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Our leadership team

Combining specific industry knowledge with a broad range of experience, our leadership team are dedicated to improving patient outcomes

Our senior Group leadership team

Our Group senior leadership team is represented by the heads of our three lines of business, central functions, and our international hubs. The team works closely to make sure that, as a company, we deliver on our strategic goals.

  • Kamran Abbasi

    Kamran Abbasi

    Editor in Chief, The BMJ and Board member

  • Anca Babor

    Anca Babor

    Director Customer and Markets, Publishing and Events

  • Louise Crowe

    Louise Crowe

    Director Customer and Markets, Digital Health

  • Jennie Heals

    Jennie Heals

    Director of People and Transformation, BMJ Business Services

  • Phil Johnson

    Phil Johnson

    Director, Customer and Markets, Careers and Learning

  • Chris Jones

    Chris Jones

    Chief Executive Officer and Board member

  • Moira McClatchey

    Moira McClatchey

    Marketing Director

  • Ian Mulvany

    Ian Mulvany

    Chief Technology Officer

  • Alex Ritchie

    Alex Ritchie

    Chief Financial Officer and Board member

Kamran Abbasi

Editor in Chief, The BMJ and Board member

Kamran Abbasi FRCP Edin Lon was appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of The BMJ, one of the world’s most influential medical journals this year. He succeeds Fiona Godlee, who stepped down at the end of 2021, after more than 16 years in the role.

Previously Executive Editor of The BMJ, since 2016 Kamran led the journal’s content team and international growth strategy. During this time, he contributed to the expansion of international editions of The BMJ.

A qualified doctor, Kamran studied medicine at Leeds University and joined BMJ after postgraduate training in general medicine.

Throughout his 25 year career in medical editing and publishing, he has developed wide digital, international, senior management, and Board level experience. Kamran is also a visiting professor in the department of primary care and public health at Imperial College, London, and a patron of the South Asian Health Foundation.

Outside of medicine, Kamran has a love of cricket, which he has covered extensively on social media, television and in national newspapers. He has also authored best selling books, including Zindabad; The English Chronicles: a Modern History of Pakistan Cricket, published in 2012 and Englistan: An immigrant’s journey on the turbulent winds of Pakistan cricket in 2020.

You can follow Kamran on Twitter: @KamranAbbasi

Anca Babor

Director Customer and Markets, Publishing and Events

Anca serves as the Director of Customer & Markets, Publishing and Events at BMJ, driving the company's strategic vision, overseeing key partnerships, acquisitions, and spearheading BMJ's ventures in India, China, and new markets. Anca's multifaceted role encompasses steering academic, research, and corporate sales strategies.

With a career spanning over two decades, Anca commenced her journey in Sales at Thomson Reuters, honing her expertise before transitioning into pivotal strategy and portfolio management positions at Thomson Reuters, Shell, and Glaxo SmithKline. Her tenure at these esteemed organisations allowed her to cultivate a diverse skill set, combining sales acumen with astute strategic insight.

Anca holds an MBA degree from INSEAD and contributed her strategic insight as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Strategic Planning Society. She is also a Board member of Patchwork, one of BMJ's New Ventures investments.

Since joining BMJ in 2013, Anca's leadership has been instrumental in shaping and executing the company's strategic priorities, fostering valuable collaborations, and driving growth initiatives. She has been instrumental in evolving BMJ from a predominantly publishing-focused business to a diverse and expanding key player in the publishing, events, careers and learning, and digital health sectors. Her dedication to innovation and strategic development continues to fortify BMJ's position as a global leader in healthcare knowledge dissemination.

Louise Crowe

Director Customer and Markets, Digital Health

Louise brings a wealth of experience in the clinical decision support and digital health markets, cultivated during her tenure as an industry consultant, and as Publishing Director at Elsevier.

Passionate about innovation, since joining BMJ in 2017, Louise has played a pivotal role leading the clinical decision support business notably with the launch of BMJ’s Best Practice Comorbidities Manager in 2020.

BMJ Best Practice is globally renowned for its trusted, evidence-based guidance, and integration with Electronic Health Records. Almost 90% of surveyed users say BMJ Best Practice has had an impact on their clinical practice, and 77% say the guidance from BMJ Best Practice Comorbidities Manager changes the care they give to patients. BMJ Best Practice is accessed in over 100 countries, with a high rating of 4.8/5 on Apple and Google Play, while offering CPD/CME points for users' time.

