The governing body of Samaritans is the Trustee Board, which has between 10 and 15 members, the majority of whom are Samaritans volunteers. The trustees are also Directors of the Company.
The governing body of Samaritans is the Trustee Board, which has between 10 and 15 members, at least two thirds of whom are Samaritan volunteers. The trustees are also Directors of the Company.
Trustees can serve a maximum of 6 years from 28 January 2006, or up to 8 years in the case of a Chair who has already served as a trustee prior to their appointment as Chair.
Our Trustees
Keith Leslie – Chair
Appointed: 1 January 2021
Samaritans is an organisation without parallel in its impact, its potential and its scale. It is an honour to contribute to its leadership and shape its future in a world that needs Samaritans so much.
Keith Leslie
Keith Leslie is a leadership and governance adviser, speaker and writer, living in the West Country. He is regularly appointed to lead independent reviews of public bodies, including the House of Lords, Better Society Capital, Access and a wide range of other public bodies and charities.
Keith has devoted extensive time to the voluntary sector over the years. In addition to his Samaritans role, he is also a trustee of St Martins-in-the-Fields Charity and was Chair of the Board at the Mental Health Foundation, Build Africa and Mental Health At Work. He also served as a non-executive director of The Tablet Publishing Company Ltd, as a fellow at Windsor Leadership and a member of Council at St Paul’s Cathedral. He has served 5 years as speaker and mentor at OnBoard, preparing young people from minority ethnic backgrounds for trustee roles.
Keith began his career with Shell, working in New Zealand, Sweden, Cyprus and the UK in a series of front-line and general management roles. He then joined McKinsey and served clients in a wide range of industrial sectors and government. He moved to Deloitte and focused on organization and leadership challenges at senior levels in industry and government, retiring in 2017.
Based on his experience working with senior management across companies, public services and charities, Keith has published more than 50 articles on organisational change and Bloomsbury published his book A Question of Leadership – leading organisational change in times of crisis.
Keith was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland and attended Kirkcaldy West and Kirkcaldy High Schools. He graduated with a first class honours degree in law from the University of Edinburgh in 1980, where he was elected President of the Students’ Association. He then took an MBA summa cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1982, where he was a Thouron Fellow.
Hester Wain PhD – Co-Vice Chair
Appointed: 23 July 2021
A close family friend died by taking their own life and I later joined Samaritans as a listening volunteer to try to help others. I believe that Samaritans volunteers are uniquely skilled to provide emotional support to those in crisis and I am honoured to be one of the charity’s trustees.
Hester Wain PhD
Hester has been a Samaritans listening volunteer with Farnborough branch since 2018, answering phones, emails and online chat and taking on the roles of EDI deputy director, trainer and leader. In her day job she is the Head of patient safety policy for NHS England and NHS Improvement and has worked in the NHS since 2004. She previously had a more academic career working on the Human Genome Project.
Hester has over 20 years’ experience as a healthcare charity trustee and is passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion. She brings a background of empathy and care to Samaritans, supported by a strong focus on governance, safety and process.
Hester is married, with a horse, a number of cats and an assortment of poultry and likes to spend her spare time managing a small woodland in Hampshire and visiting Burgundy, France.
Annie Kent FCCA
Appointed: 25 September 2021
Phil Cliff
Appointed: 30 March 2019
I have a genuine passion for improving mental health support across the UK, with a particular focus on men's mental health which is so often over-looked. Along with this, I am motivated to serve as a Trustee on the Samaritans' Board through my role as a listening volunteer at the Banbury and District Samaritans Branch. There I see, every shift, the significant difference Samaritans make to people’s lives
Phil Cliff
Phil joined our Board of Trustees in 2019 with 30+ years’ of experience specialising in sustainable leadership and business transformation, across multiple blue-chip organisations within the Financial Services and Technology sectors. As well as being on our Board, Phil is Chair of our People & Culture Committee.
