Our Trustees

Rob Hughes is the Chair of Brain Tumour Research. He has a wealth of valuable experience and skills having worked at Mars Inc for 33 years where he was Managing Director of Mars Food in the UK for 11 years and was a member of the Mars UK Board and the Mars European Food Board. He was Chair of North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust from 2013 to 2021 and a member of Cambridgeshire Integrated Care Board. He is passionate about making a difference and is particularly interested in supporting the rehabilitation of children and young people with brain tumours, as well as raising brain tumour awareness and finding a cure.

He was the parent and charity representative on the NHS review of children’s neurosurgery. Rob and his wife, Carole, established Anna’s Hope, a Member Charity of Brain Tumour Research, when they lost their youngest daughter, Anna, to a brain tumour at the age of three years and eight months.

Sue is Vice Chair of Brain Tumour Research. A retired Fellow of the Chartered Institute of
Management Accountants, Sue headed up the finance functions of blue-chip companies, before moving into marketing to head up business development at Safeway and then running her own marketing agency.

Driven by the loss of her niece, Alison Phelan, to a brain stem glioma (DIPG) just before her eighth birthday in June 2001, Sue co-founded the charity Ali’s Dream, a Member Charity, after being shocked to discover the lack of awareness and chronic under-funding of research into brain tumours.

She led the coming together of multiple charities in 2009 to launch Brain Tumour Research, with a vision to find a cure for brain tumours. Sue was awarded an MBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours for services to brain tumour research and awareness-raising.

Under Sue’s leadership Brain Tumour Research rapidly matured into a multi-million-pound organisation, supporting four Research Centres of Excellence in the UK.

Sue stepped down as Chief Executive in June 2023 and took up the role of Trustee to continue to serve the Charity.

Sandy Saunders, President of the Board of Trustees, established The Diana Ford Trust in 2002 with other family members following the loss of his daughter Diana at the age of 38, to a grade IV glioblastoma multiforme. Diana's three sons were just seven, five and two. Sandy campaigned tirelessly for the formation of an alliance of brain tumour charities recognising the power of working together. In 2008, The Diana Ford Trust agreed to re-register as Brain Tumour Research and appoint new trustees from the membership. Two of the Diana Ford Trust’s three family trustees resigned to help facilitate the change. The move also allowed Brain Tumour Research to make use of the Diana Ford Trust’s cash deposits to fund the first stage of the new awareness campaign.

Wendy, an entrepreneurial businesswoman with 40 years’ experience running her own destination management company, has been a member of the brain tumour community ever since her husband John was diagnosed with a grade 4 astrocytoma from which he died 10 months later, in June 2001, aged 52.

Inspired by John’s neurosurgeon, Kevin O’Neill, Wendy founded the Brain Tumour Research Campaign (BTRC) in 2003, now a Member Charity, to fund research at Charing Cross Hospital in London, which later became our second Centre of Excellence in London, known as Imperial College London.

A founder member of the Brain Tumour Research group of Member Charities, Wendy worked tirelessly as Chairman of the Board for three terms, until passing over the reins to Rob Hughes in July 2024. She now
continues to share her skills and wisdom as a Trustee.

Jeremy is a Legal Consultant and former Legal Director of the Packaging division at DS Smith Plc, a FTSE 100 business. Jeremy is a highly experienced Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and commercial lawyer. At DS Smith, Jeremy helped to embed a culture of legal and regulatory compliance and implemented a robust system for managing legal and other risks within the Packaging division. 

Prior to DS Smith, Jeremy managed the UK Legal Team at Siemens and before that he was EMEA Region Counsel for Baker Hughes, a Fortune 500 company. Jeremy is passionate about finding a cure and delighted to be a Trustee of such an amazing charity.

Nigel Boutwood has been at the forefront of brain tumour campaigning since 1993 when his son Charlie was diagnosed with a malignant medulloblastoma at the age of 20 months. Charlie’s treatment was remarkably successful and he is now grown-up, fit and healthy, and pursuing a career in advertising. Nigel remains passionate about giving something back to the brain tumour community and finding a cure for this dreadful disease. He is also Chairman of the charity Charlie’s Challenge.

Jack lost his mother, Debbie, to a glioblastoma (GBM) in February 2023 after a six-month battle. As a Trustee, he is able to channel his energy into something positive to help find a cure.

Jack brings strong skills in data analysis, web design, artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies which will particularly help inform the Charity’s marketing strategy and processes. A former soldier, his current role is Data Insights Manager for the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) which provides entertainment, news, music and information for the Armed Forces and their dependents worldwide. Jack oversees a team analysing data for social media, marketing, campaign marketing, cinema, TV, radio
stations and news, and he also has responsibility for all BFBS’s reporting.

Denise joined Brain Tumour Research as a Trustee in August 2023, she is an Executive Coach and HR Consultant and has worked in senior HR leadership positions for over 15 years. Most recently Denise was the Chief People Officer at dunnhumby, an international company and a global leader in customer data science. She brings a wealth of knowledge and skills to the charity, including people and culture, reward and remuneration, as well as experience in audit and risk management, governance and strategy.

Denise’s family has experienced the devastating impact of brain tumours twice. She lost a nephew, Theo, aged just four, after a two-year battle, to an anaplastic ependymoma and her step-sister, Lynne was also treated in 2012 for a chondrosarcoma. Denise also has a close friend, originally diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which has metastasised into multiple brain tumours. In addition, she has several other friends and previous work colleagues who also have personal connections to the cause.

A Senior Partner at the Wellcome Trust, Nicola is an experienced research leader and manager, having held professional appointments at major public research institutions across four countries. She began her career in developmental genetics and held a number of post-doctoral positions in the USA, Canada and Switzerland.

Nicola is particularly interested in improving the system for researchers so that they are not just individuals working in the lab, but have the right kind of support to develop their careers and also ensuring there is diversity and inclusion within the research world.

Nicola is keen to promote translational outcomes from discovery research, ensuring that research gets out of the lab and into health situations, bringing direct benefits to human health. She advocates looking at the whole ecosystem to cut out time-wasting, unnecessary cost and reduce the chance of projects falling through the gaps.

Although not having a personal connection to the brain tumour cause, Nicola’s family has a rare inherited health disorder which meant that her mother suffered with a chronic kidney disease while Nicola was growing up. It means that she is very aware of the holistic impact that diseases have on individuals and families and how isolating this can be. Nicola questions how much weight research gives to patients and families and wants to help give a voice to those affected so that they are the focus of all research end goals.

Mel understands all too well the devastating impact a brain tumour diagnosis has on a family after her son, Ben, was diagnosed with a rare and incurable, slow-growing anaplastic astrocytoma in 2019, aged 21. Following surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, Ben is doing extremely well and has scans every four months to monitor his condition.

As a family, they have been tirelessly raising awareness and funds for research into the disease over the past five years, which included a 177-mile coast-to-coast cycle challenge across England in 2021.

Mel recently retired with the aim of dedicating her time to our cause. With a career spanning more than 30 years working in the finance and charity sectors, as well as previous Trustee experience, Mel is eager to add value with her financial expertise, looking at how investment can help to build sustainable long-term growth for Brain Tumour Research.