Our trustees

Our trustees are also known as the Council of Management. They are:

Roy Bratby - Chairman

Prior to retirement in 2006 Roy Bratby spent 10 years as Chief Executive of the Institute of Acoustics.He is a Member of the Association of International Accountants and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute.

Married with a son and daughter he lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire and his interests are historic buildings and architecture, listening to music and researching family history. He is a member of the National Trust and English Heritage and serves on the Council of the St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society and is currently Chairman of the Programme Development Committee. He is also a member of the St Albans Probus Club- Verulamium.

He was a member of the Council of Management of the British Tinnitus Association from 2002 until 2005

Martyn Fray FCA - Hon. Treasurer

Martyn Fray qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse (now PwC) in Birmingham. After a spell in their London office, Martyn decided his future lay in the world of commerce. He has over 40 years industrial and commercial experience working in industry with both multi-national corporations and owner managed businesses. He has held directorships throughout either at functional level (Finance Director) or in general management. Martyn’s career spans automotive components, the UK steel industry, telecoms and electronics, and food manufacture. Most recently he joined and now owns a growing national business consultancy assisting owner managed businesses grow and prosper.

A keen sailor, Martyn now shares his time between his home in Leicestershire and South Devon where he follows his love of the sea and all matters nautical. Married for more years than they like to admit, Martyn and Frances have four adult children and a growing team of grandchildren.

Chris Fry - Trustee

Sheffield solicitor Chris Fry is President of Sheffield District Law Society and has won various prestigious awards including the ‘Rising Star’ accolade by Yorkshire Lawyer in 2006, and was a finalist in the ‘Solicitor of the Year’ category at the 2008 Law Society Excellence Awards.

He has attended the last three annual BTA conferences and articles written by him have appeared in previous issues of Quiet. Chris also contributes to other health and legal titles including the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ publication Focus. Chris has undertaken a considerable amount of work for those suffering from noise induced hearing loss and has seen the devastating effects of tinnitus on too many clients. Recent cases include that of three workers at Taylors of Harrogate, who successfully achieved compensation from their employers after developing tinnitus as a result of exposure to low level noise. Chris Fry has been a supporter of the BTA for a number of years and was recently involved with a national promotion for the BTA in collaboration with audiologists Hidden Hearing throughout Tinnitus Awareness Week. Through this initiative, Chris helped to raise awareness through heavy promotion in local and national media, as well as raising money for the BTA.

Professor Deborah Hall - Trustee

Professor Hall is currently the Programme Leader in Tinnitus at the National Biomedical Research Unit in Hearing, as well as being a Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience at Nottingham Trent University.

Deb has a specific interest in the neurophysiological basis in tinnitus and exploring ways to manage it. Deborah served on the BTA’s Professional Advisers’ Committee between 2003-2010.

Prior to that Deb worked as a research scientist at the MRC Institute of Hearing Research in Nottingham leading a small team of researchers who use functional magnetic resonance imaging as a tool for finding out about auditory brain processing in humans.

In 1993 Deb was awarded an honours degree in Psychology from the University of West London followed in 1997 by a PhD in Neuropsychology from the University of Birmingham.  

Philip Nash - Trustee

Philip has over 35 years of project experience in the UK, Europe, Russia and worldwide in both the public and private sectors. He has worked in the City and in the energy, health, and legal project management spheres.

As Newcastle Hospital's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Director, he was responsible for a large expansion and amalgamation scheme for the country's second largest NHS Trust, achieving one of the lowest health sector funding costs.

Other projects Philip has worked on include several hospitals; oil and gas developments; power plants; climate change (via energy into waste projects) and infrastructure projects for airports, as well as posts as director and general manager of a power company. Philip has served on a number of industry committees. For 3 years, he has been an elected public governor for the North Hampshire and Basingstoke NHS Foundation Trust, serving on the Audit, Membership and Communication and Remuneration Committees.

Philip's interests include classical music, motor racing and rugby. He has tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Philip is married with a son and a daughter, and lives in Hampshire.

Dr Judith Sutherland - Trustee

Judi studied Microbiology at the University of Leeds and then obtained a PhD in Biochemistry at Nottingham University. Since then she has spent more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, where she has project managed the development of new drugs at all stages, from early drug candidate selection, through to to launch and post-marketing studies. In 2001 she gained an Executive MBA from London Business School.

Judi has recently taken a career break to study creative writing. She has had several poems and short stories published and is a member of the Poetry Society.

Peter Wheeler, PhD - Trustee

Peter Wheeler read physics at Imperial College, subsequently specialising in acoustics and audio signal processing for his doctorate. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics. He was President of the Institute of Acoustics for 1992-94. After working for BBC in broadcast engineering, Peter Wheeler joined ISVR at Southampton University, where he established a successful research group in electroacoustics and audio communications, patenting noise cancellation communication products for UK industry. His work has been featured on four BBC TV 'Tomorrow's World' programmes. After a period as a Director of Racal Acoustics, Peter was appointed Professor of Applied Acoustics at Salford University. He was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 1995.

Peter has been active in standards development in acoustics and noise for more than thirty years. He holds the post of Civil Advisor in acoustics to the Royal Air Force. Since his retirement, he has acted as professional engineering advisor to the Institute of Acoustics. He has been a Parish Councillor in his home village of Penn, serving as Chairman from 2002 until 2007.

Our Vice Presidents

Geoffrey Bates OBE - BTA Vice President

Geoffrey's business career covered 32 years with Shell International, then industrial financing in Saudi Arabia and consultancy work in the UK. From 1996 to 1999, he was Hon. Treasurer and Trustee of the BTA and then Company Secretary until September 2002. He was elected as a Vice-President in February, 2003.

He is also involved with the Cardinal Hume Centre in London for homeless young people.

Stephanie Beacham - BTA Vice President

Stephanie was brought up in Hertfordshire, studied ballet from the age of four and later mime in Paris with Etienne de Creux before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Shortly after birth, she was diagnosed as being completely deaf in her right ear.

Her extensive career, which encompasses film, theatre and television, has earned her much success on both sides of the Atlantic. Stephanie is also a spokesperson for the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association and serves on the Board of Directors for Free Arts for Abused Children.

She has two daughters, Phoebe and Chloe, and a grandson, Jude.

Eric Trowsdale - BTA Vice President

Unanimously elected Vice President at the 2010 AGM, Eric Trowsdale started the Birmingham Tinnitus Support Group in 1981 along with Maurice Bluck. Soon after he became involved with the BTA, and recently stepped down as a trustee. Currently Eric is Chairman of the Birmingham Group.He also acts as Counselling Advisor to the BTA and oversees their Counselling Training events.

At a personal level Eric's background is in Social Work/Probation, Psychology, and Training. His interests include music, walking, and reading. Eric also dabbles in watercolours but finds that time is short nowadays.