Maria Battle

Maria has been the Chair of Hywel Dda University Health Board since August 2019 when she returned to her home in Pembrokeshire. Together with her CEO and Board she led the Health Board through the challenges of the pandemic and in delivering its longer term strategic vision to provide health care closer to home and a new planned and emergency care hospital to ensure sustainable healthcare provision across a quarter of the land mass of Wales.

Before that Maria chaired Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board for 8 years, leading the health board out of targeted intervention and delivering its best performance ever.

Maria is a solicitor specialising in public law and human rights. She was formerly Senior Director of Consumer Focus Wales, a consumer rights statutory watchdog. Prior to this she was the Deputy/Acting Children`s Commissioner for Wales advocating for children rights in health, education, child protection and asylum in Wales, UK and Europe. She has worked in local authorities in Wales and had her own small legal practice in West Wales. She chaired the first Standards Committee of Carmarthenshire County Council, was the Director of Age Concern Ceredigion championing the rights of older people and manager of the guardian ad litem service in Dyfed and lectured in law at the Universities of Glamorgan and Birmingham.

Maria was a Non-Executive Director of the Principality Stadium and a lay member of the Council of the University of Cardiff and a trustee of Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum Wales, and is a member of the Board of Social Care Wales.