Meet the team

John O'Halloran, Head of Consultancy Services

John O'HalloranJohn is a highly experienced business manager and management consultant with over 30 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, now leading CIPFA's advisory practice. Recently John has helped shape and drive a major cost reduction UK wide programme for police sector, Achieving Finance Excellence in Policing.

He has acted as the commercial adviser to numerous forces including the Met Police on their successful outsourcing of their back office functions and also was a key part of the team responsible for the development of their commercial strategy to 2020. John has also worked for large civil service departments and every type of local authority in the UK.


Melissa Chivese, AFEP Programme Manager 

Photo of Melissa LeenMelissa Chivese currently works as a Programme Manager for the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) leading the national Achieving Finance Excellence in Policing (AFEP) Programme. 

She brings a wealth of experience as a learning and development professional supporting clients from varied backgrounds from both public and private sectors. She is currently responsible for managing the next AFEP programme for police services across the UK and enjoys working in roles that are both rewarding and challenging. Outside of work she has worked on several volunteering projects with adults and children with mental health problems and is passionate about helping others achieve their full potential. For any general AFEP enquiries please contact Melissa.Chivese@cipfa.org


Sam Shelver, Senior Data Analyst

Sam Shelver

Sam joined the data team in August 2021 and has since taken responsibility for CIPFA's police and fire products. His contributions so far include providing five new dashboards to the Achieving Financial Excellence in Policing programme and creating a market-leading Financial Resilience Index for police forces. Sam has a deep understanding of data science, owing to his academic background in economics and professional experience as an analyst. For any data enquiries or to schedule a demo of any of the AFEP data products contact Samuel.Shelver@cipfa.org or analytics@cipfa.org.


Lee Schofield, Senior Solutions Manager (Operations)

Lee Schofield

Lee has worked in the financial services and public sector industries for the past 20 years. He currently manages the AFEP consultancy projects. He has worked at some of the largest Banks in the world including the Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and DTCC, and during his tenure he has managed multiple diverse teams all over the world including Manilla and the US. He firmly believes in evolving methods and techniques such that the products and services he oversees remain cutting-edge, relevant, and important to the market. For any consultancy enquiries contact consultancy@cipfa.org. 


Louise Southall, Senior Events Organiser

Photo of Louise SouthallLouise has worked in the Events industry for over 30 years in a variety of hotels and conference centres organising corporate and private events. She currently works alongside the AFEP Programme manager as the Event Organiser for the AFEP Programme. She organises all the events across the programme including the annual AFEP CFO Retreat. Please contact Louise with any of your AFEP Programme event queries Louise.Southall@cipfa.org.