Senior Advisory Consortium

Ioana Baltes

Founder and Executive Director | International Health Systems & Partnerships

Ioana Baltes builds health institutions, and the leadership that makes them last. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Praxis and People, a London senior advisory firm serving the boards, ministries and investors building the most ambitious health institutions of this generation. Her work has sat for over a decade where health systems are growing fastest, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and through the firm it takes three connected forms: executive search for the leaders these institutions need, leadership development that prepares them for systems unlike the ones the textbooks describe, and institutional build, the patient work of turning a strategy into an organisation that outlasts its founders.

Before founding Praxis and People, Ioana led international executive recruitment with King’s Commercial, the commercial arm of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. She directed the clinical and leadership recruitment campaign for the African Medical Centre of Excellence in Abuja, the quaternary-level hospital developed by Afreximbank in clinical partnership with King’s, and supported mandates for King’s College Hospital’s institutions in Dubai and Jeddah and for partnerships in South-East Asia. That work placed her at the centre of one of the defining questions in global health: not whether new institutions can be financed and built, but whether they can be led.

She teaches the New Frontiers in Global Health seminar at Imperial College London, where her sessions put students inside the argument, defending and dismantling the world’s health-system models against one another, because the hardest problems in global health are no longer medical; they are questions of how systems are funded, run and protected.

Her first career was spent asking questions for a living. A journalism graduate of Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, she served as editor-in-chief of EVA, a national women’s magazine in Romania, and later returned to her university to teach a year-long seminar. The editor’s disciplines, scrutiny of evidence, clarity under deadline and an instinct for the question no one has asked yet, remain the foundation of how she advises boards and ministries today.

Within Praxis and People, she leads international systems strategy, cross-border workforce planning and institutional partnership development across all six pillars.

Magnus Ericsson

Healthcare Executive | Hospital Operations | Strategy & Transformation

Magnus Ericsson is a senior healthcare executive with close to 20 years of international experience across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. He currently serves as Deputy General Director at Hanoi French Hospital, one of Vietnam’s leading international hospitals, where he is responsible for hospital operations and the delivery of non-clinical services across the organisation.

Magnus has a strong track record in leading complex healthcare organisations through periods of growth, transformation, and operational improvement. His experience spans hospital management, commissioning of new healthcare facilities, public–private partnerships, and large-scale operational turnarounds.

Throughout his career, Magnus has been closely involved in driving organisational change, whether through restructuring operations, improving efficiency, strengthening governance, or implementing new systems and processes. He is particularly experienced in aligning multidisciplinary teams, building performance-driven cultures, and navigating complex stakeholder environments.

In addition to his operational leadership, Magnus is engaged in broader industry discussions on healthcare leadership, workforce dynamics, and the evolving balance between innovation and sustainability in healthcare systems.

As a consultant with Praxis and People, Magnus brings a pragmatic, execution-focused approach, supporting clients in translating ambition into measurable results.

Dr Zahoor Khan

Healthcare Strategy | Commissioning & Hospital Operations

Dr Zahoor Khan is a senior healthcare executive with international experience spanning the UK, Middle East, Africa and New Zealand. His background combines clinical leadership, hospital operations, financial oversight and large-scale healthcare commissioning. He has led and advised organisations at critical stages of development from greenfield hospital activation to operational turnaround and strategic growth.

As Chief Operating Officer of a quaternary-level specialist hospital developed in partnership with a leading UK academic institution, Dr Khan played a central role in shaping the clinical services strategy, refining the workforce model, aligning financial projections, and overseeing major capital equipment procurement.

In Egypt, he supported the operationalisation of a community teaching hospital in collaboration with NHS partners, establishing governance structures, developing operational readiness programmes and strengthening executive accountability prior to go-live.

Across the UK private and NHS sectors, Dr Khan has led multi-site urgent care services, managed multidisciplinary teams, delivered performance recovery in underperforming hospitals, and driven measurable revenue growth through operational redesign.

Within Praxis and People, Dr Khan supports mandates relating to hospital commissioning, operational transformation, clinical strategy alignment and institutional growth across international healthcare markets.

Ali Dubbins ICF PCC FCIPD

Organisational Transformation & Executive Leadership Performance

Ali Dubbins is an ICF PCC accredited Executive Coach and qualified Coach Supervisor with over two decades of experience in Human Resources and Organisational Development within complex, regulated systems.

She currently serves as Interim HR & OD Transformation Lead at NHS Resolution. Her NHS career includes director and associate director-level roles across NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups, leading culture transformation, leadership strategy, inclusion frameworks and operating model redesign within high-accountability environments.

Ali specialises in supporting executive leaders during periods of structural reform, regulatory scrutiny and organisational change. Her work integrates leadership psychology, system design and performance alignment. She supports boards and executive teams in strengthening leadership performance where governance, accountability and institutional reputation are at stake.

Within Praxis and People, Ali supports Workforce Strategy & Organisational Design and Executive Search & Leadership Performance mandates, working with senior leaders navigating transformation at institutional scale.

Adina Maglan

Public Policy | Equity & Institutional Reform

Adina Maglan is a social policy specialist focused on inclusive governance, workforce representation and institutional equity frameworks within the UK.

She is currently completing a fully funded PhD at Bournemouth University examining the marginalisation and recognition of Eastern European diaspora communities within London and Birmingham public policy. Her research proposes structural frameworks to strengthen participation, representation and policy impact for under-recognised groups.

With over 12 years’ experience across local government and the voluntary sector, Adina has worked at the intersection of migration policy, equality strategy and community engagement. She has secured over £1.5 million in funding for public and third-sector initiatives and has led cross-sector partnerships involving local authorities, voluntary organisations and central government stakeholders.

Within Praxis and People, Adina supports Commissioning & Institutional Build and Partnerships, Mobility & Brain Circulation mandates, contributing expertise in workforce policy design, inclusion strategy and equity-based reform across regulated and public-sector systems.

Fred Karlsson

Health & Social Care – CQC Services

Fred works with health and social care providers to set up, stabilise and strengthen CQC-regulated services. His style is practical and grounded in delivery. He understands what it takes to move a service from concept to operation and what needs to change when performance or compliance begins to slip.

He supports CQC registrations, service start-ups, safeguarding frameworks and governance systems. He is often brought in when services are under pressure, whether that means preparing for inspection, improving audit outcomes, rebuilding local authority relationships, or restoring leadership stability.

Fred has led multiple registrations and built services from the ground up. His turnaround work focuses on creating clear structure, stronger oversight, and management confidence. He also coaches Registered Managers and senior leaders navigating regulatory accountability, helping them build confidence, clarity and sustainable leadership practice.

Within Praxis and People, Fred leads work relating to CQC-regulated services, service stabilisation and operational governance in care environments.

Leopold Diouf

Executive Search & International Talent Advisory

Leopold Diouf is an executive search specialist operating across international markets, supporting leadership and critical hires within healthcare, digital and regulated environments.

He works with hospital boards, institutional leaders, founders and executive teams when hiring carries operational consequence — where delays, compromise or misalignment impact performance, governance or growth trajectory. His mandates span Europe, the UK, Middle East and international markets, covering senior leadership appointments, specialist clinical hires, commercial leadership, and digital transformation roles.

Leopold’s approach is disciplined and retained. Each assignment begins with governance and risk alignment, followed by targeted identification of professionals already operating at the required level within comparable systems.

Within Praxis and People, Leopold leads Executive & Non-Executive Search mandates globally and supports complex international talent mobilisation projects across multiple sectors.