Louise oversees significant initiatives at BMJ, including the upcoming launch of BMJ Clinical Intelligence in 2024. Her focus remains on supporting healthcare professionals globally in their decision making providing computable, trusted evidence-based solutions to treat the whole patient including their comorbidities. Translated into computable format, BMJ’s knowledge layer supports standardised care at a population and point-of-care level to deliver the best care everywhere.

Under Louise's guidance, BMJ Best Practice has received consistent praise and accolades from users and industry bodies. Notably, in 2018, the platform received prestigious titles such as "Best Mobile App" and "Best Global Reach" at the WalesOnline Digital Awards. Additionally, it was recognised by the W3 Awards for its mobile features and website practices, while earning double Gold at the UK Digital Experience Awards.

Her leadership plays a pivotal role in BMJ's commitment to transforming clinical decision support and delivering innovative digital health solutions that support health professionals in their decision making, and improve patient outcomes. Louise's strategic expertise, built upon years of industry experience, continues to set new standards for excellence and effectiveness in the dynamic landscape of computable evidence and digital health.

Jennie Heals

Director of People and Transformation, BMJ Business Services

Since Jennie joined BMJ in 2012, she has made a very significant impact through her leadership of core business services teams, and also in delivering several complex company-wide transformational projects.

She led the creation of our Cardiff Service Centre in 2015, drove our transition to remote-first hybrid Smart Working in 2020, and successfully delivered our new Smart Space at BMA House in 2021.

Currently, she ensures the continued representation of our People function by leading the HR team and overseeing all staff-focused processes and policies to ensure they align with the strategic priorities of organisational effectiveness and operational efficiency.

Phil Johnson

Director, Customer and Markets, Careers and Learning

Phil Johnson is a distinguished leader in healthcare publishing and strategic management with a career spanning more than 30 years, playing a pivotal role in strategic planning, customer engagement, and market development.

As Director, Customer and Markets, for Careers and Learning his focus is on empowering health professionals worldwide at all career stages through exam preparation, continuing medical education, and recruitment advertising.

Phil is responsible for: BMJ Careers, BMJ Health Careers, BMJ Learning, and BMJ OnExamination

Prior to this, Phil served as the Director of Strategic Projects at BMJ, leading crucial initiatives in global health and research capacity building. His visionary approach and leadership were integral to driving these projects forward. Phil's journey with BMJ commenced as the Publisher of The BMJ in 2011, where he also ran the successful BMJ Awards programme and launched Research to Publication.

Before joining BMJ, Phil was Managing Director, UK, at UBM Medica, where he had previously been an award-winning editor of Pulse. His healthcare publishing career began at Reed Elsevier, where he spent five years as the Group Editor for Doctor/Hospital Doctor, responsible for two weekly magazines.
Phil Johnson's proven track record of success and wealth of experience position him as a respected figure in the industry, continuously contributing to BMJ's success and advancing the broader field of healthcare.

Chris Jones

Chief Executive Officer and Board member

Appointed amid the covid pandemic in April 2020, Chris joined BMJ as CEO with a wealth of knowledge and experience from a very successful career in the publishing and learning sectors.

He was previously the CEO of the City & Guilds Group for 12 years, leading its transformation from an examinations board operating in the UK to a work-based learning company operating globally. During this time, the group made a number of acquisitions, most notably in digital learning.

Before joining City & Guilds Group, Chris held senior leadership positions in the US and UK with Harcourt Education and LexisNexis Group.

Moira McClatchey

Marketing Director

Moira joined BMJ in 2015, as Head of Strategic Marketing before becoming Marketing Director in 2021. Her global team at BMJ spans a number of areas including: branding, corporate comms, media relations, institutional, consumer and strategic marketing.

Moira brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record in driving marketing excellence with a focus on healthcare and clinical decision support. Prior to joining BMJ, Moira enjoyed a successful 15-year tenure at Elsevier where she held a number of senior marketing roles based in the UK, Netherlands and US.

Ian Mulvany

Chief Technology Officer

Ian joined BMJ from SAGE Publishing, where, as head of transformation, he helped set up the company's methods innovation incubator SAGE Ocean following a lean product development approach.

