Alastair King - Chairman
Sheriff and Alderman of City of London Alastair King, is Founder and Chairman of Naisbitt King Asset Management Limited (NKAML), an independent, FCA-regulated fund management firm, headquartered in London. NKAML is a noted specialist in London’s global fixed income markets and runs a number of fixed income funds. Previously, Alastair was Founder and Chairman of Glendevon King Limited, a fund management company (2006-2016), and was also the Founder and Chief Executive of AIM-quoted Eredene Capital plc (2005 to 2013), an infrastructure investment fund specialising in India. Earlier in his career, he held senior positions at NewMedia SPARK plc (now SPARK Ventures) and he was the Managing Director at Galahad Capital Plc, both of which were quoted on the Alternative Investment Market on the London Stock Exchange. Alastair started his career as a lawyer, and practiced as a solicitor at the leading international law firm, Baker & McKenzie. Alastair has a Masters’ degree from London Business School.
Wim Bushell - President
Wim has worked in the City of London since 1974 as a broker at Lloyd’s of London, at Greig Fester, then Morgan Read & Coleman as an Executive Director before selling the business to Arthur J Gallagher International in 1996, where Wim has had various roles in the organisation, including CEO of reinsurance and now Deputy Chairman of Arthur J Gallagher. Wim is also governor of two schools, one in the independent sector, the other is a state school in the East End of London.
Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy - Trustee
Dr Ahmed Elsharkawy has been a consultant transplant hepatologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham since 2012. He is also honorary senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.
His clinical interests include viral hepatitis, liver transplantation, polycystic liver disease, drug induced liver injury, primary biliary cholangitis, acute liver failure, acute on chronic liver failure, NAFLD (especially in the context of hepatitis B) and cirrhotic sarcopaenia. He has pioneered novel approaches to the management of hepatitis C in the community.
He was awarded his PhD from Newcastle University on the role of NF-kB in the hepatic inflammation-fibrosis-cancer axis. He is a research active NHS clinician and is PI on a number of trials including a NIHR Liver Research Partnership on HBV Patient Engagement.
He is the European Association for the Study of the Liver Internal Affairs Councillor and a member of its governing board (since November 2022), Treasurer of the British Association for the Study of the Liver (Since September 2022) and was Clinical Lead of the BASL HBV Specialist Interest Group. He is keen on promoting the role of social media, in particular Twitter, in medical education.
He has been a member of the Governing Board of Greswold Primary School for the last 8 years and Chair for the last 2 years.
Graham Warner - Treasurer
Graham Warner is a chartered accountant. Earlier in his career he worked for banks in Hong Kong, Kuwait and London, before moving into the investment management industry, where he became finance director of a boutique investment business. More recently, he was chairman of one AIM listed entity and a non-executive director of another. He has experience as a trustee, having recently retired as the treasurer of one charity and continues to be treasurer of another medical-related charity.
Sally Benatar - Trustee
Sally has a background in community safety and safeguarding, leadership development and organisational transformation. Her current roles include Facilitator with the Forward Institute Responsible Leadership programme and Trustee with London Sport, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to make Londoners more physically active. Sally retired in October 2020 as a chief superintendent with the Metropolitan Police after 31 years as a police officer in London. Most recently she led the South West London Police Command Unit which delivers local policing services to the London Boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Wandsworth. Sally was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis in 2019 and is committed to raising awareness of liver disease and supporting the British Liver Trust to achieve real change in liver health.
Di Gornall - Trustee
Di is the Director of Fundraising and Supporter Engagement at Sustrans who are making it easier for people to walk and cycle (and ditch their cars!). She started her career in a software house – developing solutions for blue chip companies – before moving into pure event management and then fundraising at the MS Society. She was the Director of Voluntary and Statutory Income at Arthritis Research UK (now Versus Arthritis) after the merger with Arthritis Care, before joining Centrepoint in 2018. Thanks to this unusual career mix, Di comes with skills in technology, project management and data control as well as fundraising, change management and leadership. Di is a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and sits on their Learning and Development committee. Outside of work, Di de-stresses on her bike or the badminton court.
Georgina Catt - Trustee
Georgina was diagnosed with biliary atresia shortly after birth. Thanks to a Kasai procedure, she had a very normal life, got married, and became a mum twice, which wasn’t without liver related complications but immensely worth it. Her liver started to fail in 2019 and in December of that year, she had a transplant.
Georgina ran the London Marathon for Children’s Liver Disease Foundation in 2010, has been a trustee of the charity for 10 years and is passionate about ensuring that both young people with liver disease and their families have a voice that is heard. She is excited to be bringing her experience and knowledge to the British Liver Trust board of trustees and appreciates more than anyone the benefits of lifelong support for everyone with liver disease, which the merger of these two charities has created.
Richard Thompson - Trustee
Richard has focussed on paediatric liver disease and the genetic basis of liver disease in adults and paediatrics, for over 30 years. During his career he has identified the genetic underpinning of several diseases, described the natural history of many conditions and has led a number of clinical trials. He joined the British Liver Trust board after the two charities merged in 2024.
Abi Jesson - Trustee
Abi is the Head of People for City Harvest London, a social impact charity which is tackling two enormous challenges of food poverty and food waste, where she oversees the HR and Volunteering teams. She has been in the charity sector for over 8 years, and is experienced in supporting the delivery of organisational growth and cultural transformation. Prior to the not for profit sector, Abi spent 10 years at the BBC working in various senior HR roles in BBC World Service, News, Radio & Music and Sport. She is CIPD qualified and passionate about continuous development – supporting individuals and organisations to learn, grow and thrive.
Toby McMaster - Trustee
Toby currently works as a Senior Policy Advisory at the Department for Health and Social Care, in the Department’s Global Health Group. Prior to this he worked in public sector consultancy supporting NHS Trusts on projects ranging from operations to strategy. He has also worked for a leading London digital marketing agency supporting rapid growth for a range of companies, including a major UK food delivery start-up and a social enterprise focused on access to higher education. Toby has had biliary atresia since birth and has experience of the impact of a liver condition on the lives of patients, as well as the lack of awareness of these conditions that can exist within primary care.
Professor Stephen Ryder - Trustee
Since June 1994 Dr Ryder has been a consultant
Physician in Hepatology and Gastroenterology at the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH). He graduated from Nottingham University Medical School and trained in hepatology at St Mary’s and Kings College Hospitals in London.His major clinical and research interest is Hepatitis C infection. Dr Ryder was the national lead for the Hepatology Clinical Research Network until 2015 and is the East Midlands lead for Division 6 of the CRN. Dr Ryder became the Director of Research and Innovation at NUH in January 2016.
Vickie Sheriff - Trustee
Vickie is a communications professional with board and executive-level experience in the government, corporate, charity and higher education sectors. She is currently the Director of Communications at Imperial College London and has worked as a communications director for Which?, Heathrow, Diageo and the British Red Cross. She served as a civil servant for many years where the posts she held included Head of News for No10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, she was Deputy Official Spokesman for two Prime Ministers and Director of Communications at the Department For Transport. Vickie is a former trustee of Breast Cancer Haven and a serving Army Reservist.
Douglas Thorburn - Trustee
Douglas is a consultant hepatologist at the Royal Free Hospital and Professor of Hepatology at University College London. He has a research interest in autoimmune liver disease and liver transplantation. He is the Chair of the NHSBT Liver Advisory Group overseeing the UK practice of liver transplantation and of the UK research consortium, UK PSC.
Our policies
Key policies are available to view using the links below: