Executive directors

Siobhan Harrington

Chief executive

Date of appointment: 1 June 2022

Siobhan Harrington began her career in nursing posts in London, working at St Thomas’s and Royal Free Hospitals. After programme management roles including at regional level, in 2004 Siobhan was appointed director of Primary Care Commissioning and lead nurse at Haringey PCT. She joined Whittington Hospital NHS Trust in 2006 moving through roles including director of primary care, acting director of nursing, director of strategy and deputy chief executive. She spent two years as programme director for the Barnet Enfield Haringey clinical strategy, and in 2017 was appointed chief executive of Whittington Health NHS Trust.

Sarah Herbert

Chief nursing officer

Date of appointment: 13 May 2024

Sarah Herbert graduated as a registered nurse in 1999 and began her career in London. She has a clinical background in surgery, critical care and theatres, with a keen interest in applied research, clinical education and leadership development. Sarah has held a number of clinical and senior nursing leadership roles, including supporting the University Hospital Southampton medical division through covid before becoming the Deputy Chief Nurse there in 2021.

Sarah holds a MSc in Nursing and is a Florence Nightingale Foundation Scholar, where she remains an active alumnus of the foundation. She is passionate about ensuring patients receive high quality, personalised care, through working in partnership with patients, staff and local partners to create positive practice environments.

Mark Mould

Chief operating officer

Date of appointment: 1 October 2020

Mark is the first chief operating officer for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust. He was previously the chief operating officer for Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where he served for six years. Mark has extensive operational management experience across a number of other acute trusts across the country.

Pete Papworth

Chief finance officer

Date of appointment: 1 October 2020

Pete was appointed director of finance for the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2017 and was subsequently appointed director of finance for Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2019 in a joint role across both organisations. He led the financial aspects of the merger of the two organisations and was appointed as the first chief finance officer for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust on 1 October 2020. Pete is a chartered accountant with experience working across all aspects of the public sector locally, since joining the Audit Commission’s graduate scheme in 2003.

Richard Renaut

Chief strategy and transformation officer

Date of appointment: 1 October 2020

Richard joined the NHS through the NHS management training scheme. He has worked in both primary care and tertiary hospital settings. Prior to his appointment as chief strategy and transformation officer on 1 October 2020, Richard was chief operating officer at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and has been a board executive since 2006.

Melanie Whitfield

Chief people officer

Date of appointment: 18 August 2025

Melanie is an accomplished HR leader and coach with many years of experience leading on significant programmes of change and people strategy in both the private and public sector. With many years of Board level experience within both Private and Public sector, Melanie joined the national team at NHS England and Improvement becoming one of the founding authors of the NHS People Plan and the People Promise. Melanie began her career in retail working for some of the best known brands on the high street including The John Lewis Partnership, Sainsbury's and Boots. She has continued both her formal academic studies and professional development and has a particular interest in the value and impact of team coaching. In joining the Trust Melanie has an ambition to continue her work to support all staff to be the best they can be, helping create the kind of environment where everyone can thrive and in doing so, provide the best possible care to the communities we serve.

Within University Hospitals Dorset executive team, she is the responsible leader for our Operational HR Services, Resourcing, Organisation Design and Development, Education and Communication strategies alongside our Health and Safety and Occupational Health services. 

Peter Wilson

Chief medical officer

Date of commencement: 1 April 2023

Peter joined the trust from his role as medical director for direct commissioning for the south west region of NHS England. Peter’s background is as a consultant in paediatric intensive care. He developed his clinical and leadership career at University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, where he held the role of divisional clinical director for women’s and children’s services and clinical director for the Southampton Children’s Hospital. Nationally, he has also been clinical chair of NHS England’s Programme Board for Women and Children.

Beverley Bryant

Chief Digital Officer

Date of appointment: 28 October 2024

Beverley Bryant leads our digital strategy. She joined University Hospitals Dorset from Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Trust and Kings College Hospitals NHS Trust where she was joint chief digital information officer. Beverley led the major transformation of all clinical applications and workflows to bring IT systems together across the trusts. As part of her role at the Trust, she takes our executive lead for the creation of the new electronic health record (EHR) in partnership with trusts and both Integrated Care Boards across Dorset and Somerset.

Beverley’s previous roles have included director of digital technology for NHS England and chief information officer for the Department of Health.