Meet our Senior Leadership Team

Hilda has been the Chief Admiral Nurse and Chief Executive Officer for Dementia UK since 2013. A dual registered nurse she has over 39 years’ experience developing and leading dementia specialist teams and services throughout the NHS.

During this time, Hilda has held senior positions in clinical services, hospital management and higher education. She held Principal Lecturer posts at both London South Bank University and University of Northampton, specialising in older people’s mental health, dementia and community care. She is a visiting fellow of dementia studies at the University of Northampton.

Hilda is particularly proud of setting up a nurse-led Younger People with Dementia service in Northamptonshire and still retains a small clinical caseload of families living with the effects of young onset dementia. Her doctorate focused on how and why social connectedness changes in families living with the effects of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia.

She has recently published a book, along with two other colleagues, on young onset dementia, identifying how to deliver better and more appropriate support and care for individuals with the diagnosis and their families.

Martin joined Dementia UK in August 2014. Prior to that that he was at RNID, and in a 25 year plus career he has also worked for the NSPCC, Marie Curie and the British Red Cross.

Martin is responsible for raising donations for the charity, including those given in memory, and through challenge events, community activities, companies, charitable trusts, major gifts and gifts in Wills. Dementia UK relies on these voluntary donations to fund its work supporting families living with dementia.

The other part of Martin’s responsibility is the charity’s marketing and communications – helping to raise awareness of and engagement with Dementia UK and Admiral Nurses.

Paul joined Dementia UK in March 2018 and has over 30 years of experience working in health and social care.

Paul is a nurse who specialises in dementia care and has worked across the NHS, academia and the independent sector. He is responsible for the development, governance and growth of clinical services.

Paul’s team helps ensure that the latest, evidenced approaches are embedded into the practice of our Admiral Nurses and that services are run to provide safe and effective care and support to people with dementia and their families.

Paul’s focus is on ensuring that there are robust governance processes in place to continually develop services and practice; and that new Admiral Nurses services are developed and supported clinically. Paul’s team also promotes awareness of Dementia UK and it services to commissioners, clinicians and policy leaders across health and social care.

Suruchi joined the Senior Leadership Team in July 2022. She has more than 20 years of experience working as a finance professional. She has been involved in developing and implementing financial strategy and financial planning in senior roles. She has previously worked in some prestigious organisations such as Royal Opera House, Mind and Zoological Society of London.

Suruchi is responsible for leading on all strategic financial and compliance aspects for Dementia UK. She holds overall responsibility for internal and external audit, risk management, IT, procurement, and overseeing the financial governance within the charity.

In her role, she works closely with the CEO/Chief Admiral Nurse, Executive team peers and with the Board to ensure statutory and regulatory compliance and plays an active role in developing the long-term view of financial operations to deliver financial stability.

Nando joined Dementia UK in October 2022 from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In a career spanning over 20 years, he has worked for organisations such as Macmillan Cancer Support, Leonard Cheshire Disability and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Nando is a specialist in Human Resources, having worked in the field for nearly two decades in both generalist and specialist roles. During this time Nando has held senior roles delivering transformational change to people services. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development as well as a Member of the British Psychological Society.

Nando’s team ensures that Dementia UK’s staff receive gold standard HR services and support, enabling the charity to recruit, retain and engage people who are passionate about supporting families affected by dementia.

Nando’s focus is on ensuring that the charity delivers cost-effective people solutions that help to transform and enhance our HR services so that Dementia UK is seen as an employer of choice by current and future staff.