Board, Patrons and Governance

David is a member of The Magic Circle, and has been awarded membership of the Inner Magic Circle, Gold Star for his magical skills. He does magic of a different sort as a leading arbitrator, mediator and barrister, helping parties to resolve international business disputes.

He was elected into the Magic Circle in his teens, after winning a nationwide competition for young magicians, and he has performed and taught magic at corporate and private events around the world, as well as on television.

As a result of his interest in using magic for therapeutic purposes, he helped to set up Breathe Arts Health Research and has been closely involved in the development and delivery of its Breathe Magic programmes over the years.

His legal and advocacy skills led to him being appointed Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 2006, and he has been recognised as a leading figure in the world of dispute resolution. He has trained lawyers to be effective advocates, and has trained groups and individuals on presentation and communication. With this background, he helped to develop Breathe’s training courses on communication.

He has been a member of the managing boards of a number of organisations, and has been closely involved with the management of a large set of barristers’ chambers.

Robin is the Director of Strategic Projects at the School for Social Entrepreneurs heading up their policy and advocacy work and driving forward a new way of funding called Match Trading that gives more power and agency to social leaders on the ground.

Prior to this, he spent nearly 10 years as Founder/CEO of his own social enterprise CoachBright supporting disadvantaged young people become more independent and resilient so they can lead the lives they want. As one of the country’s leading social mobility organisations, he is proud to have supported many young people become the first in their family to go into university or industry.

Rohana is a Consultant General Paediatrician at Evelina London Children’s Hospital with experience working in Sydney, Durban, Manchester and London prior to this. She enjoys exploring innovate ways to educate and bring learners from across disciplines together. She has a Masters in Medical Education and is a certified Lego Serious play facilitator.

Advocating for Children, young people and families is key for her as is collaborating with others across the health and social sector to find new ways of working. She is part of the Children and Young People Health partnership that is pioneering an integrated care model for local children and co-developed the Compass service for children and young people requiring complex medical care within Evelina.

Chris grew up in Surrey and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He worked for 14 years in the private sector before joining the NHS as Finance Director of Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust. Chris became the Trust’s Chief Executive in 2002 and in 2007 became Chief Executive of NHS Cambridgeshire. In 2011 he founded a consultancy practice supporting the NHS, local authorities and third sector organisations. He has also been executive Chair of a community trust and most recently Joint Chief Executive of a GP Federation.

Chris has been a Non-Executive Director of a hospice charity, a primary care service for homeless people, and an accommodation and support service for young people leaving care. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of a group of GP practices in Rotherham and an organisation providing procurement, training and building in the social housing sector in Sheffield. 

Sue spent 27 years as a Chief Executive and in other senior positions in the NHS working closely with Local Authorities, government departments and independent health and social care businesses. She was Chief Executive of Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority, commissioning health and healthcare services for 680,000 people for 5 years until 2002. Prior to this she led a group of acute hospitals and a large mental health service.

For the last 18 years Sue has been a leadership coach and independent consultant working with individuals and teams in large and small businesses. She loves helping people realise their ambitions, use their talents and overcome obstacles to achieve great things. Sue works part-time and has had a number of Non-Executive roles in the NHS. She was a trustee for Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity for 8 years and currently works with NHS London and Lambeth Together.

John has a background in financial services, and has been involved in fund management and then investment research since 1990. In 2001 he co-founded Independent Minds, and he is currently one of the firm’s Directors. He advises institutional investors, including large pension funds, on investments in European equities. He has also been involved in the running of small companies for many years, and this experience has already been extremely helpful in developing Breathe’s business planning. He will be monitoring Breathe’s finances.

John is the Treasurer of the Scottish branch of the International Play Association.

Jim Carter OBE is an English actor. Screen credits include The Madness of King George, A Private Function, Brassed Off, Shakespeare in Love and Transformers : The Last Knight. TV work includes the Singing Detective, Cracker, King Lear with Anthony Hopkins. He is best known for his role in Downtown Abbey playing Mr Carson, a role that has earned him four nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama series. For over 30 years Jim performed a stage magic act.

Dame Imelda Staunton has had a long career on stage, screen and television. Notable screen performances include Vera Drake, for which she won a BAFTA, Maleficent, Pride and Finding Your Feet. She was memorably frightening as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter. For her stage work Imelda has won 4 Olivier awards. Other work includes Follies, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd.

James is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle and a two-times winner of The Magic Circle Close-Up Magician of the Year Award, but he now uses sleight of hand in a different field… as a pickpocket! His one-man show ‘James Freedman: Man of Steal’ transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre to London’s West End.

In 2015, City of London Police appointed James as their first UK Fraud Prevention Ambassador. In his keynote presentation “How to Commit Fraud” James demonstrates genuine techniques used by criminals before sharing simple methods to stay safe.

James has taught secrets, magic and sleight of hand to actors including Helena Bonham-Carter, Sir Ian McKellen, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz. His work won an Intermedia-Globe-Silver Award at the WorldMediaFestival.