Foresight Partnership

Adrienne has a depth and breadth of expertise in the development of governance in public services as well as a special interest in leadership development, executive coaching and assessment. She uses a strong organisational development approach to her work, combining this with high level facilitation skills and knowledge in the field of governance.

She led the development of ‘The Healthy NHS Board’ - new guidance for all NHS Boards in England on behalf of the NHS National Leadership Council - and co-wrote a development tool on the governance of Clinical Commissioning Groups (published summer 2011).

Adrienne is currently working with a range of national and local public bodies in supporting their reviews of governance effectiveness, whole board and executive team development. She has worked with the full range of local NHS bodies Foundation Trusts (FTs) and aspirant FTs, including their councils of governors, strategic health authorities and primary care trusts. She has also led the development of an innovative web-enabled integrated 360 degree review tool for board members of NHS boards, in partnership with NHS East of England. This has been rolled out to over 24 boards in that region, and has been adopted by NHS Yorkshire and Humber as well as a number of other NHS trusts across the country.

Adrienne has worked extensively with regulators in reviewing and supporting their governance development. These have included the Food Standards Agency, Human Tissue Authority, General Social Care Council, Architects Registration Board, the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, National Lottery Commission, Nursing and Midwifery Council and Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Adrienne's work in other sectors includes undertaking a governance review for the Learning and Skills Improvement Service. She was also the co-author of a governance think-piece as part of the Foster Review of Further Education for the DfES.

She is often asked to contribute to national and regional events for Chairs and Non-Executive Directors, through the Appointments Commission, Department of Health or NHS Institute.

Linked to her interest in governance, Adrienne was co-secretary to the Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public Services, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which published the Good Governance Standard for Public Services in January 2005.

Before establishing the Foresight Partnership, Adrienne worked as the Head of the Centre for Public Governance, supporting the development of governors and good governance across public services.

Adrienne has held a number of public and voluntary appointments. She is currently Vice Chair of the Health Foundation and until December 2009 was a member of the UK Anti-Doping Agency project board. She is a member of the Department of Health's Leadership Council project board on board development. She was, until end October 2003, Deputy Chair of the Audit Commission and was acting Chair of the Commission for a year. Adrienne was also a director of the Accountancy Foundation. She chaired Croydon Health Authority for eight years.

Adrienne's previous experience is in Human Resources management at Director level for Citicorp in Europe and in the US, and as a consultant specialising in change management and coaching in the private sector. She has an MA in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and an MSc in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck College, London. She is a fully qualified user of level A and B psychometric tests. She is a member of the Chartered Instituted of Personnel Development, and the British Psychological Society and is a Fellow of the RSA. Adrienne was awarded the CBE in the 2003 Queen's birthday honours.

Sue has considerable experience in the development of leadership and governance in public services. Together with Adrienne Fresko she has most recently undertaken the comprehensive 2010 refresh of policy guidance to all NHS Boards in England on behalf of the NHS National Leadership Council - ‘The Healthy NHS Board’ - and co-wrote a development tool on the governance of Clinical Commissioning Groups, published in the summer 2011.

She regularly undertakes Board and executive team development processes for a number of NHS bodies (including work with Foundation Trust Boards and their Governors), public bodies (including the Food Standards Agency); large charities (including Turning Point, Together and Rethink) and regulators (including the General Social Care Council, Human Tissue Authority, The Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Council For Licensed Conveyancers; The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the National Lottery Commission).

Sue has been part of the development and implementation of the 360 degree feedback process for Board members in partnership with the East of England SHA - this has been rolled out to 24 Boards in the East of England and has been adopted by Yorkshire and Humber SHA. She led work to develop competency frameworks for Chair, Chief Executive, Executive and Non-Executive roles within Foundation Trusts.

Sue worked extensively within NHS South Central to support the reconfiguration of PCT's in line with 'Commissioning a Patient-Led NHS' and continues to work with the PCT Boards, Executive teams and PEC's in this system as they move to become 'fit for purpose' commissioning organisations. At present this involves a range of senior level coaching relationships as well as developmental work with Community Service Provider arms as they move towards a more autonomous future. Sue has a particular interest in supporting effective clinical leadership and has supported a number of clinical leadership development processes including offering support to 'troubled' clinical teams. She works extensively as an executive coach within and outside of the NHS.

She is a regular contributor to the NHS Chairs' Induction programme run by the Appointments Commission. She was co-author of a think piece on Governance in Further Education commissioned as part of the Foster Review of Further Education for the DfES.

Sue has pursued her interest in work across organisational boundaries in a range of projects including offering OD support to the nursing element of the Kings Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre; providing facilitation to enable collaboration between Physics Departments in Universities in the South East on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council and supporting effective leadership and governance of Sector Commissioning Arrangements amongst PCT's in South West London.

Prior to establishing the Foresight Partnership, Sue worked as an Associate Director in the NHS Modernisation Agency's Performance Development Team (PDT). The team offered tailored support to 'zero star' NHS trusts. Before joining the NHS, as a Senior Fellow at the Office for Public Management, she led organisational and leadership development projects across a wide range of public services.

The first part of her working life was spent supporting change in public policy and public services in South Africa. Ahead of the first democratic elections in 1994, she supported one of the broad -based institutions that crafted new policy - primarily in housing and development. After the election her focus shifted to developing leaders and organisations capable of delivering this ambitious new vision. Within 100 days of his inauguration, Nelson Mandela announced seven pilot Special Presidential Urban Renewal Projects and she worked as part of a project management team for the largest of these. She has a BA from the University of the Witwatersrand and an MSc (Applied Social Studies) from the University of Oxford. She is a Fellow of the RSA and has served on the Board of a specialist Housing Association and as a school governor. Sue was previously a Non-Executive Director on Haringey Teaching PCT. She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Whittington Health and Chairs the Quality & Safety Committee.