The Chair is Ruth Sutherland, interim CEO of the Alzheimer's Society. 

Ruth has been with the Alzheimer's Society since March 2008. She came to the Society from Rethink, the largest voluntary provider of mental health services, where she was the Director of Services, and prior to this she was the Northern Ireland Director. Previously Ruth was the founding Director of The Community Development & Health Network based in Northern Ireland. Ruth qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1984 but has spent the majority of her career in health promotion, holding a range of management posts in England and Northern Ireland between 1988 and 2003.

Ruth's past achievements include serving as a trustee of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, and involvement in peace building through chairing a District Partnership Board for Peace and Reconciliation and chairing an advisory panel to assess and distribute European funding for Peace and Reconciliation. Ruth has also been a member of a Health & Social Services Council in NI and participated in the advisory panels for several funding bodies including Children In Need and The National Lottery.

Ruth, born in 1961, is married with three children and divides her time between Northern Ireland and London.