Phil’s early career began with NatWest Bank in 1985 before moving to Santander UK in 2000 and to Lloyds Banking Group in 2015 as Group Customer Service & PPI Director, and then Group Telephony Transformation Director.
Currently employed at Westbrook International (a Salesforce partner) since 2018, initially as Executive Director of Operations, Phil was appointed to the Board in November 2019 and invited to take on the role of CEO in January 2023, with overall responsibility for setting the strategic direction of the company. As CEO, Phil brings together his commercial, change, and operations expertise leading the organisation to deliver for its customers across the globe.
In the voluntary sector, Phil has been a Trustee on the Board of Trustees for The Lloyds Bank Foundation, England and Wales, an independent charity funding smaller charities helping people overcome complex social issues and rebuild their lives. Phil is a keen health enthusiast enjoying running, exercise, and yoga. He has raised funds for Samaritans taking part in numerous marathons. Phil lives in Oxfordshire and has two adult sons.
Dr Anushta Sivananthan
Appointed: 4 August 2021
I wanted to be part of the Samaritans family due to my long-standing interest in mental wellbeing and suicide prevention. In my job I have seen the importance and positive impact of Samaritans on people I have looked after. I have been in awe and humbled by the amazing contribution of volunteers of Samaritans.
Dr Anushta Sivananthan
Dr Anushta Sivananthan, lives in Cheshire and is currently a Consultant Psychiatrist with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust, and Associate Chief Medical Officer at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. Originally from Sri Lanka, Anushta was brought up in Yorkshire and completed her medical training in Liverpool before qualifying as a psychiatrist in 1996. She gained a Diploma in Geriatric Medicine in 1997 and has over 20 years’ experience as a consultant, with a speciality in old age psychiatry. Anushta previously held the Programme Director role for Old Age Psychiatrists at Mersey Deanery, role of Medical Director at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust and in 2013 was presented with a North West Leadership Award for Quality and Innovation. Her portfolio includes leading of clinical strategy, patient safety, suicide prevention, regulation and integration of services. Anushta was also a volunteer vaccinator locally which has been one of the most joyous things Anushta has done professionally.
Anushta’s great pleasures in life are walking her dog, travelling, reading and being with friends and family. She also enjoys Zumba, Yoga and gardening.
Amanda Millar
Appointed: 30 March 2022
I am thrilled, as Scotland Trustee, to be joining the ranks of the many Samaritans volunteers who deliver much of the organisation’s vital work. I look forward to Chairing the Scotland Committee and, through the Board of Trustees, contributing to the governance of the organisation across five nations to make a positive contribution to civil society in its work to achieve the vision that fewer people die by suicide.
Amanda Millar
Amanda, the first solicitor in Scotland accredited by the Law Society in both Mental Health Law and Incapacity & Mental Disability Law, brings a wealth of experience in leadership and influencing to Samaritans, most recently from her time as President of the Law Society of Scotland.
Amanda has experience across many of the sectors in which Samaritans works through both her professional and volunteer expertise. She is a past Chair of Mindspace Ltd and a previous member of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations policy committee. She also has a high-profile commitment to issues of equity and diversity, which has included chairing an EDI expert Advisory Group for the Institute of Directors in Scotland.
Andy Donnell
Appointed: 01 November 2022
I am excited to join the Board of Trustees and bring to it my internal and external knowledge and experience. Samaritans has been an important part of my life over the last decade and I am delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to shaping its future sustainability.
Andy Donnell
Prior to retirement Andy was the CEO for EMEA of facilities management (FM) services provider, ABM with responsibility for the growth and performance of ABM Group activities in the UK, Europe and Middle East. Andy has been a board Director for over 15 years and for 12 years has led the organisation he has worked in either as CEO or Chairman. He developed an award-winning strategy ‘ROBUST’ based around company values which in turn led to doubling revenue and profits over a 3-year period. He has a wealth of experience in corporate governance and latterly charity Governance in his role both in Samaritans and as Chair of The Moving on Project.
