Sue Holden

Sue has worked in the NHS since 1983 after initially starting her career as a librarian. 

She trained as a nurse, then midwife and worked clinically for over 15 years before developing her interest in operational development and learning.  

Sue worked as an executive director in a Teaching Trust before becoming the lead improvement director for NHS Improvement in 2015. For 7 years Sue worked with Trusts in quality and financial special measures and latterly as the national director for Intensive Support.  She developed and implemented a new approach to support, and the Recovery Support Programme became part of NHS England’s revised oversight framework in 2021.

In June 2022, Sue joined Aqua as its new chief executive and is recognised for her compassionate approach to providing improvement support to organisations and senior leadership teams and Boards.  

Sue believes it is more ‘how’ we go about supporting organisations than ‘what’ we do, as key to enabling organisations to learn how to improve and sustain improvement, based upon clear leadership and the application of improvement science aligned to clear governance.

In September 2024, Sue stepped down as chief executive to become the executive chair of the Board where she continues to support Aqua’s purpose to inspire the best quality health and care for everyone.