Published date:
The board of trustees of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) have announced that Julian Hartley will be the new Group Chief Executive.
Most recently Julian has led the CQC, the independent regulator of health and social care in England, and before that NHS Providers, the membership organisation for NHS hospital, mental health, community and ambulance services. Other national roles have included running NHS Improving Quality – an organisation set up to drive change and improvement across the NHS and acting as executive lead for the interim NHS People Plan. Much of his career has been spent in the North and North East of England however, where he began as a general management trainee, rising to be a director at the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust and latterly led the Leeds Teaching Hospitals between 2013 and 2023.
Professor Carol Tannahill, Chair of the JRF-JRHT Group said:
“During the recruitment process we met many impressive candidates. Julian stood out for his combination of national policy experience and extensive track record of collaboratively leading complex public sector organisations. However, it was his clear vision of how he can support the group to deliver its ambitious strategy through innovative partnerships and sense of urgency that particularly energised the search panel. We look forward to working with him in the coming years to maximise our contribution to creating a more just and equitable world.”
Of his appointment Julian Hartley said:
“As a long-standing believer in the importance of the two organisations’ work, I am thrilled to be joining the JRF-JRHT group at a time when it has never been more ambitious about the difference it hopes to make. I have spent my career in the NHS but a consistent theme throughout has been building coalitions with other forces in the public, private and civil society sectors to improve outcomes for the communities we all serve. I hope to bring a similar approach to this role as we seek to shift the structural drivers of poverty and inequality.”
Julian Hartley will be based out of the group’s York headquarters and starts work on the 5th of May. Interim Group Chief Executive Shān Nicholas will continue to lead the organisations until that point. The recruitment process was led by the Chair of Trustees and a sub panel of board members with assistance from Starfish Search.