Previously, he was head of technology at eLife Sciences, head of product at Mendeley, and product manager for a number of researcher oriented services at Nature Publishing Group.

Alex Ritchie

Chief Financial Officer and Board member

Alex is responsible for all aspects of BMJ's finances and risk management, including international subsidiaries in the US, Chinese and Indian markets.

Our Board

BMJ is a global healthcare knowledge provider with a vision for a healthier world. We share knowledge and expertise to improve healthcare outcomes.
The Board has ultimate responsibility for the management and performance of BMJ, and guides the strategic direction of our work.

  • Peter Vicary-Smith

    Peter Vicary-Smith

    Chair

  • Bev Acreman

    Bev Acreman

    Non-Executive Director

  • Peter Coebergh

    Peter Coebergh

    Non-Executive Director

  • Brian Crawford

    Brian Crawford

    Non-Executive Director

  • Dr Hemal Desai

    Dr Hemal Desai

    Non-Executive Director

  • Iain Foulkes

    Iain Foulkes

    Non-Executive Director

  • Professor Wasim Hanif

    Professor Wasim Hanif

    Non-Executive Director

  • Neeta Major

    Neeta Major

    BMA Co-Chief Executive Officer

  • Brian McCarthy

    Brian McCarthy

    Non-Executive Director

  • Dr Trevor Pickersgill

    Dr Trevor Pickersgill

    BMA Treasurer

  • Angela Williams

    Angela Williams

    Non-Executive Director

Peter Vicary-Smith

Chair

Peter was appointed as Chair of BMJ and a Non-Executive Director of the BMA in September 2022. He retired as the CEO of consumer organisation Which? in 2018 and now has two significant non-Executive commitments with Northumbrian Water and Oxford Brookes University.

In his current role, he contributes to the public policy aspect of the activities of the BMA, and help to drive the growth and innovation that BMJ wants to deliver.

Peter has a strong track record of working with organisations aligned to the healthcare sector, such as Cancer Research UK and has worked with high-profile medical executives, including Sir Paul Nurse.

Bev Acreman

Non-Executive Director

Bev is a publishing specialist with over twenty five years experience at publishers such as Taylor & Francis, BioMed Central and SpringerNature, where she served as Vice President for global open access business development.

Bev is also Executive Director of UKSG, a scholarly communications charity which aims to provide a platform for all parts of the knowledge community.

Peter Coebergh

Non-Executive Director

Peter comes to the Board with vast experience and understanding of the publishing sector, having served as chief executive officer at Brill, a publisher in the fields of Humanities, International Law and Social Sciences. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Springer Nature Group and Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Brian Crawford

Non-Executive Director

Brian Crawford is an independent consultant and strategist with over 30 years of experience in scientific, technical, and medical (STM) publishing. Trained in biochemical sciences and biomedicine, he is known for his innovation in professional journal, book, and digital publishing. Currently, he serves as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors of the Copyright Clearance Centre and chairs its Audit Committee.

In addition, as a strategic advisor to the Chemical Abstracts Division of the American Chemical Society, he leads the CAS Life Sciences Industry Advisory Board, driving advancements in drug discovery through data-assisted science.

Prior to entering scientific publishing, Dr Crawford was appointed a J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow of the Los Alamos National Laboratory within the Genetics Group of the LANL Life Sciences Division—where he spearheaded early DOE-sponsored efforts that led to the international initiative to map and sequence the human genome.





Dr Hemal Desai

Non-Executive Director

Dr Hemal Desai is Global Executive Director of Clinical Services for Aetna International, where he leads a global medical team to ensure the highest standards of care for members in areas such as emergency assistance, medical claims, telemedicine, and primary healthcare.

Dr Desai has significant leadership experience across the healthcare sector internationally, having led teams in the UK, Middle East and Asia. He has held senior roles in both the public and private sector, including Medical Director for Bupa Thailand, Medical Director for Hertfordshire NHS Community Trust, clinical adviser to the National Clinical Director for Pathology, and Clinical Lead for NHS Midlands and East.

He also still practices as a general practitioner in Urgent Care in London and is a specialist in family medicine.

