Board of Directors

Martyn is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and chairs the Institute’s Internal Audit Advisory Panel. He has 40 years of experience in audit and risk management, operating at board level with both the public and private sector. Over the last 15 years he has led the internal audit functions first at a major UK bank and then at a global investment and wealth management bank. From 2010 to 2012, he was a board member of the East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust. Martyn chairs the Trust’s Financial Committee. Martyn was previously a non-executive director and chairman at Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust before the trusts merged in April 2023.

Kerry commenced her NHS career through the NHS Management Graduate Scheme in 2002 based within Slough, Berkshire and has a MSc in Health Care Management.  During the next 15 years Kerry has worked in senior operational and strategic management roles within NHS hospitals in Somerset including Deputy Director of Operations at Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.  Kerry joined SHS as Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and then went on to be appointed as Managing Director in 2019.

Dr Berge Balian has been a full time GP in a large semi-rural practice in Somerset with approximately 11,000 patients for the past 24 years, having completed his medical training at St Thomas’s Hospital in London. Berge has a career long interest in medical politics and has been a representative of the South Somerset GP practices on the Somerset Local Medical Committee (LMC) for the whole of his GP career; including a period as Chair of the LMC.  He was Associate Medical Director for Primary Care at YDH from 2013 to 2017 and was elected to the role of Chair of the Symphony Programme Board in April 2015.  Berge then became the Interim Medical Director for SHS in April 2016 and was appointed as the substantive Medical Director role in April 2017.

David was previously the director of strategy and digital development for both Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust before the trusts merged in April 2023. David first joined Musgrove Park Hospital in 2016 as director of finance and went on to become the director of strategic development and improvement for both Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust before the two trusts merged in 2020. David was previously director of operational finance at North Bristol NHS Trust from June 2014. Before that he spent six years at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, most of them as assistant director of finance. He originally joined the NHS in 1998 on its graduate financial management training scheme.

Andy was one of two chief operating officers for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust before the trusts merged in April 2023 and is now the single chief operating officer and deputy chief executive for the trust (the Parent Company of Symphony). Andy joined the NHS in Somerset in 2014 when he joined Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as chief operating officer. Having originally qualified as an occupational therapist, he worked in a number of clinical roles within mental health across the south west before moving into leadership roles during the 1990s. Andy played a role in the establishment of a new specialist NHS mental health trust serving the Avon and Wiltshire areas and became the general manager of mental health services for seven years up to 2006. Following this, Andy gained a broad range of experience in London and the south west in senior commissioning and provider roles in the NHS, and also in social care, with most of his work being focused on service modernisation. Andy maintains a strong interest in care pathway redesign and service transformation and in recent years has taken on a number of system leadership roles within Somerset, centred on improving patient flow and working with partners in the development of successful community alternatives to hospital admission. Andy was the joint senior responsible officer for the Somerset COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

Following thirty years in the Police service, Paul transferred to a career in information and IT security. As a civil servant operating from London, he had the position of National Accreditor for Police Information Systems. In 2007 he moved to an IT Security company based in Cheltenham providing accreditation services to government departments again mainly in the London area.

Since moving from Hampshire to Somerset in 2010, Paul has volunteered as a Parish Councillor in Martock, the Martock Job Club, and assisted in various local activities. Currently he is chair of the Martock Youth Centre which provides a facility for youth services run by a local youth project as well as the local Army Cadet corps. He also volunteers as a reader at the local primary school.

Paul has been a member of the Martock and South Petherton Patient Participation Group (PPG) since 2019 and is currently chair of the PPG.

Philip is a Chartered Management Accountant and has over 30 years’ experience working in a commercial environment in a diverse range of industry sectors including manufacturing, financial services, leisure and recruitment. His roles have spanned organisations varying in size and include ICI, Randstad, Fitness First, SimplyHealth and Ageas Insurance. In recent years Philip has held a number of Head of Finance and Divisional Finance Director positions. He has also acted as interim Deputy Director of Finance for Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Lynsey is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and has over 17 years of HR and people services management experience. She has previously worked in the private sector for a large Ministry of Defence contractor in the Southwest of England before joining Symphony Healthcare Services in 2015 and supporting the organisation’s initial establishment and subsequent growth and expansion. Lynsey leads on workforce development, staff retention and engagement and learning and development and is responsible for the strategic direction of the people services function.

Liz joined the NHS in 1995 and has worked in acute, commissioning and primary care settings, giving her a wealth of knowledge in all aspects of NHS working.  Liz has a very strong background in Governance, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement with a drive and passion for improving Patient Care.  Liz studied for her MSc in Risk Management passing with a first in 2013.  Liz joined Symphony Health Care Services Limited in December 2015 as the Governance Manager, then taking on the interim post of Head of Operations in December 2016 before becoming substantive in April 2017. Liz’s operational and managements skills are exceptional and she is always ready and keen to lead by example.  Liz has extensive experience and knowledge of managing staff, managing difficult situations, project management skills and change management.

 

After obtaining a LLB Law degree in 2013, Bryony began working in Human Resources for a large retail chain prior to joining the NHS in 2015. After initially supporting the establishment and work of the Symphony Vanguard Programme, Bryony continued working under the Symphony umbrella by supporting the subsequent establishment and management of Symphony Healthcare Services. Bryony leads on contractual and digital changes across the organisation and undertakes the role of Company Secretary advising on Corporate Governance.