Andy's track record demonstrates a keen strategic mind with a passion for business growth. This is matched only by his enthusiasm to invest in people and develop the next generation to start work, which is reflected in his strategic initiative JEEP junior engineer engagement program to encourage more school children to become involved in apprenticeships. This scheme has now become recognised nationally and is being rolled out across schools.
Andy has been a listening volunteer at Southampton Samaritans since 2012 and has had several other Senior Volunteering roles within the organisation, not least his last role as Functional Lead for Quality and Service Improvement. He has previously volunteered for the Princes Trust and was Chair of The Moving On Project a charity offering counselling to 11-16 year-olds from 2018 to 2022.
Andy has recently become Vice Chair for the Bath & Wells Multi Academy trust, which is responsible for 45 schools.
Catherine Goodwin
Appointed: 08 June 2023
Catherine is a Board Director at MHFA(Wales) and has been a Company Director for 19 years for her own organisations, Psychology Wales, and Psychology Wales Training Ltd. Catherine is also part of the Advisory Board for TASC (The Ambulance Services Charity) as it expands its UK wide service and Crisis Line with funding from The Royal Foundation.
Catherine is fully committed to supporting people and organisations to achieve their full potential authentically and compassionately. With over 25 years of experience of working with individuals and teams from a wide variety of backgrounds to navigate the problems that life presents or to overcome psychological barriers that are compounded by past experiences and interactions. Catherine’s expertise is in exploring complex problems in complex systems then developing formulations and effective interventions. Over the course of her career this solid psychological foundation and understanding of the interplay of emotions, behaviour and thoughts has enabled Catherine to develop bespoke training and programmes in a range of areas.
Catherine regularly represents her NHS Organisation in a variety of internal and external events such as UK Ambulance Network events, Association of Ambulance Chief Executive forums and Blue Light collaborations. Catherine was lead author for the MindEd Blue Light project with the Royal College of Psychiatrists promoting resilience in teams, producing an eLearning module and accompanying video; and presents at a range of events, this includes College of Paramedics Student Emergency Services, international NYPD and Columbia University conference panels, the UK Emergency Services show and Thrive Blue Light. Catherine was proud to provide psychological support to the senior emergency services panel at the Royal Foundation Blue Light launch event hosted by the Duke of Cambridge and leads from all emergency services in the UK nations and it's follow up.
In her current role, Catherine has led on the design and culture review and implementation of the new trust behaviours, and wrote, widely consulted on and successfully signed off the Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2020-2024 with support of trade union partners and overwhelming positive reception and agreement by the Trust Board and continues to be on track to deliver the ambitions set out in the strategy. The implementation of the Strategic Equality Objectives the roll out of the Welsh Ambulance flagship Ally programme demonstrates the influence and commitment from Catherine’s leadership in increasing diversity and ensuring inclusion within an historically homogeneous service. Over the last six months this has included being part of the project board for the Reducing Misogyny and Improving Sexual Safety in Ambulance Services Consensus Statement launched in October 2023 by the Chief Allied Health Professional.
Catherine has lived in Wales for over 30 years and is married with two proudly Welsh grown up children.
Rich Bartlett
Appointed: 01 October 2023
When I was suffering from poor mental health as a young person in Australia, I wish that I had known about an organisation like the Samaritans, as just one conversation could have had such an impact on me. Whilst I missed out on having that conversation, I see regularly, as a listening volunteer, the impact that one conversation can have on a caller. This is why I am so excited to be supporting Samaritans in a new capacity as a Trustee.
Rich Bartlett
Rich began his journey with Samaritans as a listening volunteer in 2021. He went on to become Co-Chair of the inaugural Communications and Engagement Panel and a member of the Charity’s Strategic Advisory Board before being appointed to the Board of Trustees, where he now serves as Co-Vice Chair.
