Members of the group (left to right): Mark Dickinson, Ruby Lake, Lenny Rolles, Moira Swinbank OBE and Professor Stella Vig.

What’s happened

The Royal College of Podiatry has announced the five members of its new Advisory Group, a body created to provide independent advice and external perspective to the College and its Council. 

The appointments follow a resolution passed by members at the College’s AGM to introduce an advisory group as part of the organisation’s governance structure.  

The five appointed members are: 

• Mark Dickinson

• Ruby Lake 

• Lenny Rolles

• Moira Swinbank OBE

• Professor Stella Vig 

All five members bring experience from sectors including healthcare, governance, public affairs, employment relations, financial services and higher education.  

While the College’s Council remains the organisation’s primary decision-making body, the new Advisory Group has been established to provide constructive challenge, strategic insight and independent expertise as the profession and the healthcare landscape continues to evolve.  

Group members will serve in an advisory capacity, typically participating in between two and four meetings each year alongside occasional preparatory and advisory work. 

Bringing in external perspectives 

The College said the appointments are intended to strengthen governance by introducing a broader range of external perspectives and experience into strategic discussions. 

Collectively, the group brings experience from both clinical and non-clinical settings, with members expected to contribute to discussions around organisational development, professional standards, evidence-based practice and long-term public impact.  

All appointments are expected to support collaborative decision-making while helping the College continue to develop its work on behalf of members and patients.  

Who is on the Advisory Group? 

Mark Dickinson  

Mark Dickinson is the former General Secretary of Nautilus International, the union representing more than 18,000 maritime professionals worldwide, including ship masters, officers, cadets and shore-based staff. He has spent more than 40 years in the maritime industry, beginning his career in the British Merchant Navy at the age of 16 before moving ashore to study Maritime Studies at the University of Wales and later completing a master’s degree in Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Mark joined Nautilus International in 2000, having previously worked for the International Transport Workers' Federation, where he led major maritime campaigns and investigations, including the 1994 mission to locate the lost vessel MV Derbyshire. He has played a significant role in the development of international maritime labour standards, particularly the Maritime Labour Convention, and currently serves as Vice-Chair (Seafarers) of the International Labour Organization’s Special Tripartite Committee overseeing the convention. 

Mark stood down as General Secretary of Nautilus International in May but is Director of the Nautilus Federation, bringing together 22 maritime trade unions and professional associations worldwide. His wider roles have included membership of the Trades Union Congress General Council and executive committee, trustee positions with major maritime welfare and pension bodies, and leadership roles supporting maritime skills and training. In recognition of his contribution to the sector, he was awarded the Merchant Navy Medal in 2018 and served as President of the Trades Union Congress from 2024 to 2025. 

Ruby Lake 

Ruby Lake is a solicitor specialising in charity and social enterprise law. Her work includes advising on structural reform, high-profile governance issues, and reputationally sensitive matters, including Charity Commission statutory inquiries. She has a particular interest in supporting charities with campaigning and advocacy work, particularly advising on how to maximise the impact of their campaigns while navigating charity law.  

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Ruby worked in health policy and patient advocacy, contributing to nationally recognised research and stakeholder engagement on healthcare accountability and patient outcomes. Her work focused on the psychological impact of waiting for elective surgery, alongside broader policy development on patient experience and system performance. She also contributed to engagement connected to the APPG on Patient Safety, as well as wider policy work relating to blood safety, donor selection, and public confidence in healthcare systems, including matters connected to the SaBTO donor selection criteria review and infected blood policy issues. 

Ruby was most recently part of a small legal team supporting the establishment of a new school of government at one of the world’s leading universities, enabled by the largest single philanthropic donation made to a British university. Earlier experience in law involved complex litigation, including clinical negligence claims, and supporting claims against the Ministry of Defence on behalf of soldiers and veterans. 

Ruby has also worked within charities and a social enterprise, giving her practical insight into the operational realities facing mission-driven organisations. She is active in mentoring and has a particular passion for widening access to the legal profession. 

Lenny Rolles 

Lenny Rolles is a communications, policy and public affairs leader with more than 20 years’ experience working across complex, high-profile organisations in a range of sectors, including the past decade in higher education. He specialises in developing influencing strategies that engage government and parliament to deliver legislative and policy change, with expertise spanning public affairs, crisis communications, campaigning, leadership and policy development. 

He is currently Associate Director of Public Affairs at the University of Sussex, where he leads the Public Affairs and Policy team and is part of the division’s senior leadership team. Alongside his professional roles, he has served as a councillor in Gravesham for more than a decade, including chairing committees and overseeing major projects as part of the Cabinet. Previous roles include public affairs and campaign positions at the RSPCA and Dods Group. 

Moira Swinbank OBE 

Moira Swinbank is an experienced chief executive and board-level director with more than 20 years’ leadership experience across the voluntary and commercial sectors. She has worked extensively with government departments and senior stakeholders, building a strong reputation for delivering transformational change, developing sustainable income streams and leading effective partnerships and governance structures. 

A major highlight of her career was serving as Chief Executive of Legacy Trust UK ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she secured £40 million in government funding alongside an additional £55 million in commercial match funding. Earlier, as Chief Executive of TimeBank, she was part of the campaign to recruit more than 20,000 volunteers for the Games and was awarded an Order of the British Empire for services to volunteering. 

Moira has held senior leadership roles at organisations including vinspired, NSPCC and The Children's Society, alongside experience in sports marketing and corporate partnerships. She also brings extensive governance expertise through trustee and non-executive positions, including more than a decade as a trustee of Global Radio Charities and chairing governor roles in both mainstream and special educational settings. Most recently, she led the establishment of The MCS Charitable Foundation, overseeing its legal, strategic and operational development and the appointment of its trustee board. 

Professor Stella Vig 

Professor Stella Vig is a consultant vascular and general surgeon and senior national healthcare leader with extensive experience in clinical governance, system transformation and strategic leadership across the NHS. 

She currently serves as Deputy National Medical Director for Quality and Secondary Care and National Clinical Director for Elective Care within the National Health Service, where she has contributed to national policy development, service improvement and large-scale operational change across complex healthcare settings. 

Alongside her clinical and national leadership roles, she has worked with professional bodies, advisory groups, and parliamentary stakeholders, developing a broad perspective on healthcare governance and public affairs. She has previously served as a Trustee of the Royal College of Podiatry and has been involved in key sector initiatives, including the Saks Report and the development of the white paper The future of the vascular sector, co-signed by the College. 

She brings an independent, strategic perspective to advisory work, drawing on system-level insight and experience across organisational boundaries to identify risks, opportunities, and areas for innovation. Her focus includes prevention, workforce sustainability and the development of more integrated models of care. 

She has also expressed a particular interest in supporting podiatry’s wider role in population health, long-term condition management and reducing health inequalities.