Membership
Professor Simon Howell (Chair)
Mr John Grumitt (Vice-Chair)
Mr Graham Spooner (Treasurer)
Ms Renata Drinkwater
Ms Alison Finney
Dr David McCance
Mr Frank Moxon
Dr Niti Pall
Mr Ian W Powell
Professor Simon Howell (Chair)
Simon Howell holds Ph.D and DSc degrees in physiology from the University of London and is currently Professor of Endocrine Physiology, and Guy’s Campus Dean, at King’s College London. His research interests are in diabetes and in particular in the mechanism and regulation of insulin secretion. He was awarded the RD Lawrence Lectureship of The British Diabetic Association (now Diabetes UK) and the Minkowski Prize of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in recognition of his research.
He has previously been a member of The Council of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC).
He has been a Trustee of Diabetes UK since 1999 and was elected as its Chair in 2006.
Mr John Grumitt (Vice-Chair)
John was elected Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees, in February 2006, having been elected as a Trustee in 2003. He became a life member of Diabetes UK when diagnosed with Type 1 in 1992.
John brings an impressive track record of commercial experience and success. A Trustee of three other educational and third world development charities, John offers a high degree of integrity and objectivity. After qualifying as a chartered accountant, his career has taken him to GlaxoSmithKline - where he was selected to join a programme for the 40 most promising future leaders - and to Wharton Business School in the US. Subsequently, he led The Carphone Warehouse’s expansion across continental Europe and most recently as Chief Executive he led the turnaround of Moyses Stevens, the UK’s leading specialist florist, from the brink of insolvency to profitability and sale.
John’s principal role as a Trustee has been to challenge and support the Chief Executive, Excecutive Team and other employees and volunteers involved in setting and implementing the Charity’s strategy. As Chair of PARC, John has focused his attention on raising the Charity’s performance.
John offers the Charity a combination of astute commercial thinking backed up by a high degree of integrity and excellent experience gained as a Trustee and is a keen supporter of new initiatives to challenge the status quo.
Mr Graham Spooner (Treasurer)
Graham is a non-executive director of Dowgate Capital plc, an AIM quoted corporate finance and stock-broking group. He is the editor of ‘Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Practitioner’s Manual’ and the author of ‘Raising Venture Capital’.
After graduating from St. John’s College, Cambridge in 1974, he was a director of 3i, Rea Brothers, Classic Fund Management and Mentor UK; head of corporate finance at Olliff & Partners and HLB Kidsons; and a non-executive director of the Downing Classic VCTs and Dunn-Line plc.
He became a life member of Diabetes UK following the diagnosis of his diabetes in 2000. He was elected to the Charity’s inaugural UK Advisory Council in 2003 and became its Senior Vice-Patron in 2004, following his involvement in the Charity’s major donors and corporate partners programmes.
Graham became Treasurer in 2005. He chairs Diabetes UK Services Ltd and the Finance Committee. He is a member of the Remuneration, Performance Audit and Risk Committees; the Research Advisory and the England Advisory Council Liaison Groups; and a Trustee of the BDA Pension Life Assurance Scheme.
Ms Renata Drinkwater
Renata has been involved with Diabetes UK ever since she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
She believes that while the search for a cure must continue, Diabetes UK should also help ensure that the highest quality and most up to date care, treatment and structured education are made available to everyone with diabetes – regardless of their postcode.
Renata’s business career includes over 20 years in management consulting, providing Board level strategic, operational and funding advice to commercial, public sector and charitable organisations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. She spent seven years as a partner at Ernst & Young, establishing its Leisure and Tourism consulting team, and she now runs her own practice. She is also an Associate Director of Capita Symonds Consulting. Capita Symonds is part of the FTSE 100 listed Capita Group plc, the UK’s leading provider of integrated professional support service solutions. In addition, Renata is a Non Executive Director of one of the largest NHS Hospital Trusts in England, which gives her a useful insight into the implications of the current NHS changes for people with diabetes.
