Giulio Codacci-Pisanelli

Chair of Trustees

Giulio Codacci-Pisanelli began his career in the finance and strategic planning departments of Olivetti and FIAT. He then moved to investment banking, working for primary institutions like Chase Manhattan, Merrill Lynch and BNP Paribas on large capital market transactions, hostile take overs and IPOs. He has been an independent board member for a bank and a company producing aircraft components, with both roles involved strategic repositioning and restructuring including acquisitions and disposals of businesses.

Giulio has also been Professor of Corporate and Investment Banking at the Università di Bari (Italy), related to the postgraduate degree in Economics of Financial Markets and Intermediaries. He has tutored various students on their final dissertations. Giulio is now Charity Ambassador for The Norfolk Hospice for Palliative Care Tapping House. 

Giulio Codacci-Pisanelli has a personal connection to pancreatic cancer as he lost his wife Sarah to the disease in 2022.

Neville Menezes

Founding Trustee

Neville Menezes is a Consultant Pancreatico-biliary Surgeon and is one of the founder members and Trustees of Pancreatic Cancer Action. He is one of the medical advisors on the panel of doctors for ‘Pancreatic Cancer Action’. He is appointed as the Consultant HPB Surgeon for the Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire Cancer network, holding Consultant posts at The Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Guildford and Ashford & St. Peter’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Chertsey Surrey.

His specialist surgical training was in the West of Scotland & The South Thames Deanery. He completed his FRCS from The Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh and thereafter pursued research & specialist training followed by an Intercollegiate FRCS (Gen. Surg.) in 2002.

His Pancreatico-biliary experience and research related to minimally invasive techniques for intractable pancreatic pain was acquired at the Lister Department of Surgery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary working with Professor CW Imrie and his Hepatobiliary experience was acquired at King’s College Hospital in London. His Laparoscopic Training was at the Minimal Access Therapeutic Training Unit (MATTU) in Guildford.

He strongly believes that any improvement in pancreatic cancer survival will be related to and as a direct consequence of early diagnosis which is also the primary aim of our charity ‘Pancreatic Cancer Action’.

He is a great advocate of on-site cytology during ERCP & EUS diagnostic techniques and offers it to all his patients diagnosed with pancreatic and biliary cancers.

Ross Carter

Trustee

Mr. Ross Carter is a retired pancreatic surgeon based in the West of Scotland Pancreatic Unit in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. He is both former Honorary Secretary of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland and former Pancreatic Section of the British Society of Gastroenterology.

Aware of the advances in care and outcomes being driven through charities focused on many cancers, but with a clear absence of a UK pancreatic cancer charity, he became involved in the third sector during the formative years of PCRF, PCUK, and PCA; all based in the South East England.

With key differences between the National Health Service in England & Wales and that in Scotland, Mr. Carter recognised the need for a further pancreatic cancer charity; one focusing on the Scottish perspective. This charity could then implement core objective of raising awareness, advancing research, and improving healthcare standards for patients and carers, in the most effective way for Scotland; whilst working with sister charities on UK-wide projects.

To achieve this vision, along with co-founders Pamela Sinclair, Fred Carenduff, Graham Carson, Elspeth Cowan, Anne Ventisei, and Sarah Beveridge, Mr. Carter launched Pancreatic Cancer Scotland as a Registered Scottish Charity (No SC041740) on 12th November 2010.

Following the merger of PCA and PCS in 2020, given the shared objectives and ethos, he was delighted to become a Trustee of the combined UK charity.

Elspeth Cowan

Trustee

Elspeth has been involved with Pancreatic Cancer Action since the early stages of its development, providing clinical advice and guidance, participating in development activities such as the development of patient information materials and patient/carer support activities.

As a Trustee, Elspeth brings a unique insight to the charity gained from working as part of the multidisciplinary team at the West of Scotland Pancreatic Unit, having many years of experience supporting patients and carers and providing professional leadership at a local, regional and national level.

Lou Nylander

Trustee

Lou has 15 years of experience holding down influential positions, managing global marketing teams and shaping the course of some of the world’s leading digital advertising companies, including PubMatic, MediaCom, AOL/ The Huffington Post and Zenith. Five years ago, Lou founded ‘Wildflowers of London’- Women’s Circle, a social enterprise and events business focused on empowering women in South East London, where she resides. She fosters an inclusive culture across everything she does, champions women, drives change, and leads from the front with a positive and inspiring attitude.

Naomi Longworth

Trustee

Naomi was appointed as a trustee of Pancreatic Cancer Action in July 2021. She is a senior practice director with over 15 years’ experience working at Brands2Life, an award-winning marketing and communications agency, with purposeful brands such as Vodafone Group, Tetra Pak, and molecular diagnostics leader Hologic. Having lost a close friend to an aggressive form of colon cancer in 2020, Naomi is passionate about telling powerful stories to champion earlier detection and prevention of cancer. She is delighted to be helping Pancreatic Cancer Action achieve its mission of improving survival rates of pancreatic cancer.

Tim Matthews

Trustee

Tim had a 38 year career as a corporate lawyer and was a Partner in major UK and also US law firms. Throughout his legal career Tim devoted part of his working time to the providing of pro bono legal advice to the Charities sector. Tim advised Ali Stunt on all legal aspects of the formation of Pancreatic Cancer Action in 2010 as part of these pro bono activities.
Now retired, Tim spends time writing having had his first novel The Twelve of Us published in 2015. Tim is also a director of the publishing company Vandings Way House.

David Slater

Trustee

David Slater grew up in London and studied history at Oxford University. He joined the Department of Employment in 1979 and became a fast-stream civil servant. He held policy and delivery posts across a number of Departments, including developing Investors in People, and leading major IT and building programmes.

He moved to North East England in 1995. He worked in senior positions in two local authorities, dealing with regeneration, finance, HR and environmental services.

Since taking early retirement, he has served as a Trustee and Chair of Trustees for several charities. David had successful surgery for Pancreatic Cancer in 2022.

Gabriella Lesca

Trustee

Gabriella Lesca is an experienced professional working in procurement and contract management, with experience in the public and private sector. She has robust experience in negotiating and managing complex, high value, national and international contracts across different sectors with prominent suppliers. Creating continuous improvement and building strategic capability is a passion of Gabriella, focusing on risk-minded and data driven decision-making that delivers organisational objectives including savings, transformation and better stakeholder management.
In 2024, Gabriella has joined the Trustee Board at Pancreatic Cancer Action, and is keen to contribute to further the mission and objectives of the charity.

Rachael Legg

Trustee

Rachael Legg is a board advisor, business transformation leader, and former Group Chief Procurement Officer for Rolls-Royce, Johnson Matthey, and Lightsource bp. With a 30-year career focused on procurement and supply chain, she has led strategic change across global corporations and smaller, fast-growing organisations in industries including aerospace, energy, chemicals, retail, and consumer goods. She now works as a fractional procurement executive and independent business advisor, helping organisations drive growth, resilience, and purpose-led performance.

Rachael is a Fellow and Global Board Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), where she champions diversity in leadership and the role of purposeful business in delivering lasting impact.

She joined the Board of Trustees at Pancreatic Cancer Action in 2020, following the death of her father just two weeks after a late pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Despite years of symptoms and numerous medical consultations, his cancer went undetected. This experience drives Rachael’s commitment to earlier diagnosis, improved awareness, and better outcomes for those affected by the disease.