multiple military global operations including Iraq and Afghanistan, the Ebola crisis in 2014 and the Covid-19 response for Defence Primary Healthcare in 13 military overseas bases. Having commanded at all levels, highlights include leading the RAF’s high readiness medical squadron, relocating the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court to Stanford Hall and working with the NHS as the Military Chief Nurse at QEHB Birmingham. In recognition of my leadership, I have been awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service (QCVS), the Associate Royal Red Cross (ARRC), the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

I am a Trustee to 4 national charities: Trauma UK Charity, The Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS), The UK Afghanistan Veterans Community (AVC) and The Scottish Veterans Residences (SVR). I also run my own leadership Coach, Speaker and Business consultancy.

I was appointed to the Board in November 2021.  I am Chair of the People Committee, Lead Non-Executive Director for Freedom to Speak Up and the Senior Independent Director.

I was a Non-Executive Director with Blackpool Hospitals Trust from July 2016 to June 2022. During this period I served as Deputy Chair and Senior Independent Director of the Trust. I also served on a number of Committees and at different times chaired the Workforce Committee, the Finance Committee and the Audit Committee. I am currently Senior Independent Trustee on the Board of Trustees at St. Johns Hospice (North Lancashire and South Cumbria), leading on Finance and Resources. I also volunteer for Lancashire Healthwatch.

Previously I served as Independent Chair of the Copeland Geological Disposal Community Groups 2020/2022 and Chair of Impact Housing Association (Cumbria) 2017-2020. I was Chief Executive of Lancaster City Council from 2000 to 2016 and immediately prior to that Executive Director of Social Services (adults and children) at Wakefield Metropolitan City Council from 1993.

Professor Jonathan Weber

I was appointed to the Trust Board in September 2024, and am Chair of the Quality, Improvement and Safety Committee and a member of the People Committee.

I am a clinician-scientist, specialising in Infectious Diseases as an honorary physician at St Mary’s Hospital Paddington and a Professor at Imperial College London.

I trained at the University of Cambridge and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. In 1982 I was awarded a Wellcome Trust clinical training fellowship to study the emergent AIDS epidemic and I have worked on HIV/AIDS and the other human retrovirus, HTLV, ever since. I was subsequently Lecturer at the Institute of Cancer Research and then Senior Lecturer in Infectious Diseases at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital. In 1990, I was appointed to the endowed Jefferiss Chair of Communicable Diseases and Genito-Urinary Medicine at Imperial College. My research has encompassed the development of antiretroviral therapy and currently the prevention of HIV infection through prophylactic vaccine development and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

I was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial 2017-23, and Director of the Imperial Academic Health Science Centre form 2015-2024. I am currently Co-Director of the Research Hub at the new Pears Cumbria School of Medicine in Carlisle, and a Professor at the University of Cumbria. I was awarded the CBE in 2024 for my contributions to global health research and I am a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

I was appointed to the Board with effect from October 2024 and am Chair of the Finance, Investment and Performance Committee and Charitable Funds Committee. I have extensive experience of working as an executive director in the civil service and in a non-executive capacity in Scottish Government. My specialisms include public financial management, risk management, corporate governance, sustainability reporting standards and internal and external audit. My most recent experience was as a CFO in managing public pensions with pension liabilities to the tune of £80bn and leading multidisciplinary teams in a government agency. This gave me exposure to projects involving re-engineering business processes with the aim of introducing a cloud-based, componentised, digital and outward facing systems architecture which included web enabled customer services and a new more customer-focussed target operating model.

Since leaving full-time education I have enjoyed a long career in public and voluntary service starting in 1983. I have served as a district councillor, school governor, Treasurer of Citizens Advice Bureaux, member of a Community Health Council and trustee of charitable trusts. During this period I have worked in various senior roles for the Audit Commission, the NHS and Scottish Government.

Since qualifying as a chartered director 8 years ago, I have assumed a number of non-executive roles. Also, since leaving the civil service, I now carry out a disciplinary assessor role for my accountancy body ACCA and sit on the Bench in North Cumbria as a magistrate.

Claire Maxwell-Smith joined the board as a Non Executive Director on 1st September 2025. Appointed July 2025.

I was appointed to the Board on 1^st September 2025.  I am currently chair of the Estates, Digital and Procurement Committee and Vice Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and Charitable Funds Committee.

I have recently retired from the Nuclear Industry where I was commercial specialist with over 35 years’ experience gained in senior commercial leadership management positions, managing and assuring complex, high value contracts in high-profile business critical environments.  I also developed and lead a number of commercial transformation projects across the nuclear estate.

I am a High-Risk Review Team Leader for the UK Government National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, focussing on the commercial assurance of a wide range of the most complex, high-risk projects in the UK central government’s Major Projects Portfolio.

Previously I served as Chair of the Governors at West Lakes Academy in West Cumbria.

Margie Burdis joined as a Non-Executive Director on 1 November 2025. Appointed July 2025.

Biography to follow.

I was appointed to the Trust board in December 2024 as an Associate Non-Executive Director.

I am an Eye Surgeon specialising in cataract and glaucoma surgery at Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust.

I attended the University of Benin Medical School in Nigeria, after which I commenced as a Trainee Ophthalmologist in the North West and, subsequently, the Mersey region in the UK. I completed my training as an Eye Surgeon in 2014, then embarked on further training as a fellow in Abergele, North Wales, to specialise in glaucoma surgery.

In 2016, I was appointed as a Consultant Eye Surgeon at Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust (now Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust). I have held various posts within this role and I am the current clinical Director for my Eye Unit, a post  I have held for over four years. This role involves leadership in clinical governance and accountability for patient safety and care. Other roles I currently hold include the glaucoma lead for my department, the ophthalmic training scheme lead and the Return-to-Work champion for the Mersey Deanery.

I am a Fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (FRCOphth) and am passionate about educating and training young ophthalmologists and medical students. I hold a PGCert in Medical Education from Edgehill University and an MSc in Industrial Digitalisation from the Manchester Metropolitan University. I am also an MSc Student in the Elisabeth Garrett Anderson senior leadership programme, which will conclude in 2025, run by the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS). I have just completed the Institute of Leadership and Management level 7 with distinction. This is part of the MSc programme.

Most recently, I was selected as one of the 50 aspiring leaders for the leadership shadowing programme for ethnically diverse aspiring leaders. This has given me the golden opportunity to shadow an exemplary senior leader within the health sector in the region where I currently work.