How we're run

Jo worked in fashion retail and management before taking a career break to have her two daughters, Melissa (24) and Cissy (18). When Jo was 20 weeks pregnant with Cissy, she was sent to Guy’s Hospital for a fetal echocardiogram following a routine antenatal scan. Her families’ world changed forever when their unborn baby was diagnosed with a serious, complex heart condition. Cissy was born at Guy’s Hospital in August 1999. She went on to have heart surgery in 2000 and again in 2001.

When Cissy was a baby, Jo felt very isolated and sought out other families who understood the fear and uncertainty that having a baby with a serious health problem brings. This led her to join ECHO (Evelina Children’s Heart Organisation), a charity set up to enable parents with ‘heart babies’ to support each other. After first becoming a Trustee, then the Chair of Trustees, Jo was appointed Chief Executive of the charity. As ECHO grew, Jo steered the charity through incorporation to become a charity limited by guarantee, ensuring a sustainable, robust and secure future for the charity and the families it supports.

Cissy became critically ill after heart surgery in 2010 and spent four months in intensive care. Jo witnessed first-hand the amazing efforts of staff who fought to keep Cissy alive and to get her accepted onto the heart transplant waiting list, all whilst keeping up the spirits of her family. She was eventually the recipient of a new heart in September 2010, aged 11, at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. The nature of Cissy’s very complex health issues has meant treatment by many different specialisms at Evelina London, and even other hospitals, including orthopaedics, physiotherapy, plastic surgery, ear, nose and throat services (ENT), kidney transplant services, oncology and, not surprisingly, psychology. She has recently transitioned from paediatric to adolescent/adult care, which brings with it new challenges.

Jo’s experience has given her a unique insight into the challenges faced by parents of children with multiple health conditions and how other hospitals work, and this has confirmed to her how special Evelina London really is.

Francine Bates is a charity consultant with a strong background in children’s health and disability.

Up until January 2019, Francine was Chief Executive of The Lullaby Trust, the sudden infant death charity. During her time as CEO, the numbers of sudden infant deaths reduced to their lowest ever level in the UK. Former roles include Chief Executive of Contact, a charity supporting parents of children with disabilities across the UK and Deputy Chief Executive of Carers UK.

Between 2007and 2010, Francine  worked in Whitehall, advising Ministers on a wide range of  policy issues affecting children and young people including safeguarding, children with disabilities, special educational needs, child poverty and child health.

Francine was awarded an OBE in recognition of her work for children with disabilities in 2006 and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

David is the Head of Consumer Investments at CDC Group, the UK’s Development Finance Institution. In this role he invests in companies across Africa and South Asia and has served on the board of Narayana Hrudalaya, a network of affordable hospitals in India with 6,000 beds, and as a Senior Advisor to Rainbow Hospitals, India’s top-rated paediatric and maternity hospital.

Prior to CDC Group, David was an investor at Bridges Fund Management, a UK-focused social impact investor, was the Co-Founder and Director of Strategy for the African Governance Initiative and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.

David is an investor and advisor to UK tech start-ups, including Koru Kids, a fast-growing London-based childcare network. He was also a Founding Trustee of The Cares Family, a charity that fosters connections between young professionals and their older neighbours in communities across the UK, including in Lambeth and Southwark, through South London Cares.