Bob Atkins CPFA
Bob qualified with Cipfa in 1978. He had a long career in public finance, culminating in being Treasurer to Thames Valley Police Authority, Treasurer of the Metropolitan Police Authority and finally Director of Fince for Thames Valley Probation Service. He is an ordained priest in the Church of England – now retired and attached to Derby Cathedral.
Bill Butler CPFA
Bill is an experienced Non-Executive Director and currently sits on the boards of the Law Society, where he chairs the Finance and Investment Committee and sits on the Group Audit Committee and GPDF Ltd, where he chairs the audit committee. He was previously chief executive of the Security Industry Authority for six years and also held senior board positions in finance and audit. He has extensive experience of regulation and strategy, policy and operational delivery. He was admitted as a Chartered Security Professional in 2014.
David Ewart CPFA
David has been a CIPFA member for over 35 years. He is a graduate of Bristol University who spent his working life in London local government finance. After qualifying at Merton Council, he worked for Ealing Council for nearly 30 years, his last post being as a Finance Director and deputy CFO. Since retiring from Ealing he has taken up a number of audit committee and treasurer appointments.
Philip Geering (Chair)
Philip is a qualified barrister. He was previously Director of Policy at the Crown Prosecution Service and Director of Strategy and Communication at the Independent Police Complaints Commission. He currently holds a appointments within disciplinary/regulatory and similar fields.
Paul Grant
Paul has been a Director and Responsible individual of an Independent Fostering Agency since 2012. He has previously worked as an Independent workplace investigator, investigating matters relating to staff grievances and disciplinary issues.
Paul has been a non-executive director for a variety of organisations since 2007 and currently sits on the board of Cafcass. Paul sits as a Lay Chair/Lay Panel member on Professional Conduct panels for a number of professional regulatory bodies.
Paul Hawkins
Paul served as a police officer for 30 years including leading a unit investigating and forensically reconstructing fatal road traffic collisions. He then went on the have a second career as an Information Security Manager, retiring in 2019.
For over 25 years Paul has sat as a lay member on school admission appeal panels and on independent review panels for school exclusions. Since 2020 he has also sat as a lay member on professional conduct panels at the Teaching Regulation Agency.
Christopher Johnson CPFA
Chris is a retired CIPFA member with significant local authority experience gained in an outer London Borough at a senior level. His experience covers a wide range of customer service and back office delivery activities. He is fully conversant with the standards of behaviour expected by CIPFA, public organisations, the public in general and chose to use the skills gained during his career to ensure the maintenance of public confidence in the public sector wherever possible. He is also engaged in other voluntary activities that benefit young people.
Robert Jones CPFA
Robert retired in May 2015 after 43 years in local government finance. Qualifying in 1984 Robert had a varied career specialising at different times in accountancy, internal audit, and the local government pension scheme. He was Deputy Section 151 Officer with Cardiff Council for a number of years before taking flexible retirement in 2011.
Robert was also a part-time lecturer for the final examination of the Association of Accounting Technicians (Public Sector Authority and Auditing) for some ten years.
Garry Martin FCPFA
Garry was appointed Director of Services with Donegal County Council in 2011 and heads up the Economic Development Directorate of the council. He is the Director of Information Systems and Emergency Services and designated Director of the Donegal Municipal District. He previously held the position of Head of Finance with Donegal County Council from January 2010 to May 2018.
Prior to its abolition as part of a national rationalisation in May 2014, he was the Bundoran Town Manager. He held the position of President of the Heads of Finance for Local Government in the Republic of Ireland from May 2016 to May 2018. He also holds a Masters in International Business (MSc) from the Ulster University and an Advanced Certificate in Business Counselling from Durham University Business School.
Emma Moir
Emma is a qualified Solicitor. She works nationally as a senior leader in healthcare, focusing on transformational change and delivery. Prior to that she had a successful career in the Civil Service where she held several Senior Civil Servant roles. Emma has considerable experience of judicial and quasi-judicial roles and currently holds appointments on tribunals, professional conduct, and advisory committees.
Steven Morris CPFA
Steven has been the Senior Bursar of Magdalene College, one of the constituent colleges in the University of Cambridge, since 2007. This is a broad role equivalent to that of a chief operating officer, but with the principal focus on finance, buildings, endowment management and governance. Prior to this role Steven was deputy finance director at the University of Cambridge for 6 years and has previously worked in local government. He is CIPFA qualified and he is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Helen Riglia
Helen is a qualified solicitor who specialises in criminal regulatory law. For six years she held the role of Independent Clerk to CILEx Regulation's Professional Conduct Panel, advising the Panel on procedure and drafting decisions.
Helen worked in local government for many years, advising committees at a number of councils and prosecuting. She was Deputy Borough Solicitor at Waverley Borough Council before moving to her current in-house role.
Helen's early career was in the magistrates' courts where she was employed as Senior Legal Adviser before becoming a free-lance Legal Adviser specialising in trials and case management
Margaret Sentamu
Margaret is a parish priest in the Church of England serving four rural churches along the Scottish border. Her background was in recruitment and selection in the private, public and voluntary sectors. Prior to that she was a freelance leadership development consultant focusing on diversity in the workplace. Other parts of her portfolio included a non-executive directorship with the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Mental Health Trust, and a Lay Adjudicator for the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.
Matt Smith OBE DL JP
Matt currently serves on the ICAS Investigation Committee and, until recently, was a member of the ICAS Regulation Board. He is a Deputy Lieutenant for Ayrshire and Arran. Matt served as Scottish Secretary of UNISON until 2010 and is a former President of the STUC. He has held a range of non executive roles including the Scottish Police Authority; Scottish Water; the Scottish Standards Commission and the Scottish Human Rights Commission. He was a member of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, sat as a JP for over 30 years and has served on a number of Government Commissions. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry.
Louise Taft
Louise is a qualified Solicitor who has practised in employment law for over 20 years. She is a member of the Employment Lawyers’ Association’s Legislation and Policy Committee, where she chairs its Brexit Subcommittee.
Jason Tucker
Jason is a Professor of Law based in the School of Law & Politics at Cardiff University. He is qualified as a solicitor, and, prior to joining Cardiff University, undertook a broad range of litigation work. Jason is a National Teaching Fellow with extensive experience teaching both undergraduate programmes and the postgraduate courses required for legal practice. He is also a specialist in clinical legal education/pro bono activities. Away from the University, Jason sits as a fee-paid Tribunal Judge (Social Entitlement Chamber) and was previously a magistrate in the adult criminal and family courts from 2007 to 2021. He is also a member of the Law Society’s Education & Training Committee and Children Law Sub-committee, and a trustee of The Friendly Society.