Crystal Akass
Chief People Officer
Crystal joined as Chief People Officer in March 2025. She is also Chief People Officer at Guy’s and St. Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust, which she joined in August 2024. She was previously Chief People Officer at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
Before joining the NHS, Crystal spent 18 years in the UK Civil Service, joining the Home Office from university and progressing through HR and organisational development roles both there and in the Ministry of Justice.
She went on to hold senior roles at the Cabinet Office as HR Director, and Director of People at the Department for Work and Pensions – one of the Government’s largest departments, employing 80,000 colleagues nationally.