Jen has worked for the NHS for 11 years, initially leading NHS organisations across Coventry and Warwickshire in Equality and Inclusion. Finding an interest in applying her skills in inclusion, she then moved into managing NHS community engagement and consultation across Birmingham. Appreciating the undeniable link between engagement and communication, she has now worked in this area for 7 years. In December 2023 she moved into a senior leadership role at one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country, being the senior communications leader at Solihull Hospital as well as having strategic responsibility for the organisation’s social media strategy and delivery. She is passionate about organisational culture and believes social media is a powerful tool in culture and behaviour change.
Orlo’s advisory board
We’ve brought together leading experts from our public sector customer base! Offering a wealth of experience and industry knowledge, our Advisory Board helps shape Orlo’s strategic initiatives and product innovation, supporting our vision of creating stronger and more resilient communities.
Leveraging our Board members’ unique insights, we can better identify current and future challenges facing public sector organisations and ensure that Orlo is always evolving to provide the best for our customers.
Let’s meet them, shall we?
Our advisory board
Jen Weigham
Associate Director of Communications and Engagement
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Julian Pike
Executive Director – Housing, Support & Communities
United Welsh
Julian has worked in Housing since 2002, initially as an Environmental Health Officer and then various other housing related roles in local government including – Grants Manager, Renewal Area Manager, Head of Housing Services. Passionate about change management and making tangible improvements to services for the benefits of customers, Julian joined United Welsh Housing Association in 2018 as Deputy Director of Housing before being promoted to the Executive Team in 2022.
Rebecca Malpass
Digital Communications Development Officer
Derbyshire Constabulary
Rebecca is a Digital Communication Development senior at Derbyshire Constabulary where she has worked for almost five years. She has almost a decade’s worth of experience working in digital comms across multiple sectors. In her current role she has a focus of utilising digital channels to serve the people of Derbyshire in the best possible way, while aiming for Derbyshire to be one of the leading police forces in the digital sphere.
Michael Stringer
Director of Communications
Surrey County Council
Michael is an experienced political communications manager with a history of working in journalism, local government and Parliament. Having worked in local government communications since 2014, he is currently Assistant Director of Communications and Engagement at Surrey County Council as well as Vice Chair of the LGcomms Executive Committee and an alumni of the national 2018/19 LGcomms Future Leaders programme.
Ross Wigham
Director of Communications
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Ross Wigham is Director of Communications at Northumbria Healthcare and also the current national chair of the NHS providers #CommsLeads network. Northumbria is one of the largest and best-performing NHS organisations in the country and has been twice rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission.
Before this, Ross was head of communications and marketing at Gateshead Health in the North East of England. Prior to joining the NHS, he ran communications for one of the biggest local authorities in the country. He is also an experienced journalist and blogger, having spent a decade in London working for trade publications and later developing content for some of the biggest private-sector brands.
Ross regularly speaks at national conferences and events for bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), Local Government Association, Public Policy Exchange, FirePro and NHS Providers.
