Meet our executive directors
Neill Moloney became the CEO of the East of England Ambulance Service Trust on 2 September 2024.
Neill comes with a wealth of senior NHS experience and a depth of understanding relating to our health care system. He has a strong background in urgent and emergency care including the work of the ambulance services, which will be vital in continuing the improvement of our service for our people and patients.
Neill was previously the director of system recovery at Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board and Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, and prior to that served as director of urgent and emergency care tiering support at NHS England. From 2018 to 2023 Neill was the managing director and deputy chief executive at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
Neill also worked as the Chief Operating Officer / deputy CEO overseeing the integration of Ipswich and Colchester Hospitals and community services in the area.
Marika has extensive international experience of leadership roles in Human Resources. She joined the Trust after ten and a half years with Rio Tinto, a FTSE 100 global mining company. She spent seven years based in Rio Tinto's HQ in London and the last few years based in their Montreal hub. She led a large HR team based across US, Canada, South America, Africa and Europe.
Marika has previously worked for NGA Human Resources (now Alight), where she also worked for ten and a half years and progressed to be Head of HR Consultancy, Advice and Policy. Marika is MCIPD qualified and a mental health first aider.
Kevin has more than 20 years' experience in NHS finance, working in the acute, community, mental health and ambulance sectors as well as experience in the construction industry. He began his career at Great Yarmouth and Waveney Health Authority, progressing through finance roles at the James Paget Hospital and Norfolk Mental Health, before joining the East Anglian Ambulance Trust in 2005.
Following the merger of ambulance services in 2006, Kevin was appointed as Deputy Director of Finance for East of England Ambulance Service, and appointed Director of Finance in 2016.
Melissa brings significant nursing and leadership experience to the Trust after beginning her career as an advanced nurse practitioner in primary and urgent care before moving into leadership roles. Melissa has worked across all sectors of the NHS, including primary, acute, community and mental health care, as well as in the private sector.
Prior to joining the Trust, Melissa was Director of Nursing and Clinical Governance with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, where she played a key role in leading the county's mass COVID-19 vaccination programme.
Simon is a paramedic, qualifying in 1999 and has extensive senior clinical leadership within the ambulance sector since 2006. Simon lives in Suffolk and has worked in the east of England all his career within operational, educational and clinical directorates in a variety of roles and is the first Chief Allied Health Professional representing the ambulance sector within the east of England. During his career he became the first Paramedic Non-Medical Quality Improvement Fellow in 2012. He is also a member of the Chief Paramedic Group in the UK and undertakes duties with the Health Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) as an expert paramedic panellist.
Hein joined the Trust following working with Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care System as Director of People Transformation. He has worked across the Clinical Commissioning Groups of Luton, Bedfordshire, Herfordshire and West Essex for several years and, prior to that, was Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, and Deputy Director of Workforce at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Born in South Africa, Hein managed two private sector businesses for the ten years preceding his immigration to the United Kingdom, with a background in Human Resources, Employment Law, and Transformation. Hein relocated to the UK in 2009 and spent all of his UK career in the NHS. He is passionate about cultural change, inclusivity and leadership development.
Simon, having worked in several hospitals in the east of England during his training programme, was appointed as an Emergency Medicine Consultant and Paediatric Emergency Medicine specialist at the Royal London Hospital in 2004. He started pre-hospital care in 2014, flying with London's Air Ambulance. After moving to live in Hertfordshire he joined Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) in 2017 and after a period as a Clinical Governance Lead he became Clinical Lead in 2019.
He also has a role at the British Medical Association, where he is one of the deputy chairs of the UK Consultants Committee, leading on Healthcare Policy and often speaking in the media about the pressures on the urgent and emergency care system.
