Today we are announcing important changes to our Board of Trustees, recognising the remarkable achievements of outgoing Chair, Barney Burgess, and welcoming existing Trustee, Professor Andrew Rhodes, who is stepping into the role to lead KSS into the future.
Barney Burgess has been a valued member of Team KSS since his incredible journey with the charity began as a patient in 2015 following a cardiac arrest while out running. Passionate about supporting the charity that saved his life, and bringing a wealth of leadership expertise, Barney became a KSS Trustee in 2017 and Chair of the Board of Trustees in 2021, often going above and beyond in his role for the benefit of KSS. Following his three-and-a-half year tenure as Chair, he will remain with KSS as a Trustee.
Of his many achievements, Barney spearheaded the formulation of our Five-Year Strategy, ‘Working Together to Save More Lives’, which has everyone in Team KSS at its heart, striving together towards our vision of an end to preventable loss of life from medical emergency.
It also focusses on embracing new technologies, and clinical and aviation advancements, enabling KSS to save even more lives and provide the best possible patient outcomes every day, while furthering our established reputation for world-leading research and innovation as we look to the future. It has also led to the creation of the KSS Prevention and Education Programme, including a successful Restart a Heart Day initiative, which last October saw 80,000 people take part in online CPR training.
The establishment of the KSS Patient and Family Aftercare Service, and our Team KSS Young Ambassadors, also ensures we can be there to support our patients, and their families, on their recovery journey.
As well as Barney’s high-level strategic visionary focus, he also guided KSS through some of the most sudden, unexpected and significant challenges in -year history. Perhaps most notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, where his leadership helped KSS remain fully operational, ensuring continuity of care for patients in urgent need of pre-hospital lifesaving treatment in such unprecedented times.
Barney was also instrumental in ensuring KSS remained fully operational after we unexpectedly needed to change aviation provider in 2024 due to our existing partner entering administration. Barney’s extraordinary leadership and commercial acumen saw KSS quickly find a new aviation partner and then turn the highly complex challenge into an opportunity. Within weeks we launched our biggest-ever integrated fundraising campaign and raised £1M in just six weeks to buy our second helicopter so that we could benefit from a more financially resilient future, reach more patients, and save more lives. The campaign went on to raise a phenomenal sum of nearly £2M in just nine weeks with all additional funding going towards the helicopter.
Testament to his incredible achievements, Barney received the Trustee of the Year Award at the highly respected national Air Ambulances UK Awards of Excellence in 2023 in recognition of providing exceptional governance and leadership.
Reflecting on his time as Chair, Barney said: “It has been a tremendous privilege to serve as Chair of the Board of Trustees. KSS is an amazing organisation with a brilliant team. The last few years have seen various challenges and many great achievements. I’m excited to be remaining as a Trustee as our journey continues. Many thanks to everyone for their support: David and the rest of our KSS Senior Leadership Team, my fellow Trustees, our staff and volunteers, former patients and their families, and partners.
“I’d like wish Andy Rhodes well for his tenure as Chair. Andy has made a hugely valuable contribution to the Board already and I’m certain he will lead KSS expertly from strength to strength.”
In-coming KSS Chair, Professor Andrew Rhodes, is a leading clinician with an outstanding track record in research and clinical governance. Andrew has been an outstanding KSS Trustee since 2019 and has served as Vice Chair since 2021. He brings a wealth of experience and a strong commitment to the charity.
Commenting, Andrew said: “I am excited to take on the role of Chair and build on Barney’s legacy. My focus will be on advancing our strategic initiatives and ensuring we continue to provide exceptional lifesaving pre-hospital emergency care to our patients.”
David Welch, our Chief Executive, expressed his gratitude: “Barney’s contribution to KSS as both Chair and Trustee has been invaluable. During his tenure he’s helped us navigate some of the most major challenges in our 35-year history, including the COVID-19 pandemic. His leadership has helped us achieve our highest-ever levels of annual income and embrace new technologies to continually research and innovate to develop our lifesaving service. We thank Barney for his ongoing support as he remains a Trustee.
“We now warmly welcome Andrew into the role of Chair and look forward to his leadership in the years to come. Working together, our Board of Trustees, and everyone in Team KSS, will ensure we can reach even more patients and save even more lives into the future.”
