Zina Etheridge

BA History 1990
Chief Executive of NHS, North East London

Zina is currently the Chief Executive of NHS North East London—the body responsible for planning and commissioning the healthcare for the two million people who live in east and north east London, as well as creating services which better integrate health and care, reducing health inequalities, and shifting services and resources from treating ill health in hospitals to creating good health in communities. Zina is passionate about ensuring that particularly those suffering from mental ill health get the support they need. Prior to this, she was Chief Executive of the London Borough of Haringey for 5 years, and deputy Chief Executive before that. She set herself a mission to transform the council into an organisation which was innovative, high performing and working hand-in-hand with its communities to enable them to thrive, and to firmly put behind it the many challenging periods in its history as a public authority. She has always wanted any team or organisation she leads to feel like a family. Prior to joining Haringey, Zina was a civil servant working in a range of Departments including in the Cabinet Office as Executive Director of Civil Service reform, amongst other roles.

Zina has used the skills she learned studying History at Keble throughout her career, in particular analysing data and evidence, producing a coherent narrative and being able to argue an issue from any side! Arguably her experience coxing a men’s eight has also stood her in good stead in a career that often involves bringing diverse people together to pull in the same direction. Completing an MSc in International Relations at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth cemented a love of hills, and lifelong interest in the forces that lie beneath the daily ebb and flow of politics.

She has three children and has recently married Angus (Lund, Maths 1990) seven years after they reconnected after a 27-year break from their College relationship. They run together, preferably on trails and hills, and have completed several orienteering-based mountain marathons.