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ISS UK & Ireland has announced the appointments of incumbent leaders Donna Brown (formerly Managing Director (MD) Healthcare) and Nicola Morris (formerly MD, Banking) as MD, Public Sector Strategic Partnerships and MD, Healthcare, respectively.
Brown and Morris will report to Martin Burholt, Chief Operations Officer of ISS’ public and regulated business, GHE, which comprises its Government, Healthcare and Education segments. In their first few months in role, both will be focused on the company’s vision, strategy and plans for its core Healthcare segment.
In its unparalleled position as a trusted NHS partner for more than 35 years, ISS has already stated its commitment to be proactive partner in the creation of a seamless healthcare system, valued and admired not just by those who receive care, but also by those who dedicate their lives to delivering it.
Supporting this vision and drawing on experience working with the NHS for more than 40 years, and in response to the NHS’s 10-year health plan for England, ISS has crafted its Healthcare Playbook. The Playbook sets out the company’s vision and mission through initiatives including:
i) lightening the load on NHS staff, freeing up valuable clinical staff time to focus on patient care;
ii) reducing strain on its infrastructure by providing sustainable, expedient project support to tackle its maintenance backlog; and
iii) improving patient experiences and outcomes through innovative, enhanced services and partnerships.
ISS is currently a market leader in the provision of outsourced soft facilities management services in healthcare, with ambitions to continue to grow its hard FM market share and significantly expand its capital projects business. The company will leverage Brown’s extensive healthcare experience, and Morris’ fresh perspective, alongside their proven track records of dynamic, effective leadership, to support the NHS, its clinicians, and its partners in the achievement of its goals.
With vision and playbook in place, Brown’s and Morris’ roles have been designed to complement each other.
Drawing on their relevant strengths and experience, and ISS’s commitment to strategic, customer-focused FM, Morris will lead a team of 8,500 in ISS Healthcare to deliver the objectives and outcomes of the Playbook, whilst continuing to prioritise employee learning and development (such as the well-established ISS healthcare academies programme), delivering real-time improvements and enhancements to the plan, and ensuring clients operate as sustainably and effectively as possible.
While remaining engaged with Morris and her team, Brown will bring her shared learnings and expertise to existing and prospective clients across the Public Sector, leveraging existing, new, and innovative partnerships, and driving strategy development for a range of clients, supporting UK communities, businesses and organisations and the people that rely upon them.
This strong alliance will mean that Morris can manage tactical relationships with individual NHS Trusts, whilst Brown will work with NHSE and Government departments on strategic matters with a view to driving value, supporting growth across the economy, impacting policy, and health service wide change programmes, such as sustainability and food initiatives.
Brown said: “I am a great believer that you should always love what you do. I have loved my 40 years working with the NHS – 35 of them at ISS – and have thoroughly enjoyed a challenging, and complex career in healthcare that has given my professional life real meaning and purpose, I am truly blessed. The opportunity to share the fruits of my experience with clients in other significant fields, like Government and education, while also being able to support Nicola, a respected colleague, as she brings her extensive experience and unrelenting enthusiasm to bear in the delivery of our vision, was simply too good to pass up.”
Morris commented: “I have loved every minute of my career to date, from my five years leading our banking service, to the 20 plus years I spent in a number of leadership roles across the FM industry. Leading our Healthcare team and driving the delivery of our comprehensive, innovative objectives offers me a chance to apply my knowledge and experience in a new arena. Doing so, while also working in partnership with an industry expert like Donna, whose energy, enthusiasm, and depth of knowledge offers an unparalleled opportunity for growth and learning for us both.”
Burholt added: “These critical appointments reflect the way we are structuring our whole business to tackle the challenges our public sector clients face. As we strive to build an even deeper understanding of client and customer requirements and ambitions, Donna and Nicola are crucial to the continued genuine partnerships, the spirit of innovation, and the commitment to outstanding performance that characterise our approach in these key market segments.”
2026 will be a milestone year for ISS’ GHE segments, including its Healthcare division. Over the coming 12 months, the company will bring a number of market leading initiatives, services and products to market to support its aims in this meaningful area as it seeks to achieve its vision and mission for the benefit of the millions of people using NHS services every year.