Renata lives with husband Chris in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. In her spare time she enjoys running, music, entertaining and travel.
Ms Alison Finney
Alison Finney was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1983, aged 4. She is a strong believer in the empowerment of patients and has always taken a pro-active approach to managing her diabetes.
Alison has been involved with Diabetes UK for over 20 years – lobbying for improvements in care, raising funds, speaking at conferences for people with diabetes and healthcare providers and benefiting from their holidays as a child.
Alison became a Trustee of Diabetes UK in 2003. She has a keen focus on ensuring Diabetes UK does all it can to improve the lives of people with diabetes.
A law graduate from the University of Sheffield, Alison currently works as a marketing manager for BT and is based in Merseyside.
House renovation, fair-weather sailing and a newly acquired interest in ballroom dancing keep her busy in her spare time.
Dr David McCance
David has been involved in diabetes care for over 20 years and since 1994, as Consultant Physician to the Metabolic Unit, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. His involvement with Diabetes UK is extensive including chair of the NI Diabetes UK Advisory Council, member of Diabetes UK Advisory Council Science and Research Health Professional Committee and Diabetes UK Research Advisory Group. He was chair of the 2007 Annual Professional Conference Organising Committee of Diabetes UK.
He served as a co-opted member of the Board of Trustees until his re-election to the Board of Trustees at the 2008 Annual General Meeting in Birmingham.
He was a member of the NI Diabetes UK Task Force and member of NI CREST committees for diabetic pregnancy and obesity. He is currently joint lead clinician on a project seeking to integrate primary and secondary diabetes care in NW Belfast and have drafted a number of clinical guidelines in this context. He also has major teaching and research interests and review research proposals for the charity and original papers for Diabetic Medicine.
David brings to the Board the necessary qualities including energy, creativity, communication skills and balanced judgement. From a research perspective, he seeks to promote ongoing research which endeavours to lighten the daily load of people with diabetes.
Mr Frank Moxon
Frank became a life member of Diabetes UK in late 2006 when he was diagnosed with Type 2. His experience of, amongst other things, the seeming lack of a co-ordinated education and support mechanism outside of Diabetes UK has spurred him on to do something positive to improve the situation and help others.
He has worked in the City for over 23 years, for the vast majority providing corporate finance advice and funding. For the last ten he has specialised in Mining and Oil & Gas finance acting for companies in Europe, South-East Asia, Africa and the Americas. Frank is a Fellow of the Securities & Investment Institute, the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and the Energy Institute and a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of International Bankers.
He offers the Charity a degree of financial and strategic expertise and, through his committee work with the RNLI, alternative viewpoints on some charitable matters.
Dr Niti Pall
Niti Pall is a GP Principal in an inner-city general practise in Sandwell, West Midlands, where she has worked for 16 years. She runs an integrated service for diabetes at the practise which has been running successfully for 7 years, alongside a Consultant Diabetologist and a Diabetes Specialist Nurse (DSN). The practice has a deprived multi-ethnic patient list and achieved over and above the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) targets for diabetes, (70% target of HbA1c under 7.5%). Niti has successfully set up and delivered structured diabetes education programmes in three different languages, which are being used as an example of good practise nationally. She is interested in integrated working and delivering good quality care across teams. As Chair of the Professional Executive Committee (PEC) for the Sandwell PCT, she brings a primary care perspective to her trustee role. She has been a Trustee of the Charity since 2003.
Mr Ian W Powell
Elected 2004, b 06.10.1949. Ian Powell is Chair of the Newport (South Wales) Voluntary Group and Chair of the Voluntary Groups Advisory Council. He has had Type 2 diabetes for 15 years and has been a member of Diabetes UK since he was diagnosed. He is a former Chair of the Gwent LDSAG and former member of Gwent CHC. Ian has served as a patient representative on NICE’s Appraisal Committee on Statins and is currently a patient representative on NICE’s Consideration Panel (vacular, diabetes & renal).
He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors and works as a Senior Quantity Surveyor with Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services Ltd.