Simon Friend joins the Board of Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust today, as non-executive director.
Friend is a chartered accountant and partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where his career has spanned more than 30 years. He has extensive experience of finance and audit in healthcare, pharmaceutical and life sciences settings, leading the firm’s Global Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Industry Group, and was a member of PwC’s Global Board.
Baroness Morgan of Huyton, Trust Chair, said: “I am delighted to welcome Simon to the Board. He has a depth of expertise in finance and audit, as well as a thorough understanding of governance across a range of sectors, which will bring tangible benefit to the Board’s discussions.”
Commenting on behalf of the Trust’s council of governors, lead governor Tim Mack said: “Simon will be a very welcome member of the Trust. He brings technical rigour and board experience at the highest level, and the governors and I are sure he will be an invaluable asset to the Board.”
Friend commented: “I am very much looking forward to the opportunity of helping shape the future of Europe’s leading specialist centre for the treatment of, and research into, heart and lung disease. Working in the pharma and life sciences sectors has given me an excellent grounding in the life changing and life-saving potential of translational research, and I am particularly pleased to be joining an organisation with such strengths in this area.”
Friend is also a trustee and treasurer at Jewish Care, a charity providing residential and day care facilities, and governor of a school in north London.