Eastern AHSN appoints new Chief Executive

Eastern Academic Health Science Network (Eastern AHSN) is pleased to announce that Piers Ricketts has been appointed as Chief Executive. Piers will take up the role in April following the impending retirement of Steve Feast, who has been the Managing Director of Eastern AHSN since January 2016.

Piers was until recently a Partner in KPMG’s Public Sector Management Consulting practice, where his experience included UK leadership roles with both the healthcare and regional public sector consulting teams. He brings 15 years’ experience of Board-level strategic, commercial and financial advisory work in the NHS, particularly with clients undertaking complex change programmes. He also led end-to-end organisational transformation projects in higher education and social housing, as well as broader system work in healthcare, thus giving him real insight into the complex stakeholder relationships needed to achieve lasting change in the public sector.  

Piers is also a Chartered Accountant. Prior to his roles in Management Consulting, he was previously a senior member of KPMG’s Transaction Services practice, where he advised private and public sector organisations undertaking large-scale M&A. Piers therefore brings to Eastern AHSN a unique combination of commercial expertise and wider public sector stakeholder relationships. This will be highly valuable as he leads the organisation into the next phase of its development. Piers is also recognised for his ability to inspire energy and focus in colleagues and client teams.

On his appointment, Piers commented: “I am excited at the chance to lead Eastern AHSN and build on the early successes it has achieved under Steve Feast’s inspiring leadership.

The East of England is home to many world-renowned scientific and medtech corporations, a vibrant start-up economy and a large number of important NHS providers. In particular, the region has a unique asset in the health and life sciences community based in Cambridge. My role is to work right across the economy to improve the scale and pace at which we introduce innovation into the NHS for the benefit of patients and the wider population. This will not only generate better health outcomes over time but will also increase economic benefits through the creation of local jobs and the ability for those with long-term conditions to remain in work for longer.”

Steve Feast, Managing Director of Eastern AHSN, commented: “I am delighted at the Board's decision to appoint Piers as our Chief Executive. Piers brings the right blend of skills and experience to ensure that our expert team continues to work with our partners in healthcare and life sciences to generate health and economic benefits across the East of England over the next few years.”



Looking for something specific?