Alongside his trustee role, Rich is an HR Business Partner at L’Oréal. He brings a strong academic and professional background to this work, holding a BA (Hons) in Education and Management Studies from the University of Cambridge and undertaking postgraduate studies in Counselling and Coaching at the University of Oxford and the University of East London. He previously worked at Boston Consulting Group, advising clients on organisational transformation and the integration of AI in HR and support functions. Before that, he was part of the International Management Graduate Program at Kraft Heinz before joining their People & Performance team.
John Jolly
Appointed: 02 December 2023
I am so excited to have the opportunity to contribute my experience and skills to support the work of the Samaritans. Since 2019 I have been a listening volunteer with the Festival Branch at Samaritans and have the rare privilege to listen to people face to face and offer emotional support at music festivals across the country.
John Jolly
John has sixteen years experience as a charity CEO. He has a MBA and is a registered social worker. He has worked in leadership roles in the charity and public sector for over 35 years, most recently as CEO of Parentkind. During that time, he has run organisations supporting people in relation to mental health, substance misuse, homelessness, employment and more recently education and parenting. Currently he is working as an executive leadership coach.
For ten years he was a member of the NICE Quality Standards Advisory Committee setting quality standards across the NHS and social care for a wide range of health conditions. John is currently a trustee at the Hepatitis C trust which is at the leading edge of eliminating Hepatitis C in the UK.
He has experience of running research and policy teams along with extensive experience of influencing politicians, senior civil servants, and the media to get policy change. John has managed large IT and service redesign programmes and has experience of commissioning and fundraising.
John Drew
Appointed: 18 December 2023
I learned a huge about mental health from my role in the NHS during the pandemic, and being a trustee at Samaritans enables me to contribute to understanding and addressing the needs of those in crisis and the root causes, as well as continuing to learn.
John Drew
John Drew is a Director of Staff Experience and Engagement at NHS England, which includes responsibility for the national health and wellbeing team.
He originally trained as a manufacturing engineer, and subsequently worked at Land Rover before joining McKinsey working in the Operations and Healthcare practices, latterly as a partner where he worked mainly with NHS providers on improvement. He joined the NHS in 2017, initially in a board role of a large teaching hospital and then in the People directorate of NHS England in 2020 where he led the implementation of the NHS People Plan during the pandemic.
He is also an Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford where he lectures and delivers workshops as part of the Management in Medicine programme. He also teaches on Oxford University’s Masters in International Healthcare Management.
John is a trustee of 4Front Theatre, a Christian theatre company, and until recently was also a trustee of the National Churches Trust where he led on the development of the House of Good report, quantifying the social impact of churches in the UK.
John is married with three grown up daughters and lives in Worcester. He attends a local church, participates in parkrun most Saturdays and is the proud owner of a Morris Minor pickup which is the same age as him.
Ella Dorfman
Appointed: 01 January 2025
It's a privilege to be part of a charity which- almost unbelievably- manages to be here day and night for anyone struggling to cope, while at the same time, campaigns for lasting change through industry leading policy and advocacy work. The time is right to take the next big step towards Samaritans vision that fewer people die by suicide.
Ella Dorfman
Ella Dorfman has spent over a decade improving services, implementing change, and building organisational capability in the third and public sectors. She works as a Senior Service Designer for the UK Civil Service, and is passionate about applying user-centred design, delivering inclusive and accessible services, and making evidenced-based, collaborative decisions. Beginning her career at Citizens Advice central charity, she experienced first-hand the hard work required by any charity that wants to keep up with demand and meet continuously evolving needs.
Ella became a listening volunteer at Croydon and Sutton Samaritans in 2022, and has since become a mentor, as well as an active participant in branch social activities. In her spare time, she enjoys staying active, eating pastries with friends, and watching movies with her significant other.
Rosie Allister
Appointed: 01 January 2025
Her research looks at occupational wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention. Rosie is consultant manager for Vetlife Helpline, a charity that supports veterinary professionals. She has extensive experience in helplines and crisis support provision. Rosie has served on a number of advisory groups including for the Scottish Government Suicide Prevention Strategy and Self Harm Strategy. She lectures at several universities, advises on mental health at work, helplines, and suicide prevention and postvention.