The trustees

Mr Jobling started Gateshead-based software firm Eutechnyx as an 18-year-old and led it to become one of the world’s biggest independent video games developers with 181 staff in its offices in the North-East, USA, China and Hong Kong.

After taking on the role of executive chairman at Eutechnyx in 2013, the 45-year-old has more time to focus on his other interests, including a prominent role at the fledgling Lakes Distillery in Bassenthwaite, Cumbria, and his new position at GNAAS.

Mr Jobling is no stranger to the world of aviation as he holds a licence to fly both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, but his new role is not about getting behind the controls of the GNAAS Helicopters but making sure the charity is raising enough money to keep the aircraft and amazing service airborne.

Dawn is a communications expert with an extensive career of working within both the public and private sector organisations in North East England, her most recent experience being with the North East Fund

She has also worked in private consultancy acting as an executive within a full-service communications agency and has served as a justice of the peace. test 1

Joan was introduced to the Great North Air Ambulance to willingly support the senior team maintain the best organisation design and human resource management.

As a senior HR consultant and coach, I am happy to bring my vast experience of human resource management within both public and private sector to the charity.

Having worked throughout the UK, across small and large organisations, it is really pleasing to be able to bring my understanding of people within a professional working environment to its best use in the north of England.

Getting the internal approach right will ensure that the charity is best placed to give tirelessly to the greater public.

Stephen brings his vast experience in frontline healthcare to the board. He currently holds the position of National Head of Emergency Preparedness Resilience and Response for NHS England, having previously held similar roles at the Department of Health, NHS North East and the Health Protection Agency.

Stephen has been a registered nurse for more than thirty years, practising in emergency nursing in hospitals in the North East while also gaining experience on the aircraft of the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).

He has also shared his expertise around the world, having taught in The Gambia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Trinidad and Tobago and Ireland as well as here in the UK.

In the 2015 New Year Honours list, Stephen was awarded an OBE for Services to Public Health and more specifically for his role during the Ebola outbreak.

Peter is head of the Strategic Talent Advisory team at UNW LLP. For over 20 years, he has built close working relationships with business owners, investors, board directors, and other stakeholders across the private, public and third sectors within the North-East of England.

Peter is a trusted advisor to business owners and investors, assisting in the creation of strong and successful strategic leadership teams, and takes great pride in helping organisations flourish and grow. In addition to his roles at UNW and GNAAS, he is co-founder of The Experience Bank and an Advisory Board member at Newcastle Business School.

Outside of work, Peter seeks refuge and relaxation with his family which inevitably involves climbing, cycling, swimming and hill walking. He is also an obsessive trail and ultra-marathon runner and is often to be found pounding the footpaths and bridleways across Northumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire and Cumbria.

John is a partner and Head of the Sports and Charities teams at Muckle LLP.

He is a commercial lawyer who advises on contractual and regulatory issues mainly within the sports sector, including commercial agreements, club structures, special tax status (CASC and charity), trading, facilities development projects, event management and the exploitation of commercial rights such as media, sponsorship and advertising.

He works with national governing bodies, clubs, professional players, athletes and intermediaries on all aspects of their participation.  He also specialises in charity law advising a wide range of registered, exempt and excepted charities on all aspects of their business, from incorporation to merger, fundraising to trading.

John has a keen interest in CSR, particularly within sport and has advised many of the clubs in the Premier League, EFL, Premiership Rugby and RFL on their approach to community matters. He also assists

The Professional Footballers’ Association on the establishment of charitable foundations by individual players.

Kyee has worked as an accident and emergency consultant at Middlesbrough General and the James Cook University Hospital for the past 28 years. He has also been employed by the North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust as the medical director since 2010. He retired from the salaried position in 2018 but remains in a Honorary position.

Over his working life he has had many management, training and advisory roles including the positions of chairman of the Specialist Training Committee for the Northern Deanery and regional chair for the North East College of Emergency Medicine Board. Coming from a surgical background, management of the acutely injured has been one of his areas of interest and passion. Realising very early in his career how pre-hospital care can influence patient outcome, Kyee also dedicates considerable time in pre- hospital trauma training of ambulance, fire, police and other voluntary agencies using the principles and practices of International Trauma Life Support (ITLS).

He serves on the ITLS Editorial Board and is a chapter medical director. More recently, he has taken on additional roles as Chair to the ITLS European Forum and Associate Editor to the ITLS 9^th Edition textbook.

He brings a wealth of knowledge and a secondary care perspective to the Great North Air Ambulance Service’s Board of Trustees.

Professor Greta Defeyter BSc (Hons) CPsychol FRSA FHEA FBPsS PhD

Director of the Healthy Living Lab, Northumbria University

Greta is the Director of the Healthy Living Lab at Northumbria University. Her current research interests are food insecurity, social and educational injustice and holiday hunger. She has received funding from multiple sources and has published numerous papers on school breakfast clubs and holiday provision. She is now a recognised expert in this area and in 2015, she was made a Fellow of the British Psychological Society in recognition of her research with ‘hard to reach’ populations.  More recently, she joined prestigious line up of award winners by winning a Food Heroes Award from Sustain for her research and evaluations on school breakfast clubs and holiday hunger. In 2017, the Healthy Living Lab won the British Psychology Public Engagement Award (North East) for their translational research on feeding disadvantaged children. In 2020 she was recognised, by the Big Issue, as one of the top 100 change makers for her research and policy impact on food poverty.

Tony was born in Hong Kong and educated at Gresham’s School, Cambridge University and the Royal London Hospital Medical College. His orthopaedic training was based in Leicester and he went on a travelling fellowship in Shock Trauma Center, Baltimore and the Brigham and Women Hospital in Boston, USA.

Tony has been a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Middlesbrough since 1997 and specialises in trauma and knee surgery. He was the Clinical Director for his department for over 10 years and was Secretary and subsequently Chairman of the British Orthopaedic Directors Society (BODS). Tony has been a Clinical Co-ordinator for the National Joint Registry (NJR) , clinical adviser for the Healthcare Commission (now CQC), speciality advisor to National Confidential Enquiry into Peri-Operitive Deaths (NCEPOD), steering committee member of the Falls and Fragility Fractures Audit Project and Honorary Lecturer to Teesside University.  He was elected to the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) council in 2011-14 and is now serving a second term 2020 -2023. Tony was secretary for British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) 2016-19 and is a member of Beyond Compliance (BC) and Orthopaedic Data Evaluation Panel (ODEP) for knees.

Tony went to Kurdistan with the Newcastle Gateshead Medical Volunteers in 2018 under the leadership of Professor Deiary Kader and had a most enjoyable week working with the dedicated staff in their hospitals. He also volunteered for “Food for Thought” in Darlington but unfortunately the pandemic lockdown made the charity work non-viable.

Tony retired from the NHS in 2019 but is still working in the private sector on a part-time basis. His interests are football, golf, walking, food and gardening.

Chris Kringle is Father Christmas (AKA Santa)