Meet the trustees

Pierre Espinasse

Chair of Trustees

Tinnitus UK have also appointed a new Chair of the Board of Trustees, Pierre Espinasse.

Pierre is a former Chief Executive of a medical research funding foundation and brings extensive experience of charity governance and strategy development having served on the Board of other charities, including the UK Research Integrity Office. Pierre has been learning to live with tinnitus over the last few years.

Peter Byrom

Trustee

Peter Byrom was previously the clinical lead for Tinnitus Services at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust. He now works exclusively at Peter Byrom Audiology Ltd. from Thornbury Hospital Sheffield.
He undertook an MSc in Advanced Practice at the University of Leeds in which he looked at hearing aids, mild hearing loss and tinnitus. His interest comes from a personal experience of tinnitus and hearing loss. Peter has been a hearing aid user for many years.

Lucy Colenso

Trustee

A marketing specialist with a background in chocolate manufacturing and retail. Her involvement concentrates on our strategic direction, helping to shape and guide the marketing plan and vision for our short and long term together with our team in Sheffield.

James Corcoran

Trustee

James stepped down from a successful corporate career in 2019 and now enjoys plural activities, including sitting on three Boards around the world, advising private equity companies, and managing his family charitable foundation.

He is married and has three children and two grandchildren. Downtime is spent travelling with family and friends and trying to lower his very high golf handicap. James has been a tinnitus sufferer since 2015.

Veronica Kennedy

Trustee

Dr Veronica Kennedy is a Consultant Audiovestibular Physician. While she worked for many years with adults with tinnitus, she is now the clinical lead for the Paediatric Audiology Service at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

She has been a long time supporter of Tinnitus UK and was first a member of the PAC in 2007 going on to become Chair. She has since continued to work with Tinnitus UK on its ongoing Information Standard accreditation through the development and quality assurance of its leaflets.

Veronica was part of the working group which developed the British Society of Audiology’s national Practice Guidance on the Management of Children with Tinnitus and worked with Tinnitus UK on the development of a series of leaflets and workbooks to support children with tinnitus as well as their parents and teachers. She is also one of the facilitators of Tinnitus UK course on the practical management of children with tinnitus.

Nicola Heron

Trustee

Dr Nicola Heron is Chief Strategic Impact Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC). She brings over 24 years of experience in life science including holding senior positions in organisations including AstraZeneca and the NHS.

Dr Heron has experience of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and gained a PhD in Chemistry in Boston, USA and an MBA from the University of Sheffield. Nicola joined AstraZeneca in 1998 as a medicinal chemist. She moved to Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2009, where she was Programme Director of the NIHR Healthcare Technology Cooperative, D4D. She is an accomplished scientist with over 45 publications and board-level experience in multiple life sciences organisations.

As well as being one of our Trustees, she is a non-executive director at Cheshire and Warrington LEP Science and Growth Corridor sub-board and Chair of the Industry Board for the Manchester Clinical Research Facility.

Nicola joined MDC in 2018 as Head of Collaborative R&D, joining the Executive team in January 2021. In her role as Chief Strategic Impact Officer, Nicola builds and maintains MDC’s strategic national relationships.

Emma Stone

Trustee

Emma is an FCA Chartered Accountant with more than 15 years of experience in Finance, Risk, Compliance and Assurance roles within professional practice, the FTSE 50 and the non-profit sector.

She is currently the Finance Director for a non-profit organisation that compensates victims of uninsured and hit-and-run motor accidents. In her spare time, Emma is also a voluntary Trustee for the Milton Keynes Arts Centre – a charity supporting wellbeing through art in her local area.

Emma is married to an Armed Forces veteran who has suffered from tinnitus since his early twenties, so has a very personal connection to Tinnitus UK’s cause. Emma chairs the Tinnitus UK Finance Committee and supports the Board on matters of finance, governance and internal control.