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Stephen Thornton has been Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation since December 1997. He had previously been Chief Executive of Cambridge and Huntingdon Health Authority since 1993.

His NHS career began in 1979 when he was recruited to the National Graduate Management Training Programme. He trained at Manchester Business School and held a number of hospital appointments in the Manchester/Salford area before moving to Cambridge in 1983 to take up post of Administrator at Fulbourn Hospital. In 1985 he became one of two hospital level General Managers in the Authority. He was responsible for managing services for mentally ill people, people with learning difficulties, general community health services, and health promotion services.

He moved to the East Anglian Regional health Authority in June 1989 initially as head of Corporate Development to lead the Region's implementation of the 1990 Reforms, where he co-directed the "Rubber Windmill" simulation exercise, winner of the European Health Care Management Association award for excellence in management. He subsequently held the posts of Director of Performance Management and Director of Planning at the RHA.