Five years on | From strategic appointment to sustained impact.
The British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) is the professional membership body championing excellence in care for people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions. Bringing together clinicians, nurses, allied health professionals, researchers and patient partners, the Society advances standards, strengthens knowledge and influences the systems that shape patient outcomes across the UK.
Its vision is that people with rheumatic conditions across the lifespan receive the highest quality outcomes and live well, delivered through collaborative leadership, inclusive professional development and a thriving multidisciplinary community.
Over the past five years, Peridot’s partnership with BSR has centred on one leadership journey. A journey that began with a strategic director appointment in 2020 and evolved into a successful transition to Chief Executive in 2023, followed by sustained organisational impact through to the present day.
This is the story of long term partnership, thoughtful succession and values led leadership inaction.
Context.
James Hunt, Head of Not for Profit Appointments at Peridot Partners, first partnered with BSR in 2020. The wider health landscape was already under significant pressure. Workforce shortages, rising patient demand and increasing system complexity across the NHS were shaping the future of rheumatology care.
At the same time, BSR itself was preparing for change. The organisation had strong foundations, a committed membership and an established national voice, yet faced important strategic questions around influence, education, community connection and future leadership.
This was not simply a recruitment exercise. It was a moment to think carefully about capability, continuity and the leadership the speciality would need next.
The first partnership.
Peridot supported the appointment of Sarah Campbell as Director of Practice and Quality in 2020. Sarah brings more than two decades of experience across health policy, quality improvement, and clinical standards, including nearly 10 years at the Royal College of Physicians, focused on improving the safety and effectiveness of medical care.
Her appointment reflected a deliberate choice to strengthen both her professional credibility and her influence within the system. From the outset, Sarah’s leadership centred on listening widely, understanding stakeholder experience and grounding decisions in real world impact.
She reflected
“You only make the right decisions once you understand the needs of all stakeholders…We’ll get a better outcome if the right mix of people are at the table.”
This approach would shape everything that followed.
Stepping into chief executive leadership.
By early 2023, BSR was ready for its next chapter, launching a new five year strategy focused on raising standards in care, strengthening national influence, supporting professionals throughout their careers and building an inclusive, high performing community across the speciality. These ambitions required leadership that combined continuity with momentum and strategic clarity with relational depth.
Having already built trust across the organisation and sector, Sarah was supported to step into the Chief Executive role, reflecting both her impact and BSR’s commitment to thoughtful, values led succession.
Leading through challenge, growth and renewal.
Sarah’s early tenure as Chief Executive unfolded against sustained pressure within the NHS. Yet even in this context, BSR continued to strengthen its role as the professional home for rheumatology.
Key developments across the first phase of her leadership included:
- Launching and embedding the 2023–2027 strategy, aligning members, volunteers and partners around a shared long term vision.
- Record membership growth and exceptionally strong staff pride and empowerment.
- National advocacy and policy influence, including evidence to a parliamentary inquiry on home care medicines services.
- Expansion of inclusive education and hybrid learning for the whole multidisciplinary workforce.
- Continued strengthening of research, guidelines and quality improvement to support better patient outcomes.
Alongside delivery, culture remained central. Sarah nurtured a collaborative, inclusive and high performing organisation where shared purpose translated into meaningful impact.
Sustained impact through to 2026.
By 2025, BSR’s work showed clear maturity and resilience. Membership remained strong, professional engagement deepened, and policy influence continued to grow in response to national reform and workforce pressures. Financial stewardship remained strong and transparent, with trustees sustaining investment in gold standard guidelines, digital educational content, and hybrid accessibility for major events while navigating sector wide cost pressures.
Across this period, Sarah’s leadership reflected steadiness rather than spectacle, building trust, aligning people and keeping patient impact at the centre of every decision.
Partnership beyond placement.
What makes this story distinctive is not only the successful Chief Executive appointment, but the continuity of partnership around it. Our relationship with BSR has never been limited to a single search. Instead, it reflects a shared commitment to values led leadership, thoughtful succession, and inclusive recruitment grounded in long term impact.
Supporting Sarah’s journey from director to chief executive mirrors the intentional leadership pathways we see in organisations that prioritise sustainability over short term change. Because truly inclusive recruitment is not about a moment of appointment. It is about what leadership becomes over time.
Looking ahead.
As BSR continues delivering its strategy and shaping the future of rheumatology across the UK, Sarah’s five year journey offers a powerful reminder that sustainable change rarely arrives through disruption alone. More often, it grows through trust, continuity and leadership grounded in purpose and this is where long term partnership makes the greatest difference.
Sarah had shared:
“We all remember how challenging 2020 was. Working with James towards the end of that year was affirming and showed me the way forward that I was looking for. Discussing the BSR opportunity with James, I knew immediately that it consolidated my professional experience and where I could make an impact. Being an internal candidate for the CEO position was scary!
Again, James and the team at Peridot were fantastically reassuring, coaching me in the different approach needed for CEO candidacy. Leadership of BSR allows me to put my values into practice every day, and I’m hugely appreciative of Peridot’s support in getting me here.”
James had commented:
“At Peridot, we believe recruitment should never be a transaction. Our partnership with the BSR reflects what becomes possible when leadership, trust and shared purpose are nurtured over time. Supporting Sarah’s journey from strategic director to Chief Executive has been about more than a successful appointment. It has been about the stewardship of the organisation’s future and the wider impact it creates for patients, professionals and the speciality as a whole. At Peridot, we believe recruitment should never be a transaction. Our partnership with the BSR reflects what becomes possible when leadership, trust and shared purpose are nurtured over time.
Supporting Sarah’s journey from strategic director to Chief Executive has been about more than a successful appointment. It has been about stewardship of the organisation’s future and the wider impact it creates for patients, professionals and the speciality as a whole”
Women in Leadership.
We also interviewed Sarah to celebrate International Women’s Day, sharing the stories of inspiring women that we have helped appoint: Women in Leadership: Sarah Campbell
James Hunt is a senior executive search specialist with over two decades of experience connecting exceptional leaders with purpose-driven organisations.
As Head of Not for Profit Appointments at Peridot Partners, he has led 300 specialist, senior and board-level searches across the UK’s charity, membership and higher-education sectors.
