Karen is accountable for developing and delivering our leadership programme offer as well as offering bespoke OD and improvement support to all system partners in health and care. She is passionate about working with communities to improve health outcomes and supports partners to come together to co-design health and care interventions.

She began her career after graduating in the leisure industry as a general manager before moving to the transport industry. She held various senior posts before moving into training, HR and, later, organisation development. She has worked in the NHS for a number of years now.

She is a qualified coach and mediator as well being trained in various psychometric interventions; she has studied organisational design and development at masters level. She is passionate about learning and personal improvement and strives to help create the right conditions for our staff to thrive and be the best they can be.

Karen loves to have fun and tries to inject this into her everyday work.

Paul worked for nearly a decade in a community interest company setting with VCSE partners and a focus on social care and learning. Whilst running the IT department for a group of companies as a Microsoft certified professional he also undertook training, assessing, leadership and management qualifications.

This blend of people, technological and organisational interest has been developed further over the past 12+ years in the NHS. Paul has enjoyed roles including IT, service delivery facilitation, project and programme management. He has contributed to the enhancement of community health services and older person's wellbeing with digital enabling in recent years in the North East and North Cumbria. Qualifying as a coach and mentor this year will complement his system improvement skillset as he enjoys helping people and groups to be the best version of themselves.

Claire has over 20 years experience in the NHS in a variety of roles. She has a clinical background as an Occupational Therapist, where she specialised in neurological rehabilitation, completing a Masters degree in 2012. Since joining NHS England in 2014, Claire and has worked in clinical networks, programme management and health and justice commissioning, where she was responsible for the out of custody healthcare portfolio for the North East and Cumbria. Claire has managed various programmes of work including children and young people's mental health, personalised care and, since joining the ICB in 2023, has worked on women's health and community services transformation.

Claire is a ILM Level 5 qualified coach, and enjoys supporting people through coaching to achieve their potential. She has undertaken training in leadership and has completed the five-day Quality, Service Improvement and Redesign (QSIR) Practitioner programme. She has experience of delivering transformation through relational leadership and cross-system working.

Claire enjoys sport and outside of work can often be found on the hockey pitch, cricket pitch, padel court, in the gym or on the beach.

Amy has worked in the NHS since 2013, starting as an administrator and moving into her current role in 2025.

She previously worked for a logistics training provider in course writing, marketing, and tendering roles, and also has experience as a support worker for people with learning disabilities.

Amy has a first-class BSc honours degree in applied psychology. She also qualified as an executive level coach in 2016 and is an MBTI and Insights practitioner. She is passionate about lifelong learning and development, and loves seeing those ‘lightbulb moments’ in our sessions.

She has played golf since the age of 7, although a busy family life means she doesn’t get as many rounds in now. She also enjoys yoga and tropical fish keeping.

Vicky has worked in the NHS since 2024, starting as a Receptionist and Corporate Business Support Assistant at the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board.

Prior to this, she worked at Santander UK for 11 years. During her first year, she worked as a Mortgage Customer Service Adviser and Trainee Coach. She then progressed to Complaints Case Manager, where she investigated and resolved a variety of complaints within the bank, highlighted areas for improvement, and requested process changes to enhance the customer experience.

Before this, she worked at Asda, where she completed management training and worked across the region in various Asda stores. She undertook numerous management roles across multiple departments, developing teams and improving the customer service experience.

Vicky has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art from the University of Leeds and loves being creative and learning new skills.

While in full-time and part-time employment, and after having her two children, Vicky has continued her creativity and love of the arts by creating wall murals for family and friends and making crafts with her children.

Vicky would love to continue using her creativity and hopes to bring creative approaches to learning in her new role.

Jade joined the NHS in 2019 as an apprentice at 18 years old. Before that, she completed qualifications in both childcare and retail, exploring different career paths before an unexpected opportunity within the NHS was offered to her.

Since then, Jade has worked across a range of roles and developed a strong interest in communications, engagement, and organising learning and educational events. Helping people connect with opportunities to learn, collaborate and share ideas is one of the things she enjoys most about her work, making the Boost team a perfect fit.

Jade enjoys the variety that comes with supporting colleagues across the region and loves being part of projects that bring people together and make a positive difference.

Outside of work, you'll usually find Jade listening to music, planning her next concert, or spending time with her two cats.