Our People

There are approximately 150 people employed with Action on Addiction, plus many dedicated volunteers who help us on a regular basis with our fundraising and other events. Our staff are based in our sites in Merseyside, London, Wiltshire and Dorset.

As our name suggests, we take Action on Addiction and our combined team of researchers, nurses, doctors, psychiatrists, family therapists, volunteers and counsellors take action every day to achieve our vision which is people free from addiction.

Chairman - Luke Johnson

Luke Johnson is the Chairman of Action on Addiction.  Luke is also the Chairman of Risk Capital Partners, a private equity firm he founded in 2001.  For six years until 2010 he served as Chairman of Channel 4 Television. 

He is Chairman/part owner of the restaurant business Giraffe, Chairman/owner of Patisserie Valerie and Chairman/part owner of Gail’s.  He was Chairman of PizzaExpress PLC in the 1990s.  He co-founded the largest UK chain of dental surgeries, Integrated Dental Holdings.  He serves as a non-executive director at Metro Bank plc, and has been chairman of the Royal Society of Arts since 2009, and chairs theatre charity Stage One.  He writes a weekly essay in The Financial Times.  

Chief Executive - Nick Barton

Nick Barton, the Chief Executive of Action on Addiction, was formerly Chief Executive of Clouds. Nick Barton, who has a Masters degree in clinical psychology and trained as a psychotherapist and family therapist, has worked in the addiction field for more than 20 years.

Under Nick's leadership, Clouds expanded to provide a range of residential and day treatment and rehabilitation services, as well as specialist assistance to families, including most recently, children affected by substance misusing parents. Under Nick's stewardship, Clouds has become a leading provider of Addictions Counsellors to the field, teaching degree-level courses in partnership with the University of Bath. Nick was a founding member and former chairman of the European Association for the Treatment of Addiction and recently retired as a Trustee. He was a member of the Mental Health Committee of the Independent Healthcare Association and recently retired as a Trustee of the Nelson Trust. He was a long-standing member of the Psychiatric and Substance Misuse Committee of the Independent Healthcare Association.

He has helped set up treatment centres abroad, written articles, devised and delivered workplace training, spoken at conferences, sat on an array of advisory panels and contributed to books on addiction, most recently The British System edited by Professors John Strang and Michael Gossop.

Trustees

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe

Lisa Bryer

Dr Edward Day

Vivian Hunt

Luke Johnson

John Lloyd

Andrew May

Mike Pearse

Melanie Vere Nicoll

For further information, please call 0300 330 0659 or email: action@actiononaddiction.org.uk