Geraldine Allinson OBE DL
Geraldine was born and educated in Kent and grew up in Linton near Maidstone. She now lives with her husband Rupert on the Downs not far from Lenham and has two adult children. Geraldine has spent most of her career in the Local News industry heading up the KM Media Group, representing the company and the industry at local and national level. For many years she worked closely with fellow colleagues to guide the company through a massive transformation into a streamlined multimedia company fit for the digital era.
Geraldine is currently a Non-Executive Director for Iliffe Media Group who now own KM, an Appointments Panel Member of The Independent Press Standards Organisation, a Non-Executive Director of PA Media Group Ltd and a Non-Executive Director of Radiocentre (the industry body for commercial radio).
As a Kent Ambassador and past Deputy Lieutenant, Geraldine cares deeply about her roots and the county of Kent. As well as continuing with her career supporting good quality independent journalism, her time is also dedicated to charities and organisation which help and improve life for the people of Kent.
In 2021 Geraldine was awarded Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to local media in Kent.
The Board of Trustees work closely with the Senior Management Team and has overall responsibility for the governance, strategy and budget of the Hospice.
Ann Millington OBE
Ann lives locally and was the first female Chief Fire Officer, taking charge of the Kent Fire and Rescue service in 2011 before becoming Chair of Trustees in May 2022. Ann brings a wide breadth of experience with a background in organisational development, training, HR and consultancy.
Elizabeth Howe OBE
Elizabeth is a Solicitor and was formerly Chief Crown Prosecutor for Kent; she now practices in the international judicial development field. She has been involved with the Hospice for many years and this is her second term as a Trustee. She chairs the Hospice Governance Committee drawing upon her experience within a variety of organisations, including other charitable bodies and international NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations). She lives in Kent and is a Kent Ambassador.
George Hunter
George settled in Kent 11 years ago after a successful Army career, during which he received commendations for meritorious service and rose through the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel. Having an engineering background, he later worked in the private sector in this field before moving into executive management on hospital construction and management contracts. On encouragement from his family to follow his passion for helping others, in early 2017 he chose to apply himself to supporting the community and is currently working for a local charity tackling homelessness.
Simon Langworthy – Honorary Treasurer
Simon is Chief Operating Officer of BT Pension Scheme Management Limited, the executive arm of the BT Pension Scheme. His responsibilities include Finance, Operations, HR, IT, Facilities and Business Change. Before this Simon spent seven years running various global operations and change management functions for Barclays Global Investors and BlackRock. Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG.
Serena Cooper
Serena trained as a nurse and has over 40 years’ experience in healthcare both in hospital and community settings. Serena was a manager, lecturer and latterly Clinical Dean at King’s College London University. In 2009 joined a Kent Hospice initially as Head of Education and latterly as a Specialist Palliative Care Community Nurse.
Nick Jegard
Nick trained at King’s College and spent his early career in London in several posts including palliative care. He is a local GP Partner and lead for End of Life Care at his practice.
Sarah Pain
A Maidstone resident since 1974, Sarah worked for the KM Group, then as a Police Officer and most recently as a Ceremonies Officer for K.C.C. Until recently she was heavily involved in local fundraising for a national charity, and now volunteers at two HOKH shops. As a HOKH Trustee, she brings varied experience, enthusiasm and dedication to the role.
Hugh Smith
Hugh lives in Lamberhurst, with roots in the Scottish Borders. Hugh’s career has been in HR and sits as a lay member on the Employment Tribunal. Hugh has been a Trustee for a number of charities, a school governor and an independent director of several organisations in the higher education field.
Rachel Parris
Rachel is a local resident and is currently Chair of the West Kent ICP Local Care Board. She has extensive commissioning, clinical and leadership skills to support the Hospice board.
Emma Price
Emma is an Aylesford resident and currently a senior manager at Deloitte, previously working as a Programme Manager at the CQC. Emma specialises in project delivery for large-scale transformation programmes.
Stephen Thompson
Stephen is a retired Investment Manager. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant with strategic, finance and business skills. Stephen’s motivation is to support the Hospice as a local healthcare charity.
Loretta Vui
Loretta is a project manager in Investment Management and other financial services with a range of business skills. She has worked as a volunteer in Tower Hamlets to help local non-English speaking women to speak English. Her cultural background is focussed on collective care, whether family or community.
Khaled Kassem-Toufic
Khaled is local to the Hospice and has enjoyed careers in IT and within NHS where he was responsible for commissioning and performance, managing healthcare providers for the elderly and the diabetes populations of our local communities.
Khaled served as a magistrate for 11 years and also as a Parish Councillor. His hobbies are playing chess, gardening and reading.
Emily White
Emily lives locally and has volunteered at one our local shops for over three years.
Emily’s background is in corporate and commercial law and she is currently Head of Legal for a consultancy firm and also consults for a number of healthcare business.