Iain Foulkes

Non-Executive Director

In August 2023, Iain joined the prestigious BMJ Board as a non-executive director. A seasoned leader and prominent figure in the realm of cancer research and innovation, Iain is the Executive Director of Research and Innovation and CEO of Cancer Research Horizons at Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

Iain's influence spans the vast expanse of cancer research. As a CRUK Board member since 2009, he adeptly oversees CRUK's diverse research portfolio, spanning discovery science, translational research, clinical studies, and population-based investigations. Notably, the international Cancer Grand Challenge programme shines as a testament to his dedication to addressing critical questions in cancer research.

His reach extends to esteemed boards like The Francis Crick Institute and The Beatson Institute, underscoring his commitment to advancing cutting-edge research. Additionally, his involvement with American Friends of Cancer Research transcends borders, adding a global dimension to his impressive portfolio.

As Non-Executive Director at BMJ, Iain adds another layer to his already impressive repertoire. With his visionary outlook and seasoned experience, he's poised to inject fresh insights into the BMJ Board.

Professor Wasim Hanif

Non-Executive Director

Professor Wasim Hanif is an eminent authority on diabetes, obesity, and ethnic health. As well as holding several clinical and academic posts, he is Trustee of Diabetes UK and the South Asian Health Foundation (SAHF) and was instrumental in setting up UKADS (the United Kingdom Asian Diabetes Study).

As a leading figure in his specialty, Professor Hanif advises national bodies and professional groups including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

He is also involved in the International Diabetes Federation, World Health Organisation, and Global Policy Forum on Diabetes, and has received the prestigious South Asian Health Foundation UK Lifetime Achievement Award.

Neeta Major

BMA Co-Chief Executive Officer

Neeta Major was the British Medical Association's (BMA) Group Chief Finance Officer until May 2022, when she was appointed Co-Chief Executive Officer alongside Rachel Podolak.

Neeta is responsible for implementing corporate and financial strategy across the organisation that represents, supports and negotiates on behalf of all UK doctors and medical students. Neeta is a graduate of the London School of Economics with 30 years' experience in finance across a range of sectors, including local authorities, financial services, academia, and one of the big four accountancy firms.

Brian McCarthy

Non-Executive Director

Brian is a finance specialist with more than twenty years in publishing. After completing his postgraduate education at Queen’s University in Belfast, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen in Dublin, before moving to Cambridge where he is still based.

His publishing experience includes seven years in international finance and operations roles at Pearson Education and more recently as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Archant, the Norwich-based regional newspaper, magazine and digital publisher.

Brian is Chair of NLA Media Access, a news content licensing business owned by the National Newspapers and a Non-Executive Director at Norse Group, a support services business owned by Norfolk County Council.

Dr Trevor Pickersgill

BMA Treasurer

Dr Trevor Pickersgill is a consultant neurologist at the University Hospital of Wales.

He was elected as treasurer of the British Medical Association in December 2018. He is a past chair of both UK and Welsh British Medical Association junior doctors and consultants branches of practice.

He is chair of the Hospital Medical Staffs Defence Trust.

Angela Williams

Non-Executive Director

Angela adds 30+ years of global leadership experience to our Board. From her diverse background spanning publishing, aviation, retail, services, entertainment, property, and infrastructure, Angela's impact is felt across sectors that range from BH Blackwell Ltd and Which? to British Airways plc, The Post Office, Sodexo, The Walt Disney Company, Electronic Arts, Land Securities plc, and Crossrail/The Elizabeth Line.

Her current role as Chief People Officer at Corsearch Inc, a global leader in technology-enabled trademark, brand, and content protection, showcases her ongoing commitment to innovation and excellence.

Notably, Angela takes the helm as Chair of the Board at Northcoders PLC, offers her strategic insights as a Non-Executive Director at AND.digital, and skilfully leads the Remuneration and Nominations Committee at Sovereign Housing Ltd and Defence Equipment and Support within the MOD.

Angela's impactful past is marked by her previous leadership roles with Curo Compensation Ltd, First Care Ltd, Central and Cecil Housing Trust, and Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. She proudly holds the title of Fellow at CIPD, IOD, and IoL, reflecting her dedication to continuous growth and expertise.

Awards adorn Angela's path, celebrating her contributions to diversity, inclusion, change, transformation, and brand impact, setting her on a remarkable trajectory of influence and success. And now, Angela's story takes a new turn as she joins the BMJ Board, adding another chapter to her legacy of leadership and innovation.