There are currently ten members of our Board of Trustees. The minimum size of the board is four and the maximum is twelve. No more than four trustees can be co-opted.
John Dearden – Chair
John lives in the West of Scotland and has an inherited bleeding disorder. His work experience covers local authorities, property companies, facilities management and the health service where he worked as a chartered governance professional. He brings to the board knowledge of law, regulation, board procedures, risk and people management.
Heather MacLeod – Vice Chair
Heather lives in Glasgow and also has an inherited bleeding disorder. She has two daughters, one of whom is a haemophilia carrier. A former CEO, Heather has built three businesses from the ground up and has extensive experience across the NHS, life sciences, and the third sector. She has also worked closely with both the Westminster and Scottish Governments
Heather brings to the Board valuable expertise in governance, risk management, and leadership, drawn from her diverse career. She previously served as a Trustee of Haemophilia Scotland in 2018.
Thomas Lorenz – Treasurer
Whilst Thomas does not suffer from a blood disease, he has first-hand experience in his immediate family of how disability and chronic illness affects an individual and those around the individual.
In Q1 of 2022, The Haemophilia Society, started talking to Thomas about an advocacy piece on blood diseases and the workplace. The research on the matter really piqued Thomas’ interest as he could relate to the effects on individuals and those around them through his own experiences with his family.
Reviewing the objectives and challenges that the charity currently deals with, Thomas feels that he could add value from bringing relevant experience and skill-set gained in the corporate world. Thomas has been looking for a cause that really resonated with him and that he could support as trustee and simply ‘give back’.
Joanne Kirkham – Secretary
Joanne is a carrier of Haemophilia, undiagnosed until after the birth of her twins in 2011. Her son has severe Haemophilia A with inhibitors. Joanne and her family have been active members of Haemophilia Scotland since 2013. She has participated in many of Haemophilia Scotland’s family and women’s projects, as well as family events organised by the European Haemophilia Consortium.
Joanne works as an Advocacy Worker for Kindred, a charity supporting parents of children with additional and complex needs. She is a passionate believer in supporting a person holistically, understanding the need to take into consideration a person’s physical, mental, and social well-being to assure they are fully supported.
She recently graduated with a first-class honours BA (Hons) Open degree, studying Young Lives, Parenting and Families and Approaches to Mental Health. Joanne also has a COSCA certificate in counselling skills.
Carolyn McGimpsey – Trustee
HI i am a 66 year old carrier of Haemophilia A with an affected son who is severe and a granddaughter who is a carrier. I come from a big family of (bleeders). I have been involved with Haemophilia Scotland since its inception. I was a founding Trustee. Previously to Haemophilia Scotland , I was the Secretary of the South East of Scotland group for many years and also served as a Trustee for the Haemophilia Society for 5 years.
I have just retired from my job as an Early Years Practitioner working in a school nursery for 25 years but have worked with children for 48 years in different settings.
I have a wealth of knowledge about Haemophilia but am always learning and every day is a school day.
Gregor McInnes – Trustee
Gregor has worn many hats in his IT career; Technical Lead, Architect, Relationship Manager, Strategist, Project Management, Support, Disaster Recovery, and Specialist. As a result, he adds some real digital savvy to the board. His experience operating his own consultancy are also very relevant to running a small charity such as ours.
Kazeem Alabi – Trustee
Kazeem is a medical doctor by profession, with an interest in public health, and a PMI-certified Project Manager. Throughout the course of Kazeem’s professional career, he has worked in various capacities that have involved both clinical and non-clinical practices. Kazeem is passionate about and committed to charitable causes, especially ones that help the vulnerable people in our society, like the elderly, children, and people who are chronically ill or disabled.
Seeing the positive impacts and changes his efforts have brought about in other people’s lives is a huge source of motivation and driving force for Kazeem.
Kazeem’s experiences in medical practice and in his personal life has allowed him to understand the feelings of people who have bleeding disorders and their families. These also strengthened his decision and determination to join the board.
Becoming a volunteer trustee with Haemophilia Scotland will provide Kazeem with the opportunity to lend his support to the causes that are being advocated for by the organisation and to assist in achieving its strategic goals and objectives. Kazeem would be more than happy to offer the organisation my strategic program planning, policy analysis and development, program management, strategic partnerships, administrative, and research skills.
Kazeem will collaborate with other Board members and all internal and external stakeholders to ensure people living with bleeding disorders and their families benefit from the organisation’s projects and activities. Kazeem enjoys volunteering and motivating people.
Louis Marlow – Trustee
Headshot and bio coming soon
Vicki Medina – Trustee
Vicki has Factor XI Deficiency (Haemophilia C), having being diagnosed at age 11. She lives in the North East of Scotland and is a secondary school English teacher. Since moving to Scotland, Vicki and her family have been actively involved with Haemophilia Scotland, most recently with the creation of ‘Living with a Bleeding Disorder: Volume 2’. She is a passionate advocate for everyone who has a life affected by haemophilia, but is particularly focused on the experiences of women with bleeding disorders. With over 15 years of experience in teaching, as well as a Masters in Education, Vicki is also keen to use her skills to support Haemophilia Scotland’s work with children and young people.
The role of trustees
The Trustees of any charity provide strategic direction and oversight.
They make sure that the charity protects our reputation, manages our finances responsibly, and is focused on achieving our charitable aims and objectives.
Specifically, a charity trustee must:
- Act in the interest of the charity. Trustees should put the interests of their charity before their own interests, or those of any other person or organisation.
- Operate in a manner consistent with the charity’s purposes. Trustees should carry out their duties in accordance with their governing document.
- Act with due care and diligence. Trustees should take such care of their charity’s affairs as is reasonable to expect of someone who is managing the affairs of another person.
- Ensure that the charity complies with the provisions of the 2005 Act and other relevant legislation.
We are very fortunate to have a diverse and dedicated Board of Trustees who work extremely hard to make Haemophilia Scotland as good as it can be.
Every year the third of trustees who have served longest since they were last elected step down. We usually seek to elect 4 trustees at each AGM and those stepping down are eligible to stand. In practice, this means there are usually new trustees joining every year but our members are able to keep experienced trustees on the board.
If you would like to know more about becoming a Trustee of Haemophilia Scotland, please contact our Director, Alan Martin, for more details.
If you’d like to put yourself forward as a trustee please complete the Trustees Nomination Form.
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