Anthony Matthews

A strategy, transformation, and change lead with over 2 decades of experience in managing large-scale transformations, change management, and continuous improvement initiatives in the public sector and financial services. I specialise in creating governance structures that help organisations navigate complex changes effectively. My work focuses on the intersection of strategy, transformation, and risk, ensuring that when an organisation decides to pursue transformation and implement change, there is a clear roadmap outlining the necessary actions, proper oversight of the delivery process, and genuine accountability for the outcomes.

I specialise in developing organisational governance frameworks, such as Change Committees, Pipeline Management, and Prioritisation Frameworks, that enable C-suite leaders to execute enterprise-wide change. I hold certifications in MSP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, Management of Portfolios, TOGAF (both Business Architecture and Enterprise Architecture), and Prosci/ADKAR. I have a strong understanding of how operating models evolve and how change projects must align with that evolution, ensuring effective governance without unnecessary bureaucracy, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and driving change within organisations to enhance operational efficiency, improve business outcomes, and support long-term strategic goals. 

Professional Experience

Strategy and Transformation Lead

NEST Corporation | February 2024 – Present

NEST is the UK's largest workplace pension scheme, serving 13 million members with assets approaching £50 billion. Lead for transformation governance structure, meeting cadence, reporting overview and delivery initiatives under the transformation portfolio, working closely with the Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Transformation Director and Executive Transformation Committee.

Operating at the intersection of strategy, finance, and transformation, building the governance rails for the organisation’s change agenda.

Change Pipeline and Portfolio Governance

• Designed and maintained the transformation strategy portfolio pipeline, a forward-looking view of all delivery activity categorised by type (strategic transformation, investment mandate, regulatory, BAU) with clear prioritisation based on strategic alignment, resource requirements, and delivery risk using a POAP. This POAP gives the Executive Committee a single view of what's coming and what trade-offs for decisions.
• Built the Executive Transformation Committee from design concept using terms of reference, membership, reporting cadence, standard agendas, and decision-making protocols. I prepare and facilitate each session, ensuring the Committee focuses on prioritisation decisions and status updates that stakeholders can read in advance.
• Developed the strategy delivery 'Plan on a Page' portfolio visualisation that consolidates transformation initiatives into a single dashboard showing interdependencies, milestone convergence, and resource hotspots. This reduced executive preparation time by roughly half and accelerated decision-making by around 40%.

Governance Framework and Project Initiation

• Instituted the governance standards for strategic programmes and projects, including business case requirements, PID templates, and stage-gate criteria. I work with programme SROs and Lead during mobilisation to ensure their initiation documentation meets the standard before Committee review, catching issues early rather than rejecting proposals at the gate.
• Co-designed the transformation requirements for the Enterprise Change Framework with colleagues across Strategy, Change Management, and the directorates. These requirements codify the end-to-end methodology for identifying, categorising, initiating, governing, and embedding transformation and change.
• Introduced a 'lean governance' principle, scaling oversight requirements proportionate to initiative risk to ensure that minor process improvements don't require the same level of scrutiny as a multi-fund technology programme, and working with the risk team to formalise and adopt a best practice approach across governance domains.

Programme Support and Lessons Learned

• Led the lessons learned reviews for the strategic issues, working closely with Nest Invest and Nest Experience colleagues. This sensitive piece of work examined how programme and organisational changes affected downstream systems and identified the need for governance, communication and enterprise-level visibility into system interfaces and dependencies.
• The findings directly informed the current enterprise-wide change framework work. This reinforced the case for business architecture capability within the strategic, transformation and change function, understanding how the organisation needs to evolve before committing to specific change programmes.
• Supported combination of transformation planning with the business planning cycle, ensuring change funding and investment decisions align with corporate planning timelines and budget allocation processes.

Head of Strategy and Engagement

UK Health Security Agency | October 2021 – January 2024

UKHSA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), responsible for protecting the nation from health threats. Promoted to establish the Strategy and Engagement function for National Health Protection—building a team and operating model during the transition from pandemic crisis response to sustainable operations.

Led the strategic transition from pandemic crisis response to endemic management, directing governance for a multidisciplinary team.

• Conducted scenario modelling for various threats, including respiratory pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, and foodborne illness. Developed cost-benefit models to translate surveillance capabilities into health and economic impact for the Treasury.
• Built and led a 15-person team spanning strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, and programme coordination. Recruited the team, designed the operating model, and established the governance interfaces with the Executive Committees (Bronze, Silver and Gold) and external partners, including DHSC and Cabinet Office.
• Delivered the National Health Protection Strategy, which secured Treasury funding and Cabinet Office endorsement. This strategy resolved post-pandemic strategic uncertainty and defined the long-term operating model for outbreak management and surveillance.
• Established the Programme Management Office (PMO) for strategic initiative delivery, creating the change pipeline and governance structures for the agency's modernisation programmes while disassembly emergency pandemic infrastructure.
• Provided executive decision support to the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Committee, developing in collaboration scenario planning tools and strategic analysis that helped the Board navigate health protection threats during a period of significant uncertainty.

Head of Operational Planning

NHS Test and Trace | January 2021 – September 2021

NHS Test and Trace was the national programme delivering COVID-19 testing across England. Promoted to lead operational planning during the peak of the crisis, responsible for ensuring testing capacity met demand.

Directed capacity planning for the national testing service during peak crisis response.

• Managed a team of 20 staff across regions and oversaw capacity planning for 2.5 million weekly tests. Designed the demand forecasting models and supply chain coordination that maintained over 95% service availability during variant surges.
• Defined for implementation the Target Operating Model for the national testing service, bringing together PCR centres, rapid testing sites, and home distribution into a coherent service architecture.
• Built the Strategic Partnerships alliance with 151 Local Authority Directors of Public Health, Health Protection Officers and the National Health Service, improving the fragmented coordination with structured engagement that enabled accurate localised capacity planning.

Earlier Career

DHSC – Local Outbreak Plans Programme Manager (2020): Designed the National Outbreak Management Framework and led the assurance programme that achieved 100% local authority readiness within three months.

Northamptonshire CCGs – Service Redesign Programme Manager (2019-2020): Delivered an Integrated Care Model serving 50,000+ patients, including digital platform architecture for mental health services.

NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes – Programme Manager (2018-2019): Designed and launched perinatal mental health services across a 1.5 million population catchment.

NHS England – Senior Programme Manager (2017-2018): Led digital transformation of outpatient services, including virtual clinics and e-prescribing.

Postgraduate: MSc Strategic Planning (in progress)

Undergraduate: BA (Hons) History and International Studies; Diploma in Programme and Project Management; Diploma in Health and Social Care Management

Professional Certifications: Management of Portfolios, Prosci/ADKAR; Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) Practitioner; PRINCE2 Practitioner; TOGAF Business Architecture and Enterprise Architecture; Enterprise Risk Management; Finance for Non-Financial Managers.

Executive Development: Cross-Government Leadership Programme; Board Reporting and Executive Communication