Our People

Ronald McDonald House Charities is governed by an independant board of trustees. It currently has ten members of staff.

East Finchley

Jon Haward - RMHC Director

Jon is the Director of Ronald McDonald House Charities. He joined the charity in April 2007. Jon is responsible for the overall management and direction of RMHC and aims to improve the success and profile of the Charity both nationally and globally. He is based in the Charity’s head office in East Finchley, North London.
Anne Roberts - Head of Operations and Development

Anne is the Charity’s Head of Operations and Project Development and is responsible for the running of existing Ronald McDonald Houses and Family Rooms and establishing and building new Ronald McDonald Houses. Anne also works closely with National Health Trusts across the UK to identify new sites for accommodation projects. She is based in the Charity’s head office in East Finchley, North London.
Lauren Gotlieb - Marketing and Communications Officer

Lauren is responsible for raising awareness of the Charity and works with the trustees to develop effective marketing strategies. She joined the charity in December 2010 and is based in the Charity’s head office in East Finchley, North London.
Rebecca Black - Charity Administrator

Rebecca moved from Northern Ireland to join the Charity in August 2009 and is ensuring that the Charity runs smoothly by providing financial and administrative support, with particular focus on book keeping and facilitating donor development. She is based in the Charity’s head office in East Finchley, North London.
Maria Surcel - Marketing and Communications Assistant

Maria supports Lauren Gotlieb with raising awareness about the Charity through Marketing and Communications campaigns. She is responsible for creating powerful content to promote the Charity’s key messages, as well as maintaining its social media network. Maria joined the team in August 2011 and has experience in Corporate Communications, Marketing and general administrative support.
Sally Gabriel-King - Operations and Development Officer

Sally assists Anne Roberts on all aspects of the operations of our Ronald McDonald Houses in the South – Tooting, Brighton, Oxford, Camberwell and Moorfields. She also manages the links with all the individual accommodation projects around the country. Sally also works on the development of new and existing Ronald McDonald Houses, currently Northwick Park and Camberwell. Sally joined the Charity in November 2010 and is based on the Charities Head Office in East Finchley, North London.

Salford

Tony Morton - Head of Fundraising (Revenue)

Tony is the Charity’s Head of Fundraising (Income), focusing solely on the Charity’s fundraising relationship with McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd. He is based in the Charity’s office in Salford.
Emma Cairns - Operations and Development Consultant

Emma assists Anne Roberts on all aspects of the operations and manages the links with all the individual accommodation projects in the North of the UK. Emma also works on the development of new and existing Ronald McDonald Houses and works closely with National Health Trusts to identify new sites for accommodation projects. She is based in the Charity’s office in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Anna Bullock - Northern Region Fundraiser

Anna joined the Charity in February 2008 as the new Regional Fundraiser for the 60-bedroom Ronald McDonald House that is scheduled to open in Manchester in 2012. She joins us from Marie Curie Cancer Care, where she spent three years working as a Community Fundraiser. She is based in the Charity’s office in Salford.
Chris Rhodes - Business Analyst

Chris first joined the charity in 2009 while on placement from the University of Hull. After finishing his degree in 2010 he rejoined our team as a Business Analyst overseeing the collection box income generated through McDonalds Restaurants. He is based in the Charity’s office in Salford.
Lucy Adams - Press & Marketing Assistant - Manchester

Lucy joined us in April 2011 as the Press and Marketing Assistant working on Manchester House which is due to open in Spring 2012. She joins us from health and wellbeing charity Start in Salford where she worked as Marketing Assistant and Online Content Officer. She is based in the Charity’s office in Salford.

Sutton Coldfield

Jo O’Sullivan - Head of Fundraising (Capital)

Jo joined Ronald McDonald House Charities after working as Head of Fundraising at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, has been appointed as the Head of Fundraising for Capital and will be developing new external relationships and partnerships to raise vital funds for our Charity. She is based in the Charity’s office in Sutton Coldfield.
Bhavna Rana - Fundraising Assistant

After graduating from Aston University, Bhavna joined the Charity in September 2008 to assist with fundraising for the 60-bedroom Ronald McDonald House which opened in 2009 at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. She is based in the Charity’s office in Sutton Coldfield.
Julia Bevan - Database Administrator

Julia joined the Charity in August 2011 to take responsibility for the administration and support of the fundraising and contact management database, the central repository of information about prospective and existing donors. Julia has a background in IT and management consultancy and is based in the Charity’s office in Sutton Coldfield.

Trustees

H. Clive Bowring - President

Clive served as a trustee of Ronald McDonald House at Guy’s Hospital from 1996 for 10 years. He was invited to join the main Charity board in September 2001 and has been chairman since June 2006.
He joined C T Bowring in 1972 following four years at a Canadian university reading French Literature and Industrial Psychology. Clive left Bowring in 1987 to join the board of City based RFIB Group (formerly Robert Fleming Insurance Brokers).
He has two sons and recently became a proud grandfather.
Jeff Fergus - Chairman

Jeff Fergus joined the international advertising agency Leo Burnett, where he then spent the majority of his career. He was Chief Executive of the London office from 1986 until 1993 when he moved to Hong Kong to oversee the network’s Asia Pacific operations. Since retiring from the advertising industry, Jeff has worked as a marketing consultant for The Unipart Group and McDonald’s Restaurants UK, where he was, until recently, also a member of their Advisory Board.
Afia Sirkhot

Afia lives in Sutton Coldfield with husband Abdul, also a McDonald’s franchisee, and her two teenage children. Prior to becoming a franchisee in 2002 Afia studied Business and Finance and owned two unconnected retail outlets in the West Midlands. Afia now has three successful McDonald’s restaurants, one of which was awarded McDonald’s UK store of the year in 2010. In 2011 she won the award for Best Franchisee of the Year in her region. Afia, like her husband Abdul, has been an active and steadfast supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities for many years.
David Hudaly

David is a qualified dental surgeon from Liverpool University. David established his own company Integrated Dental Holdings. The company operates over 180 practices and is the largest provider of NHS dentistry in the UK.
A keen football fan, David enjoys watching Liverpool FC, following them home and abroad.
Dr Anu Ohrling

Anu became a Trustee of the Charity in 2011. She is a Consultant in Paediatrics with plenty of experience in both inpatient, as well as outpatient care for children. She is currently employed by a Clinical Research Organisation as a Medical Director specialising in studies in paediatrics and infectious diseases and is finalising her studies for an MBA.
Dr Simon Fradd

Simon is a General Practitioner in Nottingham and London having trained at Westminster Hospital, where he met his wife. She was responsible for the neonatal ward with some very long stay patients. There was however no parental accommodation and the rate of marital breakdowns was enormous. In his current job Simon is only too aware of the family problems and pressures of having a child in hospital.

Simon believes the ambition of Ronald McDonald House Charities should be to have family accommodation included in the statutory specifications for hospitals that have a paediatric unit.
Nick Hindle

Nick joined McDonald’s in 2002 as Head of Corporate Affairs and was made Vice President Communications in January 2007. His responsibilities cover media relations, public affairs and international communications. He is also responsible for a number of integrated marketing and communications programmes across McDonald’s food quality communication and sports sponsorship.

Nick Served as a trustee of the Evelina Family Trust for four years. He is married to Rebecca and they have two sons and live in Berkshire.
Paul Pomroy

Paul has been VP Finance for McDonald’s UK since January 2008. He is responsible for commercial and corporate finance, including tax and treasury. He plays a key role in the strategic direction of the organisation’s Finance Group.
Paul, soon to be a dad, recently married and lives in Kent where he enjoys sailing, playing golf and spending time int he gym.
Richard Forte

Richard Forte is the Chief Operations Officer for McDonald’s UK. He took up this role in November 2008 and has responsibility for managing the day-to-day running of all 1,200 UK restaurants and also oversees the National Operations, Security, Health & Safety, Restaurant Services and Franchising departments. In addition to his UK responsibilities, Richard is the Operations Lead for McDonalds Europe Northern Division and is a member of the European Food Improvement Team and the European Operations Leadership Team.

Richard enjoys spending time with his family as well as snowboarding and playing football. He has completed the London Marathon twice and the New York marathon, raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Simon Kirk

Simon is currently Chairman of a successful company (majority owned by a charity) which is involved in the training and accreditation of Home Inspectors and Domestic Energy Assessors, and carrying out home energy performance surveys. Simon was formerly a proven Managing Director and the Director of Marketing at a top FTSE100 company with a track record of creating, leading and implementing successful strategic change.
Stephen Curran

Stephen Curran became Chairman of Candover in May 1999 having been Chief Executive since January 1991 and Deputy Chief Executive since 1981. Previously, he was a managing consultant with Coopers & Lybrand Associates and then an investment manager at what is now CINven.
Stephen Tomlin

Steve is a McDonald’s Franchisee. He owns four restaurants on the west side of Glasgow and lives on the banks of the Clyde. During his franchise with McDonald’s Steve has served as a Director of McMarCo the marketing co-operative of McDonald’s UK and chaired the company for two years.
Tony Baxter

Tony studied Direct Marketing and has been involved in fundraising, Marketing, Retail and HR at board level in the public, charity and commercial sectors. He was Director of Marie Curie Cancer Care, Director of Fundraising of Great Ormond Street and CEO of their trading company.

Tony offers extensive experience of NHS and hospice strategy, fundraising and communications and in particular children’s healthcare. He has direct contact with NHS and charity chairmen, CEOs and finance directors across the UK.

Tony lives in Wiltshire where he actively pursues his interests in music and drama.