Meet Ilona Blue, our Non-Executive Director
Ilona is an experienced non-executive director and executive leader with a successful track record in finance, governance and programme delivery in central government in the public sector. Her career is driven by an inherent commitment to delivering better outcomes and value for money.
Since 2022 Ilona has held a number of non-executive roles across the public sector: a lay council member at the General Dental Council, the UK-wide statutory regulator of around 120,000 members of the dental team; a non-executive member and Audit Chair at Frimley NHS Integrated Care Board; a non-executive director and Audit Chair at Active Travel England, an arm’s length body of the Department for Transport established in 2022 to enable over half of all journeys in English towns and cities to be walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030; and an independent advisor to Network Rail’s Audit & Risk Assurance and Treasury Committees. Ilona was a NED and Senior Independent Director at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust from 2011 to 2019.
Her executive career began in academia where she undertook public health research. She then joined the Civil Service where she spent over twenty years in four departments (HM Treasury, Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office and Department for Transport). She was Group Finance Director at the Department for Transport from 2016 to 2022.
She is a Chartered Public Finance Accountant and holds a PhD in International Public Health, a Post Graduate Diploma in Medical Statistics & Epidemiology and a BA (Hons) in Geography. She completed the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma in 2020.
When asked why she wanted to join Accent, Ilona said “I am committed to supporting people to achieve the best possible outcomes in life and I have a strong appreciation of how safe and affordable housing can enable this.”