Board of Trustees

Daphne Pullen (Chair)
A Local Authority Lawyer by profession, Daphne is no newcomer to the voluntary sector. Daphne was National Chair of the Samaritans for three years. She continues to be a volunteer with Samaritans, something she has done for more nearly 30 years, and is still currently Chairman of her local branch. Daphne has also been Vice Chair of a branch of Victim Support.

She is married and lives in Hertfordshire.

Henry Kenyon (treasurer)
Henry was appointed Treasurer of CLIC in 2003. He is now Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee. A chartered accountant by profession with broad experience in accounting and finance, IT and risk management, he is a partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers and has worked in many parts of the world.

Henry has been an active supporter of a number of charities in the South West including CAFOD and Action Research. He is also treasurer of the Bristol Music Suzuki Group.

Simon Armson MSc, MACAT, UKCP, CCMI, FRSA
Simon practices as a clinical psychotherapist (specialising in cognitive analytic therapy); and also works as an executive and development coach. Simon is a Mental Health Act Commissioner and sits as a Member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. In addition he undertakes consultancy work on behalf of a number of charities, in particular in connection with organisational development.

Simon is also currently a member of the Board of the Mental Health Act Commission and was previously a Non-Executive Director of ICSTIS. He is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and is President of the Mid-Thames Branch of the Institute. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is a trustee of Broadcasting Support Services, Mental Health Media, the Maytree Respite Centre.

Simon was on the staff of Samaritans for twenty years for fifteen of which he was Chief Executive; he was an active Samaritan volunteer for thirty-one years. He has been a member of many academic and government working groups in the field of mental health, with a particular emphasis on suicide prevention and self-harm, and has delivered papers nationally and internationally on these subjects and contributed chapters to various academic texts.

Simon is married, has three grown up children and lives in Berkshire.

Sophie Broere
Sophie is a trainee Clinical Psychologist at the University of Exeter and she lives in Bristol with her boyfriend. In 2003, she completed an MSc in Child and Adolescent Psychology in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

When Sophie was 11 years old, her brother was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Six year later, aged 17, Sophie was also diagnosed with the same type of cancer.
After successfully completing nine months of treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Sophie became a volunteer at a Dutch organisation for children with cancer and their families, where she organised meetings and workshop for childhood cancer survivors, nationally and internationally. Sophie went on to be a founder member of the International Childhood Cancer Survivors’ Group.

In 2003 Sophie moved to England and became part of the Childhood Cancer Survivor’s Committee UK, organising three national conferences. In 2005, Sophie became the chairperson of the Childhood Cancer Survivor’s Committee UK.

Dan Couchman
Dan is the Business Director of Europe, Middle East, and Africa for Stryker Corporation, an American-based medical equipment manufacturer, where he has been employed since 1999. He previously worked in New York for Siemens, where he began his participation in fundraising for various charities. Dan has raised funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society, United Way, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and Association of Retarded Citizens.

Dan has resided in the UK since April 2003.

Jim Currie
Jim retired as a regional director of the NSPCC in 1998 after 20 years with the charity, having served previously as a youth and community leader, a probation officer and a senior social worker.

As a Director of the NSPCC, with responsibility for everything from strategy to children’s services, and from fundraising to training, he served on numerous boards and committees across the spectrum of child welfare and child protection.

Tim Holley
Tim spent 30 years in the computer and communications industry where in the 1970s he built the largest computer services business in Europe. Later he created a data communication service business from scratch which was subsequently sold for one billion pounds. He became the first Chief Executive of Camelot Group plc where his achievements included leading the successful bid against seven other competitors to run the UK National Lottery, setting up the new company and supervising the implementation. 

Meriel Jenney
Meriel undertook her medical training at Sheffield University and her subsequent postgraduate training in Sheffield, Australia and Manchester. She was appointed to a Consultant post Paediatric Oncology in Manchester in 1993 and moved to Cardiff in late 1996 also as a consultant paediatric oncologist. Meriel was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to the United States and spent 12 months in Minneapolis undertaking research into the Assessment of Quality of Life in Children.

Jonathan Plumtree
Jonathan is the Head of Group Risk for Zurich UK Life. He was previously Finance Director for UNUM, having trained and worked as a chartered accountant with Coopers & Lybrand. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and has been involved with CLIC Sargent since his son was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 1999. 

Sally Ramsay
Sally is a registered sick children’s nurse who now works part-time as a self-employed adviser in nursing. For 8 years she was Director of Nursing and Family Support at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital.

Chris Wathen
Chris has spent more than thirty years in the financial services sector. He brings extensive experience in the areas of business management, finance and human resource management and development. His general management roles at Midland Bank included general manager Asia/Pacific, group strategy director, group personnel director and managing director, branch banking. He subsequently moved to NatWest where he was director of group human resources for six years. Chris thereafter became a European partner at Mercer Human Resource Consulting prior to his retirement.

Chris is a former Vice Chairman of Victim Support Surrey. He is married with two sons and four grandchildren.
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