Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, Chief Executive

Victor joined Turning Point as Chief Executive  in 2001 and is a champion for the cause of those affected by poverty, mental health issues, drugs, alcohol,  learning disability and complex needs. 

Victor began his career in housing and was Chief Executive of Centre Point, the National Youth Homelessness Charity from 1995 until 2001. 

In 2000, Victor was awarded a CBE for services to the New Deal, the unemployed, and homeless young people and in 2001, he was appointed a cross bench member of the House of Lords. Victor is on the Board of the Audit Commission and former chair of the Home Office's Stop and Search Community panel.

He is President of the International Association of Philosophy and Psychiatry, President of the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association and sits as a Non-Executive Director at 360 IT collaboration Ltd.  Victor is Chancellor at the University of Lincoln, a commissioner for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and sits on the National Quality Board (DH).   He is an associate of the Cambridge University Judge Business School, and Birmingham University Centre for Health Service Management.  He is also Director at Leadership in Mind Ltd

Victor has a Post Graduate Diploma from the Tavistock Institute and an MA in Advanced Organisational Consulting from City University London.

Victor is a member of the NHS Future Forum and regularly appears in the national media commenting on various issues relating to health and social care and public policy.

David Hoare, Assistant Chief Executive

David joined Turning Point in 1984, working on the direct management and delivery of substance misuse services in therapeutic community settings.  Since then David has worked across the wider organisation in a broad range of corporate and operational roles. In his current role as Assistant Chief Executive David is responsible for organisational development and change.

With almost 30 years experience in the health and social care sector David is available to provide comment on a wide range of issues.

Andy James, Assistant Chief Executive

Andy has over 25 years experience of working in finance in a variety of industries, including IT, telecommunications and clothing. He is responsible for the IT and Finance functions within Turning Point.

Andy's experiences include a management buy-out, acquisitions and disposals, a flotation and significant systems implementations supporting fast growing business. He has been a Non-Executive Director for Luton PCT, and joined Turning Point in 2004.

Julie Bass, Assistant Chief Executive

As Assistant Chief Executive for Service Performance, Julie holds responsibility for the operational side of Turning Point.

Julie has over 20 years management experience and has worked in a variety of roles in the Insurance and IT sectors as well as in Health and Social Care. She is a Chartered Insurer and a fellow of the CIPD, and has held key roles during organisational restructures, mergers, acquisitions, new project launches and change initiatives.

Fiona Ritchie, Director of Learning Disability Services

Fiona Ritchie is the Managing Director of Turning Point's Learning Disability services.

Fiona made the move to Turning point from Worcester Health and Care NHS Trust where she was associate director, leading on transformation and innovation and working with children, adolescent and adult mental health services and user involvement. A qualified music therapist, Fiona has previously worked as adviser to the Healthcare Commission and was the first strategic lead in England for the, then newly formed, strategic health authority in the west midlands where she developed the first set of performance indicators for the health service locally.

A frequent writer of, and contributor to, numerous articles and papers Fiona was awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to people with learning disabilities.

Fiona is available to comment on a number of key issues affecting people with a learning disability including person centred care and service user and family carer involvement.

Selina Douglas, Director of Substance Misuse Services

Selina took up her role as Turning Point's Director of Substance Misuse Services last year having worked in adult social services and health management for over ten years.

She has extensive experience in the development of integrated substance misuse services including leading on clinical governance in the transfer of social care and health responsibilities from the statutory sector to the third sector.

Selina has been part of a number of national steering groups and has contributed towards a number of DOH guidance documents such as the Inclusion Health Strategy and the Value for Money tool for substance misuse. Selina is currently a member of the expert panel reviewing substance misuse treatment for the National Treatment Agency (NTA) lead by John Strang.

This combined with her operational experience, means that she has a unique insight into the challenges facing substance misuse at both a local and national level and is able to comment on a range of issues such as payment by results and the recovery agenda.