Executive Team

Ben Bridgewater

Chief Executive

Ben Bridgewater is Chief Executive of Health Innovation Manchester, a place-based innovation organisation with a vision to be world leading in improving the lives of local people, transforming care and boosting the economy through innovation. Since 2018, Ben has led the organisation through a period of growth and transformation, securing significant external investment and delivering nationally recognised programmes such as the Greater Manchester Care Record and pioneering work in obesity care.

Ben is also the Executive Chair of the Health Innovation Network, representing England’s 15 regional health innovation networks nationally. He spearheads the Network’s mission to harness innovation to improve health outcomes and drive economic growth.

Ben is a leading expert on health informatics, national clinical audit, clinical governance, healthcare transparency, patient experience measurement and digital transformation in healthcare, publishing numerous high profile academic outputs and delivering innovative IT tools for disseminating clinical outcomes to professionals and the public.

He brings extensive experience as a former cardiac surgeon for 18 years,  as a clinical leader and innovator, with a track record of delivering national policy, leading digital transformation, and forging major NHS-industry partnerships.

Laura Rooney

Deputy CEO & Chief Strategy Officer

Laura is an experienced healthcare leader and communications professional, with extensive experience across the NHS, digital and life sciences industries. In her current role, Laura oversees HInM’s strategic priorities across the research and innovation portfolio, working closely with the rest of the executive team, HInM staff, key stakeholders and partners.  Her broad portfolio includes strategy and planning, innovation pipeline curation, user-led design and public engagement, programme assurance, organisational development, stakeholder engagement and partnerships, and strategic communications.

Laura has spent 15 years working in senior roles across the NHS in Greater Manchester, both in commissioning and provider organisations, and prior to that worked in corporate agencies specialising in business to business PR. She has a wealth of experience in managing complex and sensitive issues, strategy development and delivery, media relations and corporate affairs.

She enjoys using creative processes to see things differently and elicit new ideas and concepts towards solving problems, as well as encouraging success and creativity in others through positive leadership, inclusion, and coproduction.

Vish Mehra

Chief Medical Officer

Dr Mehra has worked across Greater Manchester for more than 25 years and brings extensive experience in clinical leadership, system transformation, and innovation at scale. A GP for over 18 years, he combines his ongoing clinical work in one of Manchester’s most diverse communities with senior leadership roles across primary care and the wider health system. As Partner Member for Primary Care on the NHS Greater Manchester Board, he provides strategic leadership and ensures the voice of general practice is represented in decision-making.

Dr Mehra was a founding director and Chair of the Central Manchester GP Federation, where he led the creation of one of England’s first extended access services and the pioneering use of shared digital records that later informed national policy.  He was Chair of both Manchester Local Medical Committee and Manchester GP Board until end of November 2025 before joining Health Innovation Manchester.

Claire Macconnell

Chief Operating Officer

Claire Macconnell, formerly the Group Director of HR and OD at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, sits now in the role of Chief Operating Officer, a newly established position at Health Innovation Manchester.

With her extensive experience overseeing group HR functions and leading teams in complex programs across primary and secondary care, Claire plays an integral role in the seamless execution of program delivery aligned with Health Innovation Manchester’s vision and strategy.

Andy Haywood

Chief Digital & Data Officer

Andy began his NHS career at NHS Digital, where he worked on a major network programme, successfully taking the £784 million Health and Social Care Network business case through approvals. During this time, he also worked within the National Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) and served as Head of Relationship Management for the organisation’s partnership with CQC, NHS Improvement, and NHS England.

Following this, he moved to Leeds Teaching Hospitals, leading technical infrastructure and data, before joining NHS Wales as Director of Digital for the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST). At WAST, he held several national digital positions related to Urgent and Emergency Care and CIO leadership, whilst also leading the digital element of the ambulance pandemic response.

Before working in the NHS, Andy spent 12 years in the Royal Navy.

As CDDO, Andy will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of health data, AI, and digital transformation in Greater Manchester. This role will lead the Greater Data commercial plan with the Chief Strategy Officer, ensuring GM remains ahead of the competition in data services, real-world evidence, clinical trials and associated health innovation services.

The CDDO will drive the use of AI and advanced analytics for GM, developing relationships with life sciences, academia, and the NHS, and driving the digital transformation aspects of HInM programmes. This role will also oversee functions within HInM including health intelligence, analytics and health economics, and work with colleagues in the ICB and beyond, ensuring data-driven decision-making leads to better patient outcomes and system efficiency.

Paul Dark

Academic Director

Paul is an Anglo-Swiss senior clinical academic leader with extensive experience across higher education and healthcare. Graduating in Physics from the University of Salford and Medicine from The Manchester Medical School in 1989, he went on to study clinical academic surgery, emergency medicine and critical care at the Universities of Glasgow and Manchester, and at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

He has held a substantive clinical academic post at the University of Manchester since 2003, combining NHS clinical leadership with research and teaching in critical care medicine. His work has included improving the diagnosis and management of severe infections and sepsis, including the development of new point of care technologies in partnership with industry.

Paul has held several senior national academic leadership roles, including serving as NIHR Clinical Research Network’s National Deputy Medical Director from 2022 to 2024 and as NIHR National Specialty Lead for Critical Care. He currently holds senior academic leadership roles at the University of Manchester, including Vice Dean for Health and Care Partnerships, supporting collaboration across the NHS, academia and the wider health and care system.

As Academic Director, Paul will assist with the integration of world‑class research with the NHS and social care across Greater Manchester. Working at executive level, he will drive innovation, align research activity with population needs and provide interface leadership for HInM in its next stage of development as an Academic Health Science Centre.

Paul will work closely with the academic programme director, higher education institutions and NIHR infrastructures to strengthen partnerships locally and nationally. He will support deeper understanding of Greater Manchester’s data assets and their potential to enable research, helping to shape future development to meet Greater Manchester’s academic research priorities. Alongside this, he will build a pipeline of academic and commercial opportunities and oversee HInM’s contribution to major research grants and bid activity.