The board of Woodford Patient Capital Trust has appointed Carolan Dobson and Alan Hodson as non-executive directors, both with immediate effect.
Dobson has a background in fund management and is an experienced non-executive director in public and private sector organisations, including a diverse portfolio of investment trust roles. She spent her executive career at Murray Johnstone, where she managed Murray Income and was a main board director, and later joined Abbey National Asset Management as head of UK.
In 2004, Dobson was appointed a non-executive director of Aberdeen Smaller Companies Income Trust, becoming chairman in 2011. In 2010, she was appointed as a non-executive director of JP Morgan European Smaller Companies Trust, becoming chairman in 2013. In the same year, she joined the board of The Brunner Investment Trust, becoming chair in 2016. Dobson has recently been appointed to the board of BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust and also serves on the boards of Schroder UK Growth Fund and Nest Corporation.
Hodson is the senior independent director of JPMorgan Elect and non-executive director HarbourVest Global Private Equity. He joined Rowe and Pitman (subsequently SG Warburg, SBC and UBS) in 1984 and worked in a range of roles, all related to international equity markets. He became global head of equities in April 2001 and was a member of the executive committee of UBS Investment Bank and of the UBS AG group managing board.
Hodson retired from UBS in June 2005 and has since held positions on a variety of financial and charity boards. He joined BlackRock Commodities Income Investment Trust in 2005, as chair of the board, a role he held until 2015, on completion of his nine-year tenure. He was a partner at Mill Street Asset Management from 2006 to 2014, and a member of the advisory board of Norges Bank Investment Management between 2006 and 2011.
In addition to his commercial board roles, Hodson has served on the boards of a number of charities, including chairman of trustees of the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (2007-2015).
Susan Searle, chair, Woodford Patient Capital Trust, says: “I am pleased to welcome Carolan and Alan to the board and believe they will make a major contribution to our stewardship of WPCT.
“They both have extensive and high level experience within the financial sector, and specifically within the investment trust sector, and will complement the existing non-executive directors of the company who hold a strong background in the development and growth of healthcare and technology businesses from early stage to